Updated salary breakdown

For completeness sake, it would help if you were to list the RFA QO amounts.

Isn't Rask's cap number somewhere in the $3 million range if he's with the big club?

Come on Fluto....really....your not going to give the CAP HIT numbers when talking about the salary cap

Would be nice to know what all the free agents made this year for comparison's sake.

Hope Glen Murray is enjoying his retirement, scumbag

So I take it this means that the bonus cushion is back for sure next year?
I realize that I and most others here can count, but it might be nice to include a "slots remaining" line, so for now 3 forwards and 1 defenseman.

It's painful to pay Murray, but c'mon, you can't blame a guy for taking the money his contract gave him. That's just business.

If I had a contract, in any business, and got hurt, I'd take the money they owed me. I think pretty much everyone would.

Bergeron is overpaid. Chara is vastly overpaid. Resigning Kessel and Krejci will be difficult. I would say Kessel over Krejci at this point. Take the draft picks for Krejci. You can't teach speed and goal scoring which Kessel has. Would love to see Recchi for one more year.

The reason Fluto did not include the "cap hit" numbers is because those rookie bonuses will not count against the cap unless they are reached. Unlike last season where the bonuses automatically counted against the cap, this upcoming season there is a bonus cushion. If those players do reach their rookie bonuses then the number will affect the end of the year cap total. If that total is exceeded then that number will then be taken off the cap total for the following season. Assuming Rask is Thomas' backup all season, it is safe to believe that the bonuses will not be reached. I was unsure about the bonus cushion as well until this morning. Peter Chiarelli was on WEEI's Dale and Holley show and explained it.

Next year the salary cap will be "soft" meaning rookie bonuses don't count, so Fluto is right in saying Rask's cap hit isn't $3 million. Any word on Murray's legal situation? If he wins, then doesn't his money come off the cap?

Bob you can't possibly think we should keep Kessel over Krejci, that would be one of the most terrible decisions you could make.

As for being over paid, 7.5 million for someone who is going to win the Norris? The guy does his job, stop complaining about who is overpaid.

RJ, there is something weird with the NHL cap. Bergeron's cap number is 4.75 but his actually salary is higher. go to www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/ and click the Bruins logo. It give the cap numbers. On the right there is a green button that says "Show Player Salaries." The numbers will change. I am assuming that only a certain portion of the salary counts against the cap.

As for Rask, his salary is 3.2million. I would assume that number and not the number above counts against the cap.

The cap number that jumps out at me is Sturm. $3.5 million? He really needs to produce next season.

Here are last years salaries of the RFA for comparison:

Hunwick 750,000 (825,000 QO)
Bitz 740,000 (814,000 QO)
Krejci 833,333 (916,666 QO))
Kessel 2,200,000 (2,420,000 QO)

Qualifying offers must be at least 10% above their previous contract number. For Krejci, that's $84,000 (rounded up). The total qualifying offer raises would be around 500,000. The Bruins have the ability to sign them for reasonable amounts over three year deals without truly breaking the bank. The major part of the off-season is what they do with the money that is available for UFAs.

Bergeron is overpaid...so? It's the contract he was given. And based on the promise he showed when he got the contract, you take your lumps sometimes. Still a good player, serves a vital role on this team. Chara is not overpaid and I'm not sure exactly how you make that argument. He's a superstar defenseman who the Senators admit they were wrong in letting go. He's gonna win the Norris easily. And Kreijci is a magician with the puck, and he's only going to get better as time goes on. I think both can be re-signed, especially since other teams may be cautious with them, given their offseason surgeries. Hands-down, Griese's comment was about as wrong as you can get. Come on pal, you're better than that.

What a great photo.

Chiarelli has some work to do. It would be great if we could keep Jacobs away from resigning meetings, or we we'll end up with the local pee wee hockey team...
Cheap scumbag!

RE: "Kessel over Krejci"

You also can't teach hockey sense and size, which Krejci has. I see your point, I just think long term that Krecji is the better fit for the team. At the same time, having a team of guys that can't bury the puck is not going to work.

I think there will be alot of teams hitting the cap this year and picking up a speedy goal scorer at a bargain might not be out of the question. (Gionta, Cheechoo, Havlat). I think everyone is thinking they will all go for big $$ but I don't think there are too many buyers that can afford them. Maybe we can deal a D-man once everyone looses the Bouwmeester Sweepstakes.

Harv: just so you know, a player's cap number is his average salary over the course of a contract. This is why (for instance) Thomas only counts as $5 mil, despite earning $6 mil next year (he gets $6 $6 $5 $3 mil over 4 years).
Pete covered the cushion pretty well. No doubt about it, the salary cap has made off-season work far more confusing.

Bergeron did show promise but where is it now? If he does not score 30 next year he is a bust which is sad because of injuries. Chara needs to take more shots on net from the point. Did he take a shot against Carolina? If he did I didn't see it. Good defender but not great. Overpaid. Kessel will score 50 for another team if Boston lets him go. Krecji is good but will never be the scorer Kessel is long term.
I hope they can resign both but not likely. I am really looking forward to Sturm coming back healthy. They missed him greatly during the playoffs.

