Projected cap seems a bit snug on Bruins
Like the rest of his NHL general manager brethren, Bruins boss Mike O'Connell can't be sure what the free agent market will bring July 1. If there is a new day coming in player salaries, a day of downsized contracts and budget-conscious payrolls, then the anticipated glut of players for hire might be the beginning point of a new era. "Based on what you hear, there is going to be a change," O'Connell said last week. "But I haven't received any kind of indication from speaking with agents that they think there is going to be a change in the market."
Meanwhile, O'Connell plans to proceed with caution in regard to his own unrestricted free agents: Glen Murray, Michael Nylander, Mike Knuble, Dan McGillis, et al. The Bruins GM didn't sound eager to roll out substantial offers for anyone. However, he did say all of the club's higher-profile Group 2 free agents, including veteran backliner Hal Gill, will receive qualifying offers prior to July 1.
In keeping with standard club policy, said O'Connell, all the Group 2's will receive only one-year offers, at no more than a 10 percent raise. Players who earned below the league average of some $1.8 million must be offered the 10 percent sweetener. Any Bruin who made above the average will be qualified at their existing rate, as permitted by the collective bargaining agreement, said O'Connell.
Boston's Group 2 players to receive offers prior to July 1 (* denotes arbitration-eligible):
*Hal Gill -- $2 million
Jonathan Girard -- $1.198 million
*Sergei Gonchar -- $3.65 million
Andrew Raycroft -- $605,000
*Sergei Samsonov -- $3.65 million
*Joe Thornton -- $5.5 million
Boston players with deals in place for 2004-05:
P.J. Axelsson -- $1.4 million
Patrice Bergeron -- $825,000
Nick Boynton -- $1.75 million
Martin Lapointe -- $4 million
O'Connell, when identifying which players would receive qualifying offers, noted he was focusing only on players who finished the year in Boston (not including the injured Girard). Other players assigned to the minors also could receive qualifying offers. "We're still making those decisions," he added.
Gonchar, no doubt, will file for arbitration, a process that takes place the first two weeks of August. Due to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, he would receive a one-year award, perhaps for $6 million or more. Gill likely will accept the $2 million.
But Thornton and Samsonov most likely will be caught somewhere in between. Their 2003-04 point production wasn't strong enough to make convincing cases for pay boosts in an arbitration hearing. Rather than go through the process -- one they probably would find more demeaning to their egos than rewarding to their wallets -- they could opt to accept Boston's one-year, no-raise offer, or go the holdout route.
The uncertainty of the market, meanwhile, has O'Connell proceeding under a yellow caution flag.
"There's just no way to determine what that market's going to be," he said. "Now, it might get clearer if people do make bids on their own players before July."
The bet here is that Murray, Brian Rolston, Sean O'Donnell, Rob Zamuner, and McGillis will be casualties of Boston's economic repositioning. Of the bunch, Murray and O'Donnell might have the best chance at remaining in the Hub of Hockey, provided they accept salary rollbacks. Murray made $3.85 million last year. O'Donnell coined $2.7 million. Nylander, acquired at the March trade deadline, could be Priority No. 1 on the Boston UFA list.
"If Murray came in and said, `I'd like to be in Boston at this number,' and it was a number we thought made sense in a changing market, then that might influence what we do," said O'Connell.
The 10 players listed above represent approximately a $25 million payroll, a figure that could easily inflate by 10 percent or more based on Gonchar's anticipated score in arbitration. That also presumes, probably naively, that Samsonov and Thornton will return for last year's wages. For argument's sake, let's call it $28 million. If a $31 milion hard cap were imposed -- as has been hinted for months -- that would leave the Bruins with only $3 million to add 10 players.
A new day coming? For the Bruins, it looks as if it's already here.
Cash-out time?
O'Connell said the only decision to make on the coaching staff is whether to re-sign Wayne Cashman, whose deal expired at the end of the season. "I don't know how I'll proceed there," said O'Connell. "For one thing, we don't know if there is going to be a season." In the meantime, Cashman is free to sign with another club. Mike Sullivan, who inherited Cashman when he came aboard as head coach last season, then would be free to handpick another assistant . . . Noting that the Bruins have twice collected more than 100 points in the last three regular seasons, only to come up very short in the playoffs, O'Connell said it could be time to change a few things. "We've tried to go the skill route, and maybe we should be looking at more grinders now," he said. At the same time, he said, changes must be made carefully. "Look at some of the clubs that made the finals recently -- Anaheim, Carolina, and Buffalo -- and then they've gone on to struggle," he said. "You have to balance the temptation to change against the desire to win every year." . . . Former Bruins coach Pat Burns, diagnosed with colon cancer just as his Devils entered the postseason, last week began his final round of preoperative treatments. Burns, 52, soon will have the tumor(s) removed, and doctors then can offer him a better idea regarding how soon he can think about getting back behind the bench and barking orders (provided he has stopped doing the latter) . . . Another ex-Bruins coach, Mike Milbury, the GM on Long Island, told Newsday that it's time for franchise player Alexei Yashin to be a franchise player (for which he was inked to a 10-year, $90 million deal not long ago). Milbury: "What we need from Yashin is a great season. So far, he hasn't given us one." And, gee, the point would be? . . . Sad story in Edmonton, where 17-year-old Michael Fogolin, son of ex-Oiler Lee Fogolin, died suddenly from what is believed to be a heart ailment that had gone undiagnosed. Around 3 a.m. Wednesday, Lee and his wife, Carol, awoke to find Michael in his room, gasping, and he never recovered after losing consciousness. A junior hockey standout for Prince George in the Western Hockey League, Michael also leaves an older brother, Rory. Autopsy results will take 2-4 months. The funeral will be Tuesday in Edmonton, where Lee, now 49, owns a construction business.
