B's win; Chiarelli Rolls Dice

Yup.

• As we all know well by now, the B's packaged Joe Colborne, a 1st round pick, and a conditional pick to the Maple Laffs to get our rent-a-player, Tomas Kaberle. My understanding is that the conditional pick hems on the B's making (or winning) the Stanley Cup and/or re-signing Kaberle. Kaberle looked okay during their 4-2 win over Ottawa the other night, but looked best on the power play, feeding Chara juicy passes for one-timer attempts. The word on Colborne is that for a 6'-6" dude, he played pretty soft, not utilizing his size in the corners, etc. But TOR thinks they got 2-1st rounders for Kaberle, and their future looks bright, but the Leafs will always blow.
• As we all know well by now, the B's, in order to make room for the Kaberle contract, sent Mark Stuart & Blake Wheeler to Atlanta for Rich Peverley & Boris Valabik. Valabik is a monster, a throw-in on the deal who will probably amount to nothing despite his huge size and deep love for all things Chara. Rich Peverley is another smart forward like Chris Kelly who will get dirty in the corners unlike Wheeler. It's no secret that I'm pleased that Wheeler and his self-passes are gone. Losing Stuart kind of sucks (got in a fight in his first Atlanta game; Wheels got an assist), but as someone said over email on friday - if it means we get to raise Lord Stanley's Cup at the cost of Mark Stuart, I'll do it.
  

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.

So Far, So What?

The Bruins got rid of Derek Morris and Byron Bitz in a cap clearing move. This gets rid of roughly a pro-rated $4M for the remainder of the season. They brought in Dennis Seidenberg who has a $2.25M cap hit.

This just allows them to bring in a Raffi Torres ($2.25M cap hit). A recent tweet from Joe Haggerty says talks are heating up with Columbus, but that they want a 1st rounder. I imagine Columbus will back off on that stance before the deadline passes since Raffi is a UFA at the end of the year. Look for this to be the only other move the Bruins make today - maybe a 2nd rounder and a prospect.

After watching last night's debacle, I'm mostly looking forward to the draft. The only thing that would get me excited for this season would be if they could pull off a miracle move for a Tomas Kaberle. And when I say miracle, I mean it - not likely.

Kessel For Kaberle - I don't think so...

The hot rumor today is Kessel for Kaberle. First, the Leafs were going to give up Kaberle AND their 7th overall draft selection for the rights to Kessel?!?! Bob McKenzie, I expect better from you. Later he recanted and said the Bruins offered Kessel and one of THEIR picks. This makes more sense, but i still think it’s bogus.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume Tuukka and Sobotka are on the roster to start the season. That leaves the Bruins with 10 forwards, 5 d-men, and 2 goalies for a total of nearly $50M on the nose – if you don’t count bonuses (go here for that info). That means they have $6.8M to spend on Kessel, Hunwick, and Bitz. For this to work, Kessel would have to accept what Krejci got, which is what the B’s are probably offering. Goal-scorers are hard to come by and Kessel’s people probably want him to test the market so he is planning to enter the restricted free agency period as a Bruin. The Bruins may be shopping him and leaking this stuff to the press as a bargaining chip to try and get him signed before July 1. That’s all I see today’s reports as – a PR stunt and maybe a diversionary tactic.

Now, Chuck Kobasew has two years remaining on a deal that comes with a cap hit of $2.33M. This is cap-friendly and makes him a very tradeable asset. If the Bruins were to replace Chucky with Mikko Lehtonen (cap hit $600K with $200K bonus) for example, this would free up $1.5M. Now all of the sudden you have over $8M to sign Kessel, Hunwick, and Bitz. This should be enough and you have your 2009-10 Bruins. There is also the possibility of going out and making a Yelle-type signing like they did last year to fill that 4th line instead of Mikko.

I think they would trade Chucky to a team in the West to move up in the first round and snag a D-man.

That’s my speculation today – we’ll see how it pans out. This has the potential to be a very exciting draft because of the deals that might be made involving established NHLers.

“Deke, Deke, Deke!!!” will officially never be heard from 311 again if these rumors are true. No one wants that to happen.