Chiarelli 'happy' to have Marc Savard

There was some talk this past summer that the Boston Bruins were trying to trade Marc Savard after signing him to a cap friendly contract. I can imagine that there are a lot of Bruins fans relieved that Marc Savard is staying put.

ESPNBoston.com ---Chiarelli acknowledged Friday that he did indeed have trade discussions regarding Savard, but apparently they weren't enough to entice the GM to pull the trigger on a deal. Chiarelli also acknowledged that teams have inquired about other Bruins players, as well.

"There is all these things that happen and there are always things that swirl around about moving guys, and I cannot respond to anything in kind because I don't directly comment on trade rumors," Chiarelli said. "I can tell you, though, that there was discussion and inquiries on Marc and they became public.

"There has been a number of inquires on a lot of the players, some become public and some don't for obvious reasons, but as we told Marc, that's part of the business and he understood that. I made sure he knows what we think of him: He is a Boston Bruin and an elite offensive player we're happy to have on this team."

Since the NHL entry draft back in late June, Savard's name has been constantly bandied about in trade rumors. Due to the Bruins' salary-cap woes and the anticipated addition of another talented center in Tyler Seguin to an already deep center corps, Chiarelli reportedly was open to trading his star pivot, who led the team in scoring in three of the past four seasons.