Brad Marchand's ex-Bruins teammate Milan Lucic makes feelings known about 36 y.o. vet's outing during Panthers' 2025 Stanley Cup run

The Boston Bruins picked Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic in the 2006 NHL Draft. Both were key members of the Bruins team that went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2011. They played together for six seasons before Lucic was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 2015.

While Marchand stayed with the Boston Bruins, Milan Lucic played for the Kings, the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames before re-signing with the team in 2023. He played just four games during the 2023-24 season when he was put on indefinite leave of absence by the Bruins due to domestic abuse charges against him by his wife, which were later dropped.

Lucic is making a potential comeback this year with a professional tryout scheduled with the St. Louis Blues. During the Cam and Strick podcast's latest episode, he spoke in detail about his former Bruins teammate's success.

"Marchand's always had that," Lucic said. [2:20:00] "And me and Marchand are the same age. We got drafted the same year together and we were stallmates in Boston, when he first came in and he's always been a big game player and he's always had great hands.

The 37-year-old complimented his all-round game while stating how his addition to the Florida Panthers team ahead of the trade deadline this past season catapulted their chances of winning back to back Stanley Cups.

"He's power play. He's penalty kill. He's a five-on-five, he can create, which is like nowadays, guys who can create five-on-five, it's really hard to find," Lucic added. "And if you ask me, just watching that whole playoff run, Florida bringing in Brad Marchand and even Seth Jones, like those two guys coming in really completed their lineup because without those two guys, I don't know if they would be.

"Maybe they would be, maybe they wouldn't be, but like the goals that Marchand scored, big-time goals in big-time moments, in big-time games... It was really great to see. And I'm really happy for Marchand. I think I speak for him because I know for myself, when you win that young, all you want to do is win it again, man."

Marchand scored 20 points in 23 games for the Panthers during the Stanley Cup playoffs, which included six goals in the Finals against the Oilers. His six goals were the most for a player in the Finals aged 35 or more since Esa Tikkanen in 1988, showing his longevity.

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Milan Lucic credits his family for helping him block negative thoughts

As per Milan Lucic, when he was put on administrative leave he didn't know whether he would play again in the NHL. The former Stanley Cup winner mentioned his family's support as a major motivating factor.

"To be honest, a little bit of both, but I was trying to stay more on the positive side," Lucic said. [1:59:34] "Even though it was really hard a lot of there was a lot of negative thoughts and depressing times just overthinking things and getting into my own head but I just tried to stay as positive as I could.

"I got to give a lot of credit to my wife and my family, and especially my wife and my kids, they kind of kept me going and kept me in a good mind space and made sure that I was still doing things to keep myself, my mind and my body healthy and everything like that."

Milan Lucic has scored 586 points in 1177 games since making his debut in 2007 in the NHL. The Vancouver-born is known to be a hard hitter who battles for the puck in tough areas and collects penalties. He has spent 1301 minutes in penalties throughout his career.