Rumor: The Boston Bruins may have missed out on Milan Lucic.

The big news this week in the National Hockey League was the trade between bitter rivals the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames. The Flames shocked many in the hockey world when they made a deal to acquire veteran winger Milan Lucic, a player that many believed would prove extremely difficult for the Oilers to trade. The Flames had a problem contract of their own to get rid of however and felt that Lucic would be a better fit on their bottom 6 than the play they eventually dealt away, veteran forward James Neal.

It seems however that at least one NHL insider believes that there could have been another option for the Oilers here, one that would have sent Milan Lucic into very familiar territory. It is no secret that the contract of veteran forward David Backes has been disastrous for the Bruins, Backes has never lived up to the billing of that deal and his performance this past season was an all time low point in Backes' NHL career. Bruins insider Joe Haggerty believes that this is exactly the type of deal the Bruins should have considered, largely due to the fact that Haggerty believes the Bruins are in need of the kind of toughness Lucic brought to the table.

From Haggerty:

The argument could be made, though, that those heavy skating legs might have been energized a bit by a return to Boston and certainly his fighting, snarling game is a little more in line with what the B’s need to protect some of their younger players these days.

Could the Bruins have engineered a similar trade involving Backes with the Oilers to get Lucic back at $5.25 million with Edmonton retaining some salary thus saving the B's almost $1 million cap space the next couple of seasons?

Absolutely.

Whether or not Lucic still brings that kind of toughness to the table however is debatable, during his past 3 seasons in Edmonton Lucic has not shown himself to be the type of dominant physical player he was during his first stint with the black and gold. Additionally given just how drastic Backes' decline appeared to be this season you have to wonder if the Oilers would have even entertained the trade in spite of the fact that Backes has the shorter term. 

Term likely would have been another issue for the Bruins as they would have been buying 2 extra years of a bad contract in this deal, and 2 years of a contract that is virtually buyout proof no less. The idea of Lucic returning to Boston will likely never be more than a fantasy, but there is at least one NHL insider who believes it could have happened.