Are the Bruins done dealing?

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 26, 2009 1:03 PM EDT

Burried deep inside a post about the Derek Morris signing, Bruins beat writer Fluto Shinzawa dropped an interesting line:

Chiarelli confirmed he is done dealing for a while. The Bruins could have their opening night lineup in place.

So what does that mean? Does this mean that the Bruins will let Phil Kessel walk on an offer sheet and take the draft picks as compensation? Kessel won't be in the lineup on opening night anyways, as he will be out of the lineup rehabbing from shoulder surgery until sometime around December, so the statement is open to interpretation.

Fluto indicated earlier this week in a different post that the Bruins and Phil Kessel are still far apart on negotiating a contract.

The Bruins have approximately $1.3 million remaining in cap space, indicating that they are done dealing for now. If Kessel comes down from his original number, the Bruins could move out a forward to clear salary. But there are no indications that the two sides are getting closer.

If the Bruins are in fact done making deals, this is what the opening night lineup could look like:

Milan Lucic - Marc Savard - Michael Ryder
Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Mark Recchi
Marco Sturm - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton - Steve Begin - Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara - Derek Morris
Andrew Ference - Dennis Wideman
Matt Hunwick - Mark Stuart

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Healthy Scratches: Johnny Boychuk and Vladimir Sobotka

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Comments

Bruins Salary Cap

I do not understand that salary cap space number of $1.3M for Boston in this article. Although I fully agree with all of the players that will most likely be in the opening night lineup, my calculations come up to a salary cap space of $1.765M. CapGeek.com comes up with a salary cap space of $1.7M. (I treated Wideman’s cap at $3.875M, CapGeek.com as $3.9375M, a difference of $62,500 …. not that large of a difference).

by Mr Spock on Jul 26, 2009 5:21 PM EDT reply actions

I haven’t crunched the numbers myself in a few weeks. That number was from the Boston.com post that is linked to in this post. My only guess as to why it didn’t work out was that you left out Patrick Eaves’ buyout or some of the figures were wrong somewhere (either on your calculation or Fluto’s). At any rate, the Bruins are roughly $1.5 million under the cap now.

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by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 26, 2009 9:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Opening Night Line-up

I’m really psyched for this up coming season and can’t wait for it to hurry up and be october. The line-up is pretty good I just wished they had atleast brought back P.J. they will miss him. Unfortunately we were bitten by the cap bug this year. I thought the signing of Hundwick took way too long. Lets hope he can spark our Power Play like he did late last year. Wheeler better keep what he had at the beginning of last year for all of next year if he wants to stay on the roster. If we move any forward I think it would be him. He softened up late and didn’t score as many goals his second half last year. I hope for the best this coming season and maybe we can get first in the eastern conference again. Grats to Thomas, Chara and Julien well deserved hat trick at the awards night. Gooooo B’s!!!!!

by BruinsLover on Jul 27, 2009 9:07 AM EDT reply actions

Wheeler better keep what he had at the beginning of last year for all of next year if he wants to stay on the roster. If we move any forward I think it would be him. He softened up late and didn’t score as many goals his second half last year.

You have to give Wheeler the benefit of the doubt, as well as everyone else that comes straight from NCAA, or a European league for that matter. The most games he had ever played in a season before this year was 58 in his USHL year, and now he appeared in 89. That often takes a while to get used to, but you don’t always remember it because most of these guys play at least a year in the AHL and get used to the amount of games played. And obviously Canadian Junior players don’t have this problem. Next year will show if Wheeler is actually inconsistent or if this was his problem.

by Malurous on Jul 27, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s a good point. NCAA hockey doesn’t compare to the rigors of the long season and travel of the NHL schedule. He doesn’t have to go to class now though, but I’m guess if you are Blake Wheeler, you probably didn’t have to go to class anyways.

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Serving of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 27, 2009 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

What the?

I find it hard to believe he is done dealing. It is becoming kind of obvious that he is practically begging for an offer sheet for Kessel, but I can’t understand why he would let Kessel go for only some picks.

Maybe he is going to wait to sign Kessel until he is healthy to squeeze him under the cap like the Ducks are famous for doing with Selanne and Neidermayer.

by MrMaz on Jul 27, 2009 9:39 AM EDT reply actions

Wouldn’t he be on the injured reserve even if he did sign now? I don’t think he’d count against the cap while hurt. Depending on when the RFA deadline is, though, maybe Chiarelli is waiting until Sturm gets hurt again before signing Kessel.

(how much could Kessel get if he signed at the RFA deadline?)

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jul 27, 2009 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think that that is true since the second they signed him they would be more than 10% over the cap. I know we talked about this before, but I have been too lazy to look into it.

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by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 27, 2009 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions

He can be signed and on IR, and that’s not counting against the cap, maybe they’re waiting to sign him until after the season starts for that reason?

Or maybe, as you mentioned below, Chiarelli really doesn’t have a great master plan. I would rather not think this is the case, though.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jul 28, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

If Kessel is signed and on LTIR, he is counted agaist the cap, just that the Bruins can go over the cap until he’s off LTIR. Maybe PC is waiting for the last moment so he can sign him for the fraction of the season that he is playing (thus saving some salary and cap), which would give him more options as to which players to trade (salary dump). And who knows who else gets injured and possibly goes on LTIR …. If that would happen when PC signs Kessel, Boston could avoid or delay a salary dump trade (as LTIR could temporarily allow Boston to go over the cap).
Basically delaying Kessel’s signing gives them more options. If PC was really smart, he would have delayed giving Krejci a contract until he was better, as that would have reduced Boston’s salary cap …. possibly enough when combined with Boston’s opening day cap to sign Kessel with no salary dump trade needed.

by Mr Spock on Jul 30, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

When I said that PC should have delayed giving Krejci a contract until he was better, I meant until he was healthy (from his hip surgery).

by Mr Spock on Jul 30, 2009 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions

figured that

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Serving of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 30, 2009 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I heard the quote, Fluto is saying what he wants to hear I think, Fluto is not a Kessel fan and we see that in his writing.

The quote that I heard from Chia was that he was done with the defense wheeling and dealing and he was happy with that.

He has constantly said he wants Kessel a Bruin, and Chia’s not dumb, he knows what he needs to do to keep him.

by famine812 on Jul 27, 2009 2:33 PM EDT reply actions

I question how smart PC really is. He seems to get a free pass because he is a Harvard guy. I still think he screw the pooch on the over 35 contract thing with the Tim Thomas deal.

Stanley Cup of Chowder: A Hearty Serving of Hockey in The Hub

by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 27, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

So what is the final ruling on that?

Kind of got pushed to the back of my mind.

How was the deal screwy? Other than the size of the contract itself, there was someting about the buyout?

by 13_Legion on Jul 28, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

The final ruling on the Thomas deal was that because Thomas’s contract went into effect after he was 35, it was an over-35 contract. We’re screwed if he doesn’t play well for 4 seasons.

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by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Jul 28, 2009 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Thomas Deal

Looking at the SV% of Thomas over the years, they look good (.907 .917 .905 .921 .933). That’s hall of fame material. Logic dictates that this trend continues. But if Thomas does go bad in his 3rd year or thereabouts, Boston will probably buy out his contract, as PC is hooked on them.

by Mr Spock on Jul 28, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

The really lucky thing is that Thomas could be a benefactor of the Johnny Bower/Dwayne Roloson etc. effect: there are more examples than you’d think where a late bloomer goalie can stay very good even when he’s really old (compared to most guys who are starters at 25 and out of the league before 35). But of course the contract seems dangerous.

by Malurous on Jul 29, 2009 5:03 AM EDT up reply actions