While Blake Wheeler is on track to sign a two-year deal worth the annual rookie maximum of $875,000 (he can sign his contract on or after July 1), it's unlikely that he'll start 2008-09 with the big club.

So here is the current salary grid, not including Wheeler's annual cap hit.

Forwards

Marc Savard, $5 million
Patrice Bergeron, $4.75 million
Glen Murray, $4.15 million
Marco Sturm, $3.5 million
Chuck Kobasew, $2.33 million
Phil Kessel, $2.2 million
Peter Schaefer, $2.1 million
P.J. Axelsson, $1.85 million
David Krejci, $883,000
Milan Lucic, $850,000
Vladimir Sobotka, $750,000
Shawn Thornton, $517,000
Jeremy Reich, $487,500

* Yet to sign: Petteri Nokelainen (RFA), Glen Metropolit (UFA).

Defensemen

Zdeno Chara, $7.5 million
Aaron Ward, $2.5 million
Andrew Ference, $1.4 million
Andrew Alberts, $1.25 million
Shane Hnidy, $757,000

* Yet to sign: Dennis Wideman (RFA), Mark Stuart (RFA).

* Matt Lashoff and Matt Hunwick will contend for NHL jobs next year. But for this model, their salaries are not included.

Goalies

Manny Fernandez, $4.33 million
Tim Thomas, $1.1 million

* It's a good bet that Alex Auld (UFA) will not re-sign. Tuukka Rask will most likely spend another season in Providence.

Current cap hit: $48,211,666

Notes: GM Peter Chiarelli said he expects the 2008-09 salary cap to be announced either this week or next week. Chiarelli also said that buyouts are an option he'll consider. The player most likely to be bought out is Glen Murray, on the books for $4.15 million next season. If the Bruins buy out Murray during the current window (through July 1), they would trim their cap hit by $2,766,667 million in 2008-09. They would have to carry the remaining $1,383,333 million on their cap number in 2009-10. "Glen's been a tremendous Bruin. He still is a tremendous Bruin," Chiarelli said. "He's great in the room. He had a frustrating year last year. He'd be the first to admit it. But the fact of the matter is he's a shooter first and foremost. You can't go out and get guys like that who can shoot thepuck like him. He realizes he has to play better. [A buyout] is a tool that we have. I have to consider it when considering all the options in team-building. In the period now when you can exercise buyouts, it's something that I'm not going to ignore. We'll see how things unfold until July 1."