Bruins trade Lucic to Kings, Hamilton to Flames in team makeover

The Boston Bruins' makeover that began in the front office has reached the front line on offense and the top pairing on defense.

The Bruins traded left wing Milan Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings and defenseman Dougie Hamilton to the Calgary Flames. The return included the 13th and 15th picks in the NHL draft Friday night.

Change was certain when the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in Claude Julien's eight seasons as coach.

The first move was the firing of general manager Peter Chiarelli on April 15 after he left the Bruins in a tight salary cap spot. He was succeeded on May 20 by his assistant, Don Sweeney. Somewhat surprisingly, Sweeney announced on June 5 that Julien would keep his job despite team president Cam Neely's disdain for Julien's defensive-minded approach, which is likely to change.

"The game evolves, the rules change," Julien said after learning he would stay. "The personnel of your team changes."

That sure did on Friday.

The Bruins traded the hard-hitting Lucic for minor-league defenseman Colin Miller, goalie Martin Jones and the 13th pick in the draft in Sunrise, Florida. Lucic spent all eight of his NHL seasons with Boston, scoring 139 goals and 203 assists in 566 regular-season games.

But he is coming off a disappointing season in which he had 18 goals and 26 assists in 81 games. He can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season and is scheduled to make $6.5 million next season. Sweeney felt a long-term extension for Lucic would be too costly.

Miller had 19 goals and 33 assists in 70 games for Manchester in the American Hockey League last season. Jones played 15 games for the Kings last season, posting a 4-5-2 record and 2.25 goals against average

Hamilton developed into a solid defenseman after Boston took him with the ninth pick of the 2011 draft at the age of 18. He played beside Zdeno Chara last season and, in 178 career games for Boston, had 22 goals and 61 assists. The Bruins made "a very significant contract offer" to Hamilton, a restricted free agent, Sweeney said, "and it didn't lead us to where we thought we'd be able to, with him being comfortable being a part of our group long-term."

So they sent him to Calgary for the 15th, 45th and 52nd picks in this year's draft. Boston's own pick was the 14th.

The Bruins also parted with forward Carl Soderberg, sending him to the Colorado Avalance on Thursday for a sixth-round pick in 2016. Soderberg had 13 goals and 31 assists last season.

Now the Bruins have numerous holes to fill with the departure of veterans Lucic, Hamilton and Soderberg.

Under Julien, they won the Stanley Cup championship in 2010-11 then lost in the finals two years later. They were eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of last season, their 96 points being the most in NHL history by any team that failed to reach the postseason.

The Bruins (41-27-14) were hurt by numerous injuries and an aging roster last season. Like they're doing this offseason, they parted with a top veteran because of salary cap problems when they sent defenseman Johnny Boychuk to the New York Islanders just before last season.

When he announced last month that Julien would be retained, Sweeney said, "We do have to move a little bit in a different direction."

That movement gained momentum Friday when the Bruins tried a new way to win.