Lecavalier is an affordable prize

The Bruins have the goods to make a deal for Vincent Lecavalier.

Quite something, isn't it? I mean, did you ever think you'd see that day?

As we speak, or at least as you read, it looks as if one of the game's great players will be traded out of Tampa Bay. Does that mean it will happen? Of course not. Trades are few in today's salary-capped-and-straitjacketed NHL, and trades of elite, impact players, especially those age 28 with a freshly minted $85 million contract about to kick in, are even fewer.

If Lecavalier is dealt, does that mean he's coming to our town, Cupless the last, oh, 37 years (yes, we're counting)? No. But because of its rich supply of talented young forwards, Boston is one of the very few places that can take a serious stab at one of the game's biggest names. For a city that has seen such hard hockey times the last decade and a half, that fact is truly something to celebrate.

If they want to be in the Big Vin derby, they have the horses. Just 24 months ago, amid the tattered ruins of the 2006-07 Bruins, the suggestion of Boston having enough tradeable assets would have been absurd. All of which points to some of the top draft picks (Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, David Krejci) left behind by the club's prior management team (Mike O'Connell, Jeff Gorton, et al), as well as the handling of more recent player assets (Dennis Wideman, Blake Wheeler) by general manager Peter Chiarelli. The cupboard wasn't as bare as many people thought, and the recovery has been far better than expected.

The league's last big trade, as if anyone around here has to be reminded, came Nov. 30, 2005, when the Bruins hustled Jumbo Joe Thornton out of town. Some of his fanboys still rue the day he was sent packing.

No telling, had he stayed, whether the Bruins would be atop the Eastern Conference today, or back playing in a packed Causeway Street house. Truth is, Thornton is gone, and better days have returned to the Hub of Hockey, at long last.

If Lecavalier is coming here, or going to Montreal (the No. 1 rumor du jour), or going anywhere soon, the key to remember is that it will have to hurt the acquiring party to make the swap. He won't be dished by the Lightning for the 2008-09 equivalent of Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau, and Brad Stuart, the goods San Jose GM Doug Wilson tossed Boston's way in his snatch-and-run acquisition of Thornton.

This is a 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound, face-of-the-franchise pivot who averaged 46 goals and 100 points the last two seasons and won a Cup with the Bolts in 2004. He has the pedigree (No. 1 pick in the '98 draft), the production, and the je ne sais quoi of a bona fide elite player/performer/producer in today's NHL.

He would be, without a doubt, the face of the franchise the Bruins have longed for since they acquiesced to Ray Bourque's request to be traded in March 2000. Talk about a fun-filled nine years gone by.

Question is, how much pain would the Bruins have to endure to get him?

Brian Lawton, the ex-Boston forward who is now the Lightning GM, did not respond to an e-mail late Monday night.

Chiarelli offered "no comment" via e-mail yesterday. The GM was on a scouting mission in southern Ontario.

Kent Hughes, agent for both Lecavalier and Boston center Patrice Bergeron, noted by e-mail that it has been "a hectic five days" for his prized Tampa client. His remarks were not related to the schedule that had the Bolts in Anaheim Friday, at Los Angeles Monday, and in San Jose last night.

Rumors of Lecavalier being dished to Montreal have run rampant since the start of the week. One source, saying he is privy to what the Habs "appear" to have put on the table, said they have offered the Lightning four players, a top prospect, and a pair of first-round picks.

If that sounds vague, that was the source's intention. None of the four players Montreal offered, he said, was the equal of Kessel or Krejci.

Which brings us to the package, or potential package, the Bruins could put together for Lecavalier. The Bolts, even with Lecavalier in the lineup, need many things. It's clear Lawton & Co. would have been far better off had they not spent their dough over the summer (Ryan Malone as a kingpin?), kept Dan Boyle on their back line, and used at least the first half of this season to assess their talent. None of that likely would have spared Barry Melrose from being fired, because it made no sense to hire him in the first place.

The Bruins could part with two first-round picks, or part with one first-rounder and offer a choice of former top picks Zach Hamill (No. 7 overall, 2007) or Joe Colborne (16th, 2008). The Bruins would not offer Kessel and Krejci, but could be enticed to give up one or the other. Lawton, a former agent, most likely would grab Krejci, one of his former clients. One of Boston's other two prime young forwards, Wheeler and Lucic, then would be on Tampa's wish list.

Getting painful now, isn't it? Parting with either Kessel or Krejci would be hard, but not impossible, not when the return is Lecavalier. But to layer on either Wheeler or Lucic, or perhaps even defenseman Wideman, then comes the moaning and groaning.

Keep in mind, Lecavalier has yet to begin his new deal that starts paying him $10 million next season and carries a cap hit of $7.727 million over the course of 11 years. Yes, it's a very heavy contract, and it becomes a no-trade deal July 1, part of the reason Bolts ownership is reportedly feeling out any and all takers.

The Bruins, meanwhile, have some $42.5 million committed in salary next season, with the cap expected to be in the range of $55 million-$59 million, not vastly different from this season's $56.7 million.

All of it is intriguing as the Bruins, being tested now by serious injuries among their better forwards, move at warp speed toward the playoffs. Lecavalier, the guy everyone would love to get, is there for the taking. If the Bruins can do it, they should, because Lecavalier could be their Tom Brady, a leading man to garner the attention and get the job done.

And if they don't? Well, it won't be because they lacked the goods to deal for him or the money to pay him. Maybe that doesn't deliver the Cup, but it is yet another indication that our town's Cup hope is more than half-full.