Wrong DrCC, Thomas has a hit of 6 mill next year, sorry, check out NHLnumbers.com

OK OK OK, I need to pipe in about the Kessel over Krejci comment. I love Kessel, don't get me wrong, but when you say you'd rather have a 40 goal scorer over a 3 zone playmaker potting 25 and putting up close to 80+ points a season, we all wonder what sport you're watching. Centers like Krejci don't come along often; he's been compared (by reputable hockey minds) to Steve Yzerman.

So take your pick, Steve Yzerman or Brad Boyes (and before you try and say otherwise, Kessel is a carbon copy of Boyes. Same size, same stats, same contributions. we just got to see what he could do BEFORE we trade him. I think both are valuable players and will be for a long time, but Krejci is a franchise type center who NEEDS to be locked up first.

Thomas' 20 mil over the next four years is going to be an albatross around the B'S neck especially after next year when the cap is supposed to go down.... the guy i'm worried about is the Looch who can become a RFA a year from now.... the B'S should sign him longterm before his contract expires because 29 other teams won't hesitate to make him an offer....

Thanks for posting #s for the UFAs.

I agree -- no reason to complain about the guys already under contract being overpaid. Had Bs not signed them for that amount and they left town, some would complain about that.

In NHL, can a player renegotiate to take less per year like in the NFL and the new salary is used for cap purposes? If so, let's add a year or two to Chara's contract, and drop $1M or so off his salary. Say he makes ONLY $6.5M over the next 3-4 years to play hockey, but has a stornger team next year. Whose to say he doesn't end up injured next seaosn and cannot sign a fat contract, so there is two benefits to him. Will he go to a non-contender for big $ or want to win (a al Hossa). Here's my sunbaked off-season moves:

Disclaimer: Not a player on this team I dislike (well I am not a Montador fan but nothing personal Steve); and on other side, i am a Hnidy fan

D first:

Let Montador go back to bullfighting

Ference: move him for anything in return to free up his $1.4M and sign Hunwick for his spot. I won't be surprised if Hunwick gets an offer at or above $2M/year. Lock him in at $1.5M if possible.

Ward: only move him if the bidding for Hunwick & other UFAs goes to high.

Wideman: My gut tells me he will have a great year next year

Sign Hnidy for $800,000 to be 6th/7th Dman (safer with him on third line with Stuart than some unknown comparable player -- see Montador experiment)

Then I'd line up the D next year:

Chara & Hunwick (then sub in Ward if experiment doesnt work)
Wideman/ Ward (or Hunwick)
Stuart/Hnidy (they play well together and Stuart blossomed - it is the third line, spend too much on it and handicapped elsewhere)

Up front, I'd sign all the UFAs (hopefully before some GD GM from another city causes a bidding battle.)

Sit down with PJ & Recchi and offer them one year contracts for a chance at the Cup, with both taking a lower salary; have Chara in the meeting after he tells him he took a haircut to bring the Cup to Boston

Invite Yelle to camp

Metropolit: I'd like to get him out of a Habs sweater and back for one year on 4th line

Sobotka - love his hitting; he makes the roster next year but doesn't see action all games

Wacey Rabbit - just kidding, stays out of Boston

Bottom line, I don't see the need for drastic roster changes. Healthier players, definitely. And younger players must get better, so team will be stronger.

Re: MQOs for RFAs

Harv...thanks for that info.

Now, isn't there something in the CBA about MQOs and offer sheets? Or can a competing bidder extend an offer sheet irrespective of the MQO made by the current team?

How long is Murray going to haunt us?

The number that Jumps out at me is the $2.5 mil to the oldest Bruin by far on the roster Aaron Ward. Great team guy but is often injured. I say if we had to move someone it should be him. Freeing up that $2.5 would be huge in helping sign our
RFA.
FYI...Bergerons Salary is $4.75 mil because the cap is based on average. The money payed divided by number of years of the contract. For instance You could sign a player a year $15 million dollar deal over 3 years and pay the player $10 million the first and $2.5 million over the following 2 and the contract would count
would count for as $5 mil cap hit per year.

matt, check the column headings - that $6 mil is his salary. His cap number for next year is not posted on that site yet (I don't know when they will update it to add a tab for 09/10). Notice that the estimated cap hit at the bottom approximately matches what Fluto reported. I'm not sure what the $1.1 mil difference is from.

SoCalDoubleBruin -- Excellent -- right on the money. Good job.

Krejci has Datsyuk-like potential, so I'd sign both him & Kessel. Also watch Kovalchuk - if he doesn't sign a long-term w/Atlanta he'd be worth the going price - he's better than any of 09's UFAs.

Chad Larose & Seidenberg are UFAs as well. Both have had excellent post-seasons this yr. as Bruins fans can attest. Def is already strong, but can use more speed up front & Larose is as fast as they come.

