The Milan Lucic experiment with the St. Louis Blues organization has reached a conclusion.
And it's over as far as reaching the NHL with the Blues is concerned.
The 37-year-old will not receive a contract with St. Louis after the club announced Tuesday they terminated the American Hockey League professional tryout for the forward.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound appeared in four preseason games with the Blues after signing an NHL PTO before training camp and posted a goal and an assist before being sidelined with a groin injury.
Upon recovery, Lucic continued his rehab with Springfield and had one assist in five games but was a minus-7 with one shot on goal.
There was some feeling that with Lucic, who last played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins when Blues coach Jim Montgomery was coaching the Bruins at the start of the 2023-24 season, would eventually land a contract for roughly the minimum in St. Louis once he was deemed healthy enough to play but the Blues decided in the end not to go that route.
Lucic has played in 1,177 regular season games in the NHL and has 586 points (233 goals, 353 assists) and 1,301 penalty minutes with the Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings.
It's hard to imagine he will get another shot at this point but the door remains open to a certain degree.
Observations From Blues' 3-2 Loss Vs. RangersBlues lose for eighth time when scoring first; first 10 minutes of third period in 1-1 game was where game was lost; team's inability to score recently offsetting stronger goaltending; created few chances on four-minute power play late
St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (Nov. 23)Another Russian in KHL opening eyes in Fyodorov; Carbonneau keeps pace with QMJHL scoring lead; Jiricek extends point streak to 11; Harenstam continues to sizzle in Sweden
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