The 31-year-old forward was acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for forward James Neal on July 19.
"Lucic
. "I think we have a good mix of old and young, but when someone like that comes into your locker room as a teammate, you can lean on their experience. You can never have too much of that."
Forward Johnny Gaudreau, who led Calgary in goals (36), assists (63) and points (99) last season, said he is looking forward to seeing the physical play Lucic (6-foot-3, 231 pounds) can provide.
"You don't really realize how big a presence he is on the ice,"
Gaudreau said after playing
in a Checking For Charity game at Flyers Skate Zone on Aug. 10. "When you play against a team like that and you have a player like that who can get into the corners, big body, get in front of the net, he really helps your team. I think that's what we've been looking for in our team. I think he can push us over the edge here."
The Flames hope to better their performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season; they were 50-25-7 with 107 points last season and had the best record in the Western Conference but lost in the first round to the Colorado Avalanche in five games.
A second-round pick (No. 50) by Boston in the 2006 NHL Draft, Lucic has 501 points (198 goals, 303 assists) in 890 regular-season games with the Bruins, Los Angeles Kings and Oilers, and has 70 points (28 goals, 42 assists) in 114 playoff games.
Though Lucic averaged 13:14 of ice time during his final season with the Oilers, Peters said he sees him skating on the third line with center Derek Ryan, if not the first line with Gaudreau and center Sean Monahan.
"I've got to keep the big guy involved," Peters said. "He's got to be involved, so he needs some ice time."
