Andrew Ference Signs 3-year Extension

According to Darren Dreger and now Matt Kalman, who might just be quoting Dreger, the deal carries with it a cap hit of $2.25M per year. This seems high to me and the commenters are out in full force on the Globe's blog post. He had previously only carried a cap hit of $1.4M and hasn't exactly proven to be durable. He played in 59 games in '07-'08, just 47 last year and he has already missed 22 games this year. Now, the surprising statistic here is the Bruins are just 5-12-5 in those 22 games meaning they are 28-15-7 when he is in the lineup. He first got injured in the Ottawa game shortly after the Winter Classic where the Bruins played very well. The next game was against Chicago where Savard exited on the first shift. Ference then missed the next 14 games and the Bruins went 1-9-4 in that span. He returned just in time for the 4-game winning streak prior to the Olympics. Maybe something can be said for this, but the Bruins were missing Savard and Bergeron for much of that stretch as well.

I just don't think he is worth that much for what he brings to the table (8 assists in 50 games and questionable durability). Right now, the Bruins are committed to four defenseman for next year (with cap hit in parentheses): Chara ($7.5M), Wideman ($3.875M), Ference ($2.25M), and Hunwick ($1.45M). Stuart and Boychuk are RFA's and Seidenberg is a UFA after this season. Wideman and Hunwick have been MIA this season.

It makes you wonder what Chiarelli has in store for the offseason. I still think Peter wants Tomas Kaberle (who will be in the final year of his contract and will no longer have the no-trade clause this summer). This signing has me worried that Mark Stuart might go the other way for Kaberle. Mark Stuart fits the Brian Burke mold and would give Burke the salary relief he needs on his back end.

Maple Laffs: Major Shakeup

The day after blowing a 3-goal lead to lose to the Canucks 5-3, the Toronto Maple Leafs make trades with Anaheim and then with Calgary in rapid succession.  The net result of all of this is as follows:

Leafs Get:
J.S. Giguere
Dion Phaneuf (10g)
Fredrik Sjostrom (1g)
Keith Aulie (prospect D-man)

Leafs Send:
Ian White (9g) to CAL
Matt Stajan (16g) to CAL
Jamal Mayers (2g) to CAL
Niklas Hagman (20g) to CAL
Jason Blake (10g) to ANA
Vesa Toskala to ANA

Instant reaction - where is Toronto going to get any offense?  Burke has basically said goodbye to this season unless J.S. Giguere can recapture the magic with his old goalie coach and become the player he was when he won the Stanley Cup back in 2007.  Calgary gets a much-needed pivot in Stajan and an extremely cap friendly contract in Niklas Hagman (just $3M per thru 2012 for a guy who appears to be a borderline 30-goal man).  I have to say I like how Burke is working here.  In a short period of time, he has assembled a tough, skilled group of D-Men to build around with Komisarek, Kaberle (soon to be moved - see below), Phaneuf and Beauchemin (he also has Schenn and Finger under contract for next year) and he got rid of dead weight in Blake to shore up his goaltending for this year and next with the tandem of Giguere/Gustavsson.

I love this from a Bruins perspective because these moves are to gear up for the future and have made them a poorer team this year.  Carolina is playing great hockey and the Leafs are officially now in 29th place in the NHL which would guarantee the Bruins one of the big three in the draft this year if they finish in this position.

What this also means is one of Burke's defensemen is going to be moved.  As it stands now, he has roughly $23.5M in cap room committed to 6 defensemen for next year.  When you combine this with the $6M cap hit that Giguere will have next year, he will have nothing left to pay forwards.  Therefore, I have to assume he is going to try and cash in at the deadline or before with Tomas Kaberle and I also have to assume the Bruins will be VERY interested.  The Bruins could be in position to pay Burke enough to wrestle Kaberle and Ponikarovsky from him - Chia won't give up Toronto's 1st Rounder, but he still has Boston's 1st and 2nd and Toronto's 2nd to offer...not to mention Toronto's 1st in 2011.  Chiarelli will have to send some cap space back his way to make things fit which would mean Ryder, but I can see such a move on the horizon and I think it would do a great job of addressing the B's weaknesses.

However, Burke did maintain that he is not going to ask Kaberle to waive his no-trade clause (about 6 minutes into the video of his press conference)

At any rate, I love today's news because it could lead to all kinds of jockeying before the unofficial FIRST trading deadline before the Olympic Break roster freeze.  It's fun to be a hockey fan when blockbusters start getting made in the last day of January.