BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On Tuesday morning, the Buffalo Sabres announced six hires to their hockey department, but nothing was more head-scratching than the addition of veteran player Milan Lucic as a pro scout.
Yes, that Milan Lucic.
If you polled hockey fans in Buffalo on who their least favorite player was, Lucic would get votes.
The Sabres announced the hire by simply stating, "Milan Lucic has been hired as a pro scout. Lucic played 1,177 games in the NHL and was a Stanley Cup champion with the Boston Bruins in 2011."
They left out the part about Lucic running over Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller on November 12, 2011. The same Ryan Miller whose name is hanging on a banner from the rafters of KeyBank Center.
"I just stuck around because I wanted to say what a piece of [s***t] I think Lucic is," Miller told former Sabres beat reporter John Vogl after the game. "50 pounds on me, and he runs me like that? It's unbelievable. Everyone in this city sees him as a big, tough, solid player. I respected him for how hard he plays. That was gutless. Gutless. Piece of [s**t]."
Many people, myself included, consider that to be the day when the Sabres drought started. The team was never the same after that moment and eventually was broken up piece by piece. Little did we know then that the suffering would last until 2026.
Sabres General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen probably doesn't care, or even know, about Lucic's hatred in Western New York. But Lindy Ruff certainly does. He was behind the bench in 2011, and 15 years later, he's once again the Sabres bench boss.
Perhaps this is all water under the bridge, but at the very least, it's a confusing choice from the Sabres front office, which also still includes Eric Staal.
