"if bill belichick was coaching the Bruins we'd get vinny for 1 year/900k "to prove himself" or whatever" -Cornelius
Reports are that Vincent Lecavalier wants $5 million for five years. Other reports are that he wants to stay on the East Coast. Considering that Bill Belichick isn't in charge, a smaller deal than that isn't possible, probably, but could the Bruins make this work anyway?
Change is bad: Let's squeeze Vinny in
Assuming that Tuukka Rask signs for $6 mil/year (because really, dude is getting PAID this offseason, let's be realistic), and the Bruins sign Jordan Caron for about what he's making now, the Bruins will have to make some changes to fit Vinny in for anywhere near the amount he wants, since they'll only have about half a million in cap space left.
They could, hypothetically, trade Caron and Rich Peverley - it'd give them $5.1 mil in cap space: enough to sign Vinny for what he wants. Cool. Of course, it'd come back to bite them next year when they have multiple signings to make, but we're ignoring that for now!
You want to blow up this team? Let's blow up this team.
Of course, another option would be to completely redo the roster, because why the hell not. Trade David Krejci for Bobby Ryan. Buy out or trade Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley. Bring up Ryan Spooner. Sign Vinny. Et Voila:
Ryan-Lecavalier-Seguin
Marchand-Bergeron-Soderberg
Lucic-Spooner-Caron(?)
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
And there's still $2.5m in cap space left, so what the hell, go out and get another third line winger in case Caron doesn't pan out. THIS PLAN IS FLAWLESS. BRING IN A THIRD TEAM TO MAKE IT WORK.
Why this won't happen...or could it?
Well first of all, Peter Chiarelli isn't crazy. But, the Bruins staff as a whole seems pretty set on keeping Chris Kelly, so at the VERY least, a Peverley trade would need to happen for this to even POSSIBLY be considered. I don't think the Bruins like the idea of a 5-year deal for a 33-year-old center very much. Additionally...he's a center. Where would the Bruins put him...on the third line? With Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci already in the 1C/2C spots, it'd be hard to find a spot to stick Vinny on the Bruins roster, unless they're thinking they can convert him to wing, which seems like a pretty dumb idea.
Verdict: Nope.
Probably won't happen, but it's fun to think about. Any excuse to play on Capgeek, right?