Boston Bruins updated salary breakdown

With the signing of defenseman Derek Morris it would appear that the Bruins are going to have to move someone to make room for RFA Phil Kessel. My best bet would be Patrice Bergeron or more likely Chuck Kobasew.

Forwards

Marc Savard, $5 million
Patrice Bergeron, $4.75 million
Michael Ryder, $4 million
David Krejci, $3.75 million
Marco Sturm, $3.5 million
Chuck Kobasew, $2,333,333 million
Glen Murray, $1,383,333 million (buyout)
Mark Recchi, $1 million
Blake Wheeler, $875,000
Milan Lucic, $850,000
Steve Begin, $850,000
Byron Bitz, $687,500
Peter Schaefer, $566,667 (buyout)
Shawn Thornton, $516,667
Patrick Eaves, $258,333 (buyout)

* Phil Kessel is a restricted free agent.

Defensemen

Zdeno Chara, $7.5 million
Dennis Wideman, $3.875 million
Derek Morris, $3.3 million
Matt Hunwick, $1.45 million
Andrew Ference, $1.4 million
Mark Stuart, $1.3 million
Johnny Boychuk, $500,000

Goalies

Tim Thomas, $5 million
Tuukka Rask, $850,000

Current cap hit: $55,495,833. [Boston Globe]

Peter Chiarelli quiet on Phil Kessel rumors.

The waiting game continues, I wonder if there is a way that Krejci can convince Kessel to sign a contract. It would be interesting to see what kind of a qualifying offer Kessel was offered?

“I don’t comment on rumors,” B’s general manager Peter Chiarelli said.

The right winger’s name has been floated in potential trades for a second straight offseason. The most notable this year was a draft night deal with Toronto that would have sent defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the Bruins.

The 21-year-old Kessel became a restricted free agent July 1. He has stayed in Boston this summer after undergoing shoulder surgery following the B’s Game 7 second-round playoff loss to Carolina.

Center David Krejci, who is rehabbing from May hip surgery, has spent almost every day with Kessel this offseason and hopes the sides can reach a contract agreement.

“Obviously I would love to have him on the team again next year,” Krejci said. “We are best friends on the team, and you don’t want to see guys like that walk away. I hope he’ll get a deal done. I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s out of my reach. I’ll hope for the best and hope he stays here and everything is going to work out.”

Krejci said Kessel wants to return but hasn’t gotten too involved with the contract situation.

“We’re together every day, and this is the one thing we don’t really talk about that much,” Krejci said. “Obviously we talk, but there is some stuff that is private. He’s one of my best friends on the team, and some stuff he would like to just keep between us, especially about a contract.” [Boston Herald]

Kessel’s faults may scare off bidders

Here is another interesting article on why Kessel remains unsigned by any team. This approach does seem to make sense. There hasn't been any offers from other clubs and the Bruins can just sit and wait and if there is an offer they match it. I wonder how long this game of cat and mouse is going to go on?

While Phil Kessel continues to swing gently in the barely stirring breezes of restricted free agency, the Bruins go calmly about the rest of their business these days, unconcerned that their leading goal-scorer of last season could be tempted by some outrageous offer sheet at any moment.

That may be disconcerting to some in Bruins Nation, but there’s a very good reason general manager Peter Chiarelli has been so willing to let Kessel dangle out there like some oversized carrot on a string for the last week and a half: Because he knows it’s unlikely “Phil the Thrill” will get an offer the B’s can’t match.

Though Kessel scored a team-high 36 goals in just 70 games last season, there seem to be enough questions about the 21-year-old forward’s leaky defense, his lack of a physical game, and his allegedly weak role in the team dynamic, as well as the NHL’s shaky economic and salary-cap climate, to dissuade any team from bidding more than $5 million a year or so for the former University of Minnesota star.

And while Chiarelli might feel Kessel is worth more along the lines of a David Krejci ($3.75 million a year) than, say, a Brian Gionta ($5 million a year from Montreal), the Boston GM wouldn’t hesitate to match either offer. If you’re thinking match-and-trade, forget it — the NHL prohibits trading a player for one year after matching an offer to him — but that doesn’t mean Chiarelli couldn’t unload someone else to make space available.

There’s also the compensation issue for Kessel’s suitors to consider. If they offer him more than $6 million a year (actually, over $6,026,867) and the Bruins don’t match, Boston would get two first-round draft picks, a second-rounder and a third-rounder. If the offer is more than $7.5 million, the compensation would be four first-round picks.

