Paille/By S. Bradley
Here are a couple quick notes as we pass 5 p.m. on June 30 and look ahead to the free agent market opening July 1.
•J.P. Barry, the agent for Bruins forward Daniel Paille, remains hopeful he can get a deal done to keep the winger in Boston. Barry stressed that Paille wants to stay, and Tuesday general manager Peter Chiarelli re-iterated the club’s desire to keep the expert penalty-killer. It doesn’t look like Paille will be fielding other offers tomorrow.
(Updated to include Gregory Campbell)
With the opening of free agency just about 20 hours away, I thought I’d make sure you all know where the Bruins stand, barring a major trade between now and noon Thursday.
As per the indispensable CapGeek.com, the Bruins have 16 NHL players under contract for 2010-11 at a total cap hit of $53,902,976. Factoring in $700,000 in bonuses, the Bruins would have $6,197,024 to spend under the $59.4 million cap.
Seguin
Many of you have asked about the cap hit the Bruins will take once they sign No. 2 overall pick Tyler Seguin and then keep him in the NHL this season rather than return him to Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League, where he’d have to go if he doesn’t make the big club as an 18-year-old.
So by my reading of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, here’s a look at what Seguin’s compensation package will be. If anyone knows better or has a correction, please write me and let me know.
Bring back Begin might be Boston's best option/By S. Bradley
As with defensemen, the Bruins don’t have enough cap space to re-sign their remaining free agents (Mark Stuart, Blake Wheeler, Daniel Paille) and make a splash July 1 by signing a big-name unrestricted free agent.
So barring a major trade, Boston will be more likely in the market for a bottom-six winger.
Jay McKee might interest the Bruins
Barring a trade to clear some salary cap space, the Bruins probably won’t be able to ante up for a top-four defenseman when the free agent market opens July 1.
That doesn’t mean they can’t go shopping for some veteran help on the back end.
Seguin/Credit Boston Bruins
BOSTON – If there are any ghosts left over from the “Joe Thornton era,” they should now be finally banished.
The much-maligned master playmaker’s days with the Bruins ended Nov. 30, 2005 with this trade to San Jose, but no one has worn his No. 19 since that day.
Chiarelli
BOSTON — If free agency opened today instead of Thursday, the Bruins would not be able to make a big splash.
“Right now we don’t have the cap space to go out and make a big deal,” said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli after a TD Garden press conference to introduce Tyler Seguin and Nathan Horton to Boston. “We don’t. But that could happen. We could make a trade and there could be cap space. It doesn’t mean we have someone in mind.”
Houda
BOSTON — Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli today confirmed that assistant coach Doug Houda, who has served as the “eye in the sky” ever since head coach Claude Julien took over, will move behind the bench to replace the departed Craig Ramsay this season.
Rask will need a back-up/By S. Bradley
Luckily, the Bruins shouldn’t be in the market for a No. 1 goaltender for the better part of the decade ahead. But Tuukka Rask is never going to be an 82-game-plus-playoffs goaltender. Heck, no one ever will be again. So having a capable back-up at their disposal will be important for the Bruins going forward.
Chara/By S. Bradley
Whether he’s going to fine-tune the team he has assembled or perform a major shake-up with a trade of Marc Savard or another star center in an effort to make sure 2010-11 erases the nightmares of the spring of ’10, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has to at least be casting one eye beyond the upcoming season.
In what might be one of the more under-reported stories surrounding the Bruins, captain and superstar defenseman Zdeno Chara is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent one year from Thursday. July 1, 2010 is also the first day the Bruins, under the guidelines of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, can negotiate a contract extension for their cornerstone player.
Burke
The rumors about the Bruins possibly sending Marc Savard to Toronto won’t go away.
Today Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke tried his best to dispel those rumors.
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Recchi/By S. Bradley
Mark Recchi has obviously decided to return to the Bruins without testing the free-agent market July 1 because he thinks the club is going in the right direction and will be a Stanley Cup contender in 2010-11.
Whether Marc Savard will be a part of that team remains to be seen, as it’s a well-know fact now that Boston has been shopping the star center since last week. Most can’t wrap their head around how the Bruins would be a better club without their perennial leading scorer. But there are also salary-cap implications that might be hindering other plans general manager Peter Chiarelli has in mind.
Recchi/By S. Bradley
Even though it took until draft weekend for his camp to officially come to terms on a new deal with the Bruins, winger Mark Recchi says he knew he wanted to return for another season, and do it in Boston, almost as soon as the 2009-10 season ended in shambles against Philadelphia.
