A Cam nearly in Lucic?

MILAN LUCIC 68-point season

Milan Lucic will turn 19 years old Thursday, and for Bruins fans on the watch for the next best thing to come rumbling down the wing, it's premature to pencil in his name for guaranteed stardom with that spoked-B on his chest.

But there's a lot to like about Lucic, especially if you're a dyed-in-the-woolen-sock advocate of size, toughness, strength, and even a few dollops of scoring touch. Lucic, 6 feet 3 inches, 222 pounds, was named MVP of the Memorial Cup, his Vancouver Giants rubbing out the Medicine Hat Tigers, 3-1, last Sunday for the top prize in Canadian junior hockey.

Boston's third pick, No. 50 overall, in last June's draft, Lucic finished tied for the tournament point-scoring lead with 7 points (2 goals). In the decisive win over the Tigers, he picked up an assist on Michal Repik's winner with 4:55 left.

But it was the way Lucic came out on his first shift of the championship game that should whet the appetite of Boston fans. Saying he was intent on "picking up the tempo" of the game, Lucic 1) clobbered Matt Lowry; 2) drilled Jakub Rumpel; 3) pounded Trevor Glass, and then 4) fought Jordan Benfeld, a 6-2, 222-pound winger whom the Coyotes made their sixth pick last June. One shift, four Tigers strewn hither and yon, and one giant momentum surge riding through the Vancouver bench.

Who knew such, shall we say, vigor, was still allowed in the once-rough-and-tumble world of ice hockey?

Little wonder that ex-NHL general manager and coach Pat Quinn, part-owner of the Giants, said Lucic reminded him of Cam Neely. "Over the years, we've seen him turn himself into a terrific hockey player," Quinn told the Canadian Press.

An NHL GM contacted by the Globe after the Memorial Cup concurred with Quinn's Neely comparison, but cautioned that Lucic will have to polish his skating to make the jump to the NHL. In that sense, said the GM, Lucic is more a Cam Neely/Terry O'Reilly hybrid. O'Reilly, who quickly became a proficient NHL skater, arrived in the pros as an awkward skating product.

"Will fight at the drop of a hat," said the admiring GM, who requested anonymity. "And for the correct reasons -- to defend his teammates."

On Wednesday afternoon, Lucic arrived back at his parents' home in Vancouver, after spending the season with a billet family about an hour out of town, near his junior squad's practice rink. Prior to the Giants cleaning out their lockers for the summer, Lucic was named team captain for 2007-08. He'll be in Wilmington early next month for Boston's weeklong prospects/development camp, return to the Hub for September's training camp, and then will tune up at the junior level for another season. His career path likely has him pegged for Providence (AHL) the next year.

"To be compared to a guy like [Neely]," said Lucic, "obviously, that's high expectations for a guy like me. He was a real elite, hard-nosed hockey player, and he could score, too. I've tried to model my game after his, and a guy like Jarome Iginla, too. You know, two big power forwards."

A lefthanded shot, Lucic plays left wing, and he finished with 30 goals and 38 assists in 70 games, leading the Giants in points. He also led the club with 13 power-play goals. By his count, he had 19 major penalties for fighting, and figures he lost but one bout.

"Hit, fight, score, that's what I like to do," said Lucic, whose parents, Dobro and Snezana were born in what was then Yugoslavia and met after emigrating to Canada. "I take a lot of pride in the fighting. Everyone wants to score, but if I'm not scoring, I try to make a big hit, or have a fight.

"Even if I am scoring, I want to have physicality to my game, and that's kind of been my game since I was 12 years old, I guess. I've always wanted to score and have that intimidation factor on my side."

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli, who still wasn't officially Boston's boss when Lucic was drafted, agreed that Lucic "still has a way to improve before he lands on Causeway Street.

"But he's a big body, and he's coming along nicely. He'll have to improve on his skating -- his edge work, lateral movement, technique -- but he's a willing combatant and he has some touch around the net. So far, so good . . . as advertised."

Measurable improvement

The NHL held its annual combine in Toronto last week, with many of the top prospects in this month's amateur draft put through physical rigors that will help gauge their potential upside.

Meanwhile, Next Testing, a company in Madison, Wis., believes it has a way of measuring whatever a player has to do -- on or off the ice.

"We started out by asking the simple question, 'What's broken in the hockey market?' " said Mike Valley, the company's chief operating officer. "And over the course of two years, we talked to around 600 coaches, GMs, and scouts at all different levels of the game. They repeatedly told us that there was a real lack of reliable data out there -- that they needed standardized testing, a trusted method."

Valley and friends believe there's a chance they'll be asked to bring their gear to Toronto next year.

Hard numbers, said Valley, will help talent evaluators remove some of the guesswork.

"This goes way beyond the old-world practice of calling up a coach, asking about a kid, and hearing, 'Oh, he's a good guy,' " said Valley.

Next Testing will bring all its gear and gadgets to the Foxboro Sports Center for a combine at the end of this month when it expects to test some 300 hockey players, ages 13-20, June 29-July 1.

It will make a second New England stop at the Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, Conn., July 26-29.

For more information, check out nexttesting.com. There are three levels of testing available, ranging from $99 to $499 per athlete.

Milbury has some miles left, but no route mapped out

Mike Milbury is moving on. He's just not sure where or to what end.

But at age 55, with a dozen years of Islander service on his résumé (general manager, coach, business endeavors), he wants to reconnect more directly with the game.

"My passion to be the point man at the business side of things was not there," Milbury said last week, following the formal announcement that he will become an adviser to club owner Charles Wang. "Charles and I both recognized it wasn't for me. So . . . we'll see where the wind blows. I've got some miles left."