Rest assured there’s not a GM alive who thinks Kessel is worth that much in salary and damages.

On the other hand, the one thing the Bruins lack is a go-to offensive guy, someone they can count on to put the puck in the net in the clutch, a take-over-the-game player. And Kessel could be that guy.

The B’s were right to give up on Joe Thornton because of his frequent malaise and his playoff paralysis, but Kessel has shown signs of being someone they can lean on in the postseason. Besides his 66 goals in three seasons, Kessel has 15 points (including nine goals) in 15 playoff games, with a plus-8 rating.

That’s something he and the Bruins can, and should, build on.
[Telegram.com]

Agent: Kessel’s first priority is to get a deal done with Boston

Looks like Phil Kessel wants to remain a Boston Bruin. I also think the Bruins need to try very hard to find a way to get him signed. Again to the people that suggest that the Bruins don't need Kessel and that Marco Sturm is coming back is flawed logic. Sturm has never scored more than 56 points (27-29-56 in 80 games during 2007-2008) in any season during his NHL career and Kessel scored (36-24-60 points) in 70 games this season while missing tweleve games due to injury and illness. Kessel is a RFA so the Bruins will have a chance to match any offers Kessel might receive after July 1st. General Manager Peter Chiarelli is on records as saying the Bruins will match any offer sheets

Reports have been swirling over the last few days that Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli and the agent for 21-year-old B’s sniper Phil Kessel are pretty far apart in negotiations, and that a trade of Kessel this summer could be a certainty if that contractual chasm isn’t bridged.

Kessel’s agent Wade Arnott checked in with the Big Bad Blog on Tuesday afternoon, refuted the notion that the sides are at an impasse, and in fact stated that he and Chiarelli have just recently opened up contract discussions. The negotiations began in earnest this week following Kessel’s surgery to repair a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

Kessel, a restricted free agent able to receive offer sheets from other teams if he’s still unsigned on July 1, has made it clear to Arnott that he wants to remain with the team that drafted him fifth overall in the first round back in the 2006 draft.

“We’re in the early, early stages,” said Arnott of the negotiations. “We’re just beginning to chat now. Everything in our industry is still deadline-oriented and Phil is a restricted free agent, so it doesn’t surprise me (that discussions have only just begun). In addition to that, the priority was the surgery on his shoulder. Now that he’s recovering nicely from that I guess Peter has decided that now is the time to turn his attention to Phil.”
-----snip-----
My instructions from Phil are that my first priority is to try and get a deal done with Boston,” said Arnott, who also indicated that Kessel’s recovery from shoulder surgery is going well, but that the young winger is likely to miss a month next season. “His interests lie in remaining in Boston, and we’re going to see if we can get that done first.”

Chiarelli recently indicated that he views Kessel an important part of the Bruins hockey club, but that he wouldn’t feel “rushed” or “hurried” by a July 1 date that allows the speedy young winger to begin courting offers from other teams. The danger is that an opposing team will see an opportunity to strike the Bruins with a blow by inking Kessel to an expensive offer sheet — as the Edmonton Oilers did to the tune of seven years and $50 million with Buffalo Sabres RFA Tomas Vanek prior to the 2007-08 season. The salary cap-strapped B’s would be forced to match the offer — and begin trading off other assets in a position of desperation – or watch Kessel sign with somebody else and potentially blossom into a 40-50 goal scorer.
[Big Bad Blog](props)

Komisarek "you must be in control of your emotions.

Former Michigan Star Mike Komisarek is public enemy #1 to Bruins and their fans but he is right. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs you have to play with controlled recklessnes, meaning you can not lose your mind. You must pick your time and place to exact revenge. Use also must use your head and don't put your team in a bad situation.

The Canadiens defenceman got a generous taste of Boston leather last Thursday, his face massaged by the gauntlets of Milan Lucic and used as a speed bag by Zdeno Chara in a boxing match that earned the Bruins captain a double minor for roughing, a great non-call in a game teeming with them.

Komisarek must play on the edge. He’s an imposing presence who must ticket the Bruins for parking – even idling – in front of the Canadiens net. He must win the battles, or at least wage ruggedly good ones, on the walls in Montreal’s zone.

“Controlled recklessness,” Komisarek called it Monday as his team set up three days of practice shop in Brossard. “You have to be in control of your emotions and intensity.”