Kelly/By S. Bradley
Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli continued to lock up members of his 2011-12 club by re-signing two key centers Monday, according to a Tweet from TSN reporter Bob McKenzie.
Chris Kelly (four years, $12 million) and Gregory Campbell (three years, $4.8 million) have re-signed with the club less than a month before they were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents.
With these signings, the Bruins now have 12 of their 14 forwards from last season’s postseason roster under contract for 2012-13. Only Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston are still scheduled for free agency.
Kelly, an alternate captain last season, set career highs in goals (20) and points (39). Campbell produced 16 points (8 goals) and one Gordie Howe hat trick in his role as fourth-line center. Both Kelly and Campbell have been key components of Boston’s successful penalty kill the last couple years.
Yeah, I was saying slightly overpaid. Based on his numbers and what he brings, you can typically find older defensively sound players who will put up good plus-minus numbers without much offense like Campbell for close to the league minimum. If you’re looking for offensive upside, you have to pay. Campbell doesn’t really have that.
Slightly overpaid to fair isn’t a big distance anyway.
As for Thomas, does anyone even know if he’d be willing to play in Toronto? He seems to be the politically sensitive type (duh) and shipping him out of the USA might be devastating for him.
There is only ONE way out of Thomas’ cap hit, that is to trade him. (over 35 contract) He has 1 yr left on his contract and a no trade until July 1. Then the B’s can ship him anywhere they want. That will happen to a team looking to get to the floor. It just can’t happen until July 1 but dont think Chiarelli isn’t talking.
As for the signings- I like both of them! the 2 of them could have made more $$$ elsewhere yet chose to stay! GO Bs
Colborne still has to prove he’s better than the pathetic Kaberle, and he hasn’t even done that yet.
If Burke wants to get back at the Bs – He makes a run after Rask. That could get scary!
Bruins16 – Brian Burke already got us back with Kaberle!
David
The only hope I have is that Brian Burke of the Leafs wants to make a grandstand. First, he would love to get back at the Bruins for the Phil Kessel trade. Second, I think he believes that if the Leafs had Thomas, they would at least make the playoffs. Unfortunately, he can’t approach Thomas because that would be tampering. Hopefully, Thomas gets the itch to play, in August, and the B’s can ship his fanny out of town for something and cap space.
B16,
I agree with you about Thomas, but we may be able to trade his rights for “future considerations” to a team looking to make the floor, which is a huge win for the other team and a reasonable win for us: They get the cap hit without spending any cash and Thomas’ contract in a year if they decide to retain it. We get the space to sign a free agent. It’s better than Thomas’ royal screw of the B’s right now, but soo much worse than what we could have had otherwise.
Good news for Boston! Two things you can read into this; Spooner must not be ready for prime time and Pouliot has played his last game as a Bruin.
Dan/RD
I think if you look closely, both contracts are fair.
David
Thomas theatrics have got the B’s between a rock and a hard place. I wish he would just retire and get his salary off the cap. I don’t know of anything else that will work, unless he comes out of retirement and we can trade him. Its all about Tim!
GREAT DEALS. Campbell could have easily gotten more anywhere else, especially on a team looking to get to the cap floor. Campbell has been a HUGE piece to the PK, hes been key. A little much for Kelly imo but necessary to keep him.
Matt,
Your thoughts on the Bruins moving Thomas to a team that needs to reach the cap floor (They do not need to pay his salary if he is suspended, but he will count against the cap, advantageous for those teams…). Any idea what teams would be interested and what we could get in return? Also, with Thomas out of the fold and possibly traded, could we see Savard on the LTIR which would add 9M on the cap… and the Bruins take a run at Parise or Suter? I think both players would be a great fit, with a preference towards Parise to add some scoring punch.
Thanks
Well, I like that both of these guys will be in black and gold for a couple seasons yet. I also like that we have the room to resign Rask for what he should be worth, and have the wiggle room to fit in a couple healthy scratches. It would be nice to get a scoring winger if we could to make up for Horton or Savard, but we have to get rid of Thomas’ cap hit or we might get seriously screwed.
I also really hope Kelley will be able to keep his production up at this price.
I’d say you overpaid slightly for Campbell.
Great to see them both able to stay on with the B’s.
Nice! Pretty reasonable, IMO.
Yessssssss! Great signings for the team.
Good to get these guys back in the fold; still need to add another quality forward.