The former Bruins defenseman/coach/assistant GM said he is open to all possibilities, including coaching and a return to a front office with direct involvement in hockey operations. He dabbled in broadcasting (remember Microphone Mike?) between his short-lived gig as hockey czar at Boston College and his return to NHL duty with the Islanders.

Could coaching be the way he goes now?

"Ummmm, you know . . . I haven't made any phone calls for a while," he said. "A few people have called about different things, and I've said no to nothing. I'll see what falls. I'm not going to rule [coaching] out.

"There's nothing like playing, of course, but at my age, after one knee replacement, and a scope on my good knee three weeks ago, I think those days are gone. Does that sound safe to say?

"There's just nothing better than playing -- but coaching is probably next."

The Bruins haven't had Milbury's kind of passion behind the bench since his move to the Black-and-Gold front office in the spring of 1990 -- Boston's most recent trip to the Cup final.

Etc.

There's a price to play
Rollie Hedges, agent for Bruins prospect Sergei Zinovjev, believes the Ak Bars forward has an out in his Russian contract that would allow him to play in the NHL in 2007-08. "Beyond that, all I can tell you is that he has expressed an interest in playing in the NHL," said the Ottawa-based Hedges, who has spoken with Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli about a contract for Zinovjev. Question is: for how much? Hedges would not confirm what Zinovjev makes in Russia, but he also didn't quibble with the widely held belief that the 27-year-old earned some $2.5 million (post-taxes) in 2006-07. "Over here, that would work out to about $5 million a year, right?" said Hedges. Right. Which means if Zinovjev has a craving to play in North America for the upcoming season, he will have to take a step back financially, with the possibility of recapturing the "lost" dollars upon reaching UFA status in the NHL July 1, 2008. No telling where this is headed, said Hedges. "But the Russian clubs open their training camps July 1," he cautioned. "We handle a lot of Russian players, and everyone over there -- teams, players, managers -- will want to know what's happening in the next 3-4 weeks. They have to make plans."

Neely checks in
Hall of Famer Cam Neely, back home in Vancouver on business recently, was among the 16,000-plus in the stands at Pacific Coliseum to watch some of the Memorial Cup. Bruins prospect Milan Lucic of the Vancouver Giants caught his eye. "Likes to play a physical game, that's for sure, and he showed some hands," said Neely, who flew home prior to Sunday's final. "He's the kind of kid the Bruins could use, don't you think?" Neely is pals with Ron Toigo, the Giants majority owner, and when he saw Monday that Lucic had been named MVP, he called Toigo to get the prospect's phone number. "I know what it can mean for someone who's been in the league to offer you some encouragement," said Neely. "When I was 16, [ex-Canuck] Stan Smyl came to our rink and presented me with an award. I was blown away. Stan Smyl! You never forget that stuff." Like Lucic, Neely is a favorite son of British Columbia, having grown up in Maple Ridge, about 45 minutes out of Vancouver. "Nice!" said Lucic, asked what he thought of the call from the Boston icon. "It was totally out of the blue. And my first reaction was, 'Holy smokes, this really is Cam Neely on the phone.' I was overwhelmed."

The great Nate
Anyone who has dealt with the Bruins on a professional basis for the last 34 years, especially those in the media, will feel a profound sense of loss Friday when Nate Greenberg wraps up his final day in the club's front office. Greenberg, 58, announced his retirement two days ago, just a week after becoming a grandfather. For more than three decades, dating to the days when he was a media department of one, the affable Greenberg did his job with proficiency, dignity, grace, integrity, professionalism, and above all, good humor. Media members, as well as the club's many business partners, grew to consider Greenberg the face of the franchise. He leaves for new ventures, in which he no doubt will thrive. And he leaves at a time when the franchise -- rudderless in a number of ways -- should have had the sensibility to utilize his steady, steering hand. The value of institutional memory and the equity of good will are about to leave the building. For his friends, of which there are legions, Greenberg's departure is nothing short of Orr-like.

No official word on who'll land the GM job in Columbus, but betting around the league is that Bob Murray, top aide to Anaheim GM Brian Burke, will be named any day. "Top guy," said one of his prospective peers. "He'd be a great guy for the job." . . . San Jose bench boss Ron Wilson survived GM Doug Wilson's post-playoff review and will be back behind the bench in 2007-08. Two failed Cup runs have proven that the current lineup won't get it done for either Wilson. The good news: GM Wilson has some cap room to add needed grit to the forward corps . . . Less than two weeks before the start of the league's annual "buyout" period June 15-30. Standard formula for ridding roster fat: player is rendered a free agent at a one-third discount of all remaining dollars owed, payable over twice the term. Example: A player with two years left on a deal worth $4.5 million a year instead receives $6 million, with payments spread across four years. Provided the player had not reached his 35th birthday when signing the original deal, the club is allowed to post the reduced salary figure against the cap . . . The sale of the Predators to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, reportedly for $220 million, would be some $45 million more than Balsillie was willing to pay for the Penguins. All bets are that Balsillie will shift the franchise north to Canada, but west enough of Toronto, and north enough of Buffalo, not to be shackled with paying the Leafs and Sabres indemnification fees . . . Now that Rick Tocchet has pleaded guilty to gambling charges, dating back to February 2006, will he be welcomed back any time soon to the NHL? Highly doubtful. The league could soften its stance if it lands a franchise -- via expansion or relocation -- in Las Vegas. And one source reports that the league has put out feelers for expansion there, at a price of $300 million.

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.