Cole
Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is already on record as saying he wont’ be pursuing any big-name free agent come July 1.
Should Chiarelli change his mind and decide he wants to upgrade his corps of top-six forwards, there’s another attractive option who’ll hit the open market Friday.
Yesterday I expressed my desire to see the Bruins go after former Nashville forward Steve Sullivan. Later last night, however, Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer reported that Carolina winger Erik Cole is going to test the waters. Cole would be a perfect fit in Boston, if the Bruins decided they needed to make a little bit of a splash.
Cole is 32 and coming off a 26-goal season, which included nine game-winning goals. He figures to be in line for a raise on his $3 million contract — not to mention he probably wants the security of a three- or four-year deal. But he might be worth the Bruins maneuvering to squeeze him in. He’s a rugged forward who puts his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame to use and he has championship experience from the ’06 Hurricanes. Obviously all the Bruins now have championship experience, but it never hurts to add some more.
Getting Brad Marchand’s RFA deal done and adding Cole would probably require the Bruins to move at least one of their seven-figure, bottom-six forwards. When you consider that Tyler Seguin will be in line for more ice time next season and Jordan Caron (not to mention another prospect or two) is probably ready to take a step up to the NHL, a bottom-six forward making north of a million would probably be expendable.
There are teams with a lot more cap space and opportunity to play than the Bruins for Cole to consider. Maybe the thought of defending the Cup would appeal to him, not to mention he’d probably have a decent role in Boston with at least top-nine minutes and plenty of opportunity to try to revive the power play.
Chiarelli’s probably leaning more toward a second-tier free agent to come to camp and compete with some of his young players for a forward spot. To me, Cole’s the type of attractive free agent that at least makes one consider changing that approach.
On the issue of FAs. Lets not forget what a long 82 it is. Gotta have depth – strength in numbers.
I think they have to pick up at least one Vet forward and Dman for the next 2 years. If a kid shines when given the chance (and those chances will come – always do), we have another chip come the March deadline.
IMO, Teemu Selanne or Matt D’Agostini would be better choices with which to try to reach a deal.
Jagr is looking at deals from the Pens, Wings and ‘maybe’ the habs.
Don’t sign any free agents. Let’s see where they are coming out of camp with some of the young guys. I don’t want an old Cole or Sully. Both can break down and I think it’s a waste of money and playing time. Sounds to me like Rutherford isn’t happy with Cole after he jumped ship. I hope he finds the free agent waters aren’t full of suckers.
Anyone but Cole!! Im a Bruins fan who lives in NC. I watch plenty of the Hurricanes to know 2 things: 1) Cole gets injured ALOT….2) He disappears for half the season!!!
Id be much happier with anyone else but Cole
Leino would be awesome. Yet another player cheaper AND better than Ryder
Good points – Rollie… needing space for future signings.
PCL – I see it the other way. If I were Leino, I’d be ready to jump ship. The club was close and now is rebuilding. Give me a spoked B!
Forget Erik Cole, or Steve Sullivan. Boston should seriously consider Wisniewski and then try to fill that forward slot from within – there’s a ton of ability down on the farm. PC can always make a trade during the season if we need a bit of veteran depth for the stretch run. I know it looks like we have a lot of cap space right now, but there are a ton of important contracts coming due over the next two seasons and some will deserve substantial raises; this team needs to avoid significant contracts that impact our flexibility moving forward. Boston is young, highly skilled, and has an outstanding locker room; it would be great to see the core guys kept together long term.
I was thinking about/hoping for Leino too Jangles, but I’d be surprised if he’s not resigned by Philly after those moves last week.
I commented on another of Matt’s blog articles the other day. I like the idea of signing either Cole or Leino – moving them into the LW spot on the top line and sliding Looch into Rex’ old spot with Bergy and Marchand. I think that combo would be absolute havoc for every team out there.
The only knock on Cole is that he is frequently injured. I’d be leary of giving a Ryder-esque contract to someone like that. Go after Scott Upshall instead.
I would rather give Cole 4mil if Ryder wouldn’t budge on his price
Cole is a solid character guy, and an underrated offensive player in terms of his dynamic ability. The guy just gets it; you can see it every time he’s on the ice. I’d be fine with Chia trading Chris Kelly and/or another guy- though I know he won’t- in order to make some room in the lineup for Cole. Looks like the B’s forward core is over-saturated as it is, especially if Savard tries to come back (which he shouldn’t). But I guess we can dream… I feel like Cole would push the guys around him to be better.
He’s a good Upstate New York guy who’d fit in with this team and system very well, that’s for sure. As noted though, he might price himself out of Chia Pete’s range/comfort zone.