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