A legend in the making?

Yeah, it’s very early to call it, but clearly, it’s worth wondering.

Just one season and three playoff games into his NHL career, Boston’s Milan Lucic is making quite an impression, and showing a knack for coming up big on big stages.

We saw glimpses of what the future holds for this 19-year old pro at the 2007 World Junior Tournament, where he was one of Team Canada’s best players. The people of Vancouver saw it during the 2007 Western League playoffs, when Lucic practically carried the Giants past Medicine Hat in the final, and again when Lucic almost single-handedly led the Giants to the Memorial Cup championship. Lucic took home MVP honours, and was named to the tournament all-star team.

All Lucic did to follow that performance was to captain Team Canada during the Super Series last summer. Canada dominated the Russians in the eight-game set, winning seven of the eight games. After that, Lucic went ahead and won a roster spot with the rebuilding Bruins.

He showed grit and leadership all season long with the Bruins, and took on all comers, including a memorable season-long battle with Montreal’s Mike Komisarek, en route to an improbable playoff berth.

And it was against Montreal Lucic had his brightest moment of the season, scoring early in the first period of game three to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead on home ice. It’s well-documented that the goal gave Boston their first lead against Montreal all season long, but it’s worth mentioning again because of the magnitude. At a time when former all stars like Marc Savard and team captain Zdeno Chara had no way to solve the Canadiens, Lucic scored the biggest goal of the season.

It was a huge goal that only those special big-time performers can score. Lucic may have just three playoff games under his belt, but it certainly looks like he’s poised to become a big-time performer for a long time.