The latest reports in the Marc Savard trade talks are that he just might be staying put in Boston after all. Many sources speculated that once the highest touted free agent -- Ilya Kovalchuk -- left the market, other moves would follow in suit. One move did follow in suit (Gagne to Tampa Bay), but the speculators may have missed a beat on predicting the outcome of Marc Savard's fate.
"Right now there's nothing going on with him. He's a Boston Bruin and he's happy to be a Boston Bruin," said Peter Chiarelli at Bruins summer camp on Monday. With their recent roster moves, it seems more and more likely that Chiarelli likes his current roster heading into the season. The big problem, though, is their cap situation.
Boston has less than $600,000 free cap space to sign both Blake Wheeler and Tyler Seguin. $600K won't even be enough to sign Seguin, let alone sign the more experienced Wheeler ($2.8 million last season). Wheeler has filed for arbitration, and the Bruins are awaiting those numbers. Still, it seems that a trade must happen to make the situation manageable.
At this time, I'd like to cue all the haters who say Chiarelli made a stupid decision signing Savard for 7 years, a horrible call signing Thomas for $5 million a year, and a premature reward to Milan Lucic for $4 million a year. While each of these decisions may be questioned, let's look at it from the positive side. Savard, ultimately, has one of the best contracts in the league. You don't find point-per-game players like Savard for $4 million a season. Phil Kessel, who still hasn't proven to be a point-per-game player, makes $5.4 million. Well, okay, but no way you can justify Tim Thomas and his huge deal. I agree -- it was a bad signing given all the specifications. But the Bruins needed Thomas when that deal was signed. Tuukka Rask had yet to play more than 1 NHL game. He was a big question mark. And Thomas was the reigning Vezina Trophy winner (the third Bruin in history to win the award). His play did merit his pay. What about Lucic, though? I agree, again -- a premature reward to Lucic. But he was very injury plagued last year. He's still young. He can play physical and bring the body checks, unlike many players on the Bruins. And once he was healthy in the postseason, he produced. He was our only bright spot in Game 7, which I don't wan't to discuss... at all.
So what's the problem? I'll tell you. His name is Michael Ryder, and he makes $4 million a season. Guess where he might play this year? Providence. As in our AHL team. Making $4 million a season. That, my friends, is the biggest mistake. Take Ryder out of the equation, and we have plenty of room to sign the pieces we need. Savard trade talks probably never even arise. Ryder was the worst signing of the past 5 years. And it is aggravating to know that the Bruins couldn't trade him if they tried.
It seems like a trade or some type of transaction may have to occur for the Bruins to be able to fill out their roster. Whether or not it will be Marc Savard leaving town, nobody knows. As of now, though, the forecast for Savvy still shows a black and gold sky.
Boston has less than $600,000 free cap space to sign both Blake Wheeler and Tyler Seguin. $600K won't even be enough to sign Seguin, let alone sign the more experienced Wheeler ($2.8 million last season). Wheeler has filed for arbitration, and the Bruins are awaiting those numbers. Still, it seems that a trade must happen to make the situation manageable.
At this time, I'd like to cue all the haters who say Chiarelli made a stupid decision signing Savard for 7 years, a horrible call signing Thomas for $5 million a year, and a premature reward to Milan Lucic for $4 million a year. While each of these decisions may be questioned, let's look at it from the positive side. Savard, ultimately, has one of the best contracts in the league. You don't find point-per-game players like Savard for $4 million a season. Phil Kessel, who still hasn't proven to be a point-per-game player, makes $5.4 million. Well, okay, but no way you can justify Tim Thomas and his huge deal. I agree -- it was a bad signing given all the specifications. But the Bruins needed Thomas when that deal was signed. Tuukka Rask had yet to play more than 1 NHL game. He was a big question mark. And Thomas was the reigning Vezina Trophy winner (the third Bruin in history to win the award). His play did merit his pay. What about Lucic, though? I agree, again -- a premature reward to Lucic. But he was very injury plagued last year. He's still young. He can play physical and bring the body checks, unlike many players on the Bruins. And once he was healthy in the postseason, he produced. He was our only bright spot in Game 7, which I don't wan't to discuss... at all.
So what's the problem? I'll tell you. His name is Michael Ryder, and he makes $4 million a season. Guess where he might play this year? Providence. As in our AHL team. Making $4 million a season. That, my friends, is the biggest mistake. Take Ryder out of the equation, and we have plenty of room to sign the pieces we need. Savard trade talks probably never even arise. Ryder was the worst signing of the past 5 years. And it is aggravating to know that the Bruins couldn't trade him if they tried.
It seems like a trade or some type of transaction may have to occur for the Bruins to be able to fill out their roster. Whether or not it will be Marc Savard leaving town, nobody knows. As of now, though, the forecast for Savvy still shows a black and gold sky.
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