Hockey with a bang
Could the game look any simpler than seeing the Flames consistently hit everything in sight? Every shift, every night, they nail everything, and they've done it for three-plus rounds. Easy? Then why is it so hard for clubs during the regular season to string together even two games with that amount of grit? . . . Rich Winter, agent for Dominik Hasek, said last week that the Dominator is healthy again (following groin surgery) and wants back in the NHL. It won't be Detroit. The Wings had enough of that merry-go-round. But don't bet against the Senators stepping up. Ottawa GM John Muckler was in Buffalo during Hasek's heyday and always said Hasek was shoulder to shoulder with Wayne Gretzky in their ability to anticipate the play (perhaps the greatest of Bobby Orr's strengths) . . . Canadiens forward Michael Ryder was chosen the NHL's rookie of the year, as picked by the players in a Sporting News poll. The bet here is that Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft will finish ahead of Ryder, but just barely, when the league announces its award winners -- as chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association -- not long after the Stanley Cup finals . . . Flyers GM Bob Clarke would like it if Jeremy Roenick decides to skip the World Cup. Clarke would like JR to take extra time this summer to "get his head and his body healthy and get rejuvenated." A late-season concussion, which Clarke labeled "devastating," limited Roenick's postseason effectiveness, according to the GM. Clarke added that he was pleased Team Canada chose not to invite Flyer pivot Keith Primeau, whose three rounds of postseason work were nothing short of MVP-worthy . . . Not sure what it will mean in the long run, but the owners have amassed a much bigger war chest ($300 million) than the players ($100 million) for the lockout that is now T-minus-108 days and counting . . . The Red Wings have until June 25 to notify Brendan Shanahan whether they will exercise the $6.5 million option they have on him. If they pass -- and they probably will -- then the 35-year-old Shanahan becomes an unrestricted free agent . . . Wings GM Ken Holland also will decide, this week, if he is going to bring back the coaching team of Dave Lewis-Barry Smith-Joey Kocur . . . Strange turn of events last week in Florida, where Panthers GM Rick Dudley was nudged out of office with the return of Mike Keenan, whom Dudley fired as coach during the season (Cliff Notes available soon at a pro shop near you). Jacques Martin, the ex-Senators coach, was hired the same day as coach -- with a four-year deal that might be worth close to $1 million per year. Said another NHL GM: "Where will Dudley work next? Anywhere he wants. He's done a tremendous job wherever he's worked."
Salute for captain
O'Connell, like most of the hockey world, has been very impressed by the work of Calgary captain Jarome Iginla in the playoffs. "You can see that he practices hard, he's a good person, looks after his teammates," said O'Connell. "If someone needs to be straightened out, he'll take care of it. He'll fight. He'll backcheck hard. He does all of that, and at the same time carries it off with an attitude like he's a third- or fourth-line player. In a lot of ways, for how he plays, and the kind of captain he is, the guy who comes to mind is Ray Bourque." . . . The Bruins this week, and this week only, are offering Bruins' Dad T-shirts for Father's Day. Cost: $30 each (L and XL only), which covers card, postage, and handling. Sales begin Tuesday and will close Friday. Phone: 617-624-1923. All proceeds go to the Boston Bruins Foundation . . . Hall of Fame netminder Grant Fuhr was on the cusp of qualifying for the Canadian professional golf tour last week, after carding rounds of 70-71-76 at a qualifier in Kamloops, British Columbia. But he errantly wrote in a "3" when he really had a "4" on hole No. 17, leading to disqualification. It's not exactly like having a Steve Smith shovel pass off the rearboard ricochet into the net off the back of your leg, but it has to be pretty close . . . The Russians are coming. The Russians are coming. They're just a little slow. Finally, the ex-Soviets at least named half their squad late last week for the World Cup, and the short list of 10 included Bruins Samsonov and Gonchar. The rest will be named any day now, any day . . . yeah, any day. The Russian head coach: Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who was affectionately referred to as "Coach Bill" during his short stint in Winnipeg as an assistant. Coach of Dynamo in the Russian Elite League, he also suited up for Russia in the '76, '81, and '84 Canada Cups. Never too late for the party (Communist or otherwise), Viktor Tikhonov is aboard as a consultant (offering tips such as yanking Vladislav Tretiak?) . . . NHL bosses remain intent on implementing all the rule and equipment changes that their action committee advised as the regular season drew to a close. However, because of varying rink configurations, the idea to push nets 3 feet closer to the rearboards may be amended to only 2 feet. Yet unknown: whether the smaller space will force Thornton to set up less frequently behind the net when he's trying to commandeer the power play.
Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