Yo Fluto: good work, but I think you have the wrong number for Milan Lucic. The AAV of his 3-year deal is $618,333,333 (and he will likely earn all or most of his $165K and bonuses, but that's for another time.) Speaking of potential bonus earnings, is there any contract info freely available as to what exactly triggers the players' bonuses to be paid out. If the NHL would release contract info on bonuses, hockey fans would have a much easier time of breaking down their team's cap situation. The mystery makes it frustrating for fans such as myself.

Chia definitely has his work cut out for him.
As much as I like all of them (and that is a lot), I wish they could somehow get 2 of the 4 of Ryder's, Sturm's, Wideman's or Ward's cap hits off the books (I know...but how?), I'd prefer that, if it meant they could they put that money into the RFA's. We need those kids going forward, badly. I haven't looked too closely, but I've got to think most every team will need to make tough decisions. At a quick glance there are over 60 FA's who made above 2 mil this year, and most will be taking pay cuts, which is only going to make it near impossible to dump contracts. With that said, I've got to think Kessel or Krejci will get offered a contract (from one of the bottom feeders) that the B's can't match.

It is certainly going to be the most interesting offseason in years. One thing is for sure, most teams will be shopping at the thrift store as opposed to Sachs 5th Avenue.

The biggest mistake bar none was the contract given to Thomas. Hay I love Thomas as much as the next Bruins fan. But I would rather have Kessel & Krejci back next year, playing infront of Rask. Man Chia dropped the ball on that one. Is Thomas is going to get better the closer he gets to 40 either.

You can complain about the overpaid players b/c they are the ones you hope to move to make room for the players you want to keep. Bergeron, for example, is close in pay to that of Savard, but no where near the production. Krecji has shown for 1-1/2 seasons he can produce points..
Speaking of which, its a no brainer, I think, that Krecji has priority over Kessel. I'd like to see Kessel produce for another season or two before breaking the bank on him.
I like Strum, but he hasn't scored 30 goalsin a season yet. Cam Neely was absolutely correct in calling him out as a 40-goal scorer. The way Sturm started the season, he wasn't going to hit 40 goals thats for sure. But Sturm has no trade clause.

I'm sure PC is well aware of the salary situation & I'm sure he's aware of it when he gave Thomas his contract. He/Bruins must have a plan & I suspect they will keep the four: Krecji, Kessel, Hunwick, Bitz. I will be disappointed if we loose Krecji for the sake of keeping Bergeron.

This salary cap means nothing now. The team won't be the same. Calculate and figure strategy from now until next season. It means nothing....know why? Because the Bruins aren't going to win the cup next year either. The "drive" and "bitterness" will wear thin and be forgotten. So, don't get your hopes up Bruins fans.

This was the season to win the cup and the Bruins blew it. The Bruins weren't short on talent...that's for sure. They lacked effort, drive and grit to beat Carolina .....and the blame starts with Chara. If the Bruins played Carolina like they did against Montreal....we'd be playing Pittsburg right now. End of Story.

"There are a lot of ways to skin a cat here, and I think that (signing both Krejci and Kessel) is going to require some skinning." - Chiarelli

I hope what he's saying here is that he is going to trim salary around the edges and get rid of salaries like Ward and Kobasew to make room. Ideally for me, he keeps a core of Krecji/Kessel/Lucic/Wheeler long term and lets them grow together. Keep drafting well and hopefully the pipeline from the minors keeps supplying talent.

Yeah Chara over paid, probably the Norris trophy winner !
I feel optimistic if the cap stays at 56mill.
If Kessel wants over 5mill then we're in trouble. He and Krejci have big operations going and that can cool off what they really want,
Rask won't be getting enough playing time to get his bonuses. I wouldn't worry about him.
Chiarelli is a Harvard grad and this is the reason why he was brought in. To crunch numbers.
There are a lot of character players besides the two K's that need to be put into this roster and I have a feeling they will have to trade to free up some cap space.

Why are so many people hyping Dennis Wideman? Were you guys watching the same player I was?
He is terrible defensively. If you watch him in his own end he gets pushed around and turns the puck over way too often. While he is good for some offensive numbers, his job is to play D, and he is awful at that.

I think everyone underestimate's Ward's value. Strong, solid, experienced defensemen are not exactly a dime a dozen. And you can't criticize a defenseman for getting hurt by throwing himself in front of the puck.

And btw, Wideman led the team in plus/minus. Just saying.

Krecji over Kessel, but let's not forget that his hip issue is serious.

Thomas is the backbone of the team.

Bergeron is worth every penny.

Much as I like them, let the vets go (Yelle, Recchi, etc) and try to sign both K's. We can always pick up a veteran at the trading deadline.

Mickey, I agree we cannot sign all of our veterans but we will need some of them that do the dirty work , like Yelle and Axelsson did all year.
Might be too late to wait for trade deadline.
Cheers!

I still think that the signing priority for the Bruins should be; Krejci, Hunwick, Kessel. After that, Bitz and PJ are pretty much co-equal. With Krejci gone for at least a month of the season, maybe more and Yelle unlikely to be resigned, that brings us down to the following forwards from the PK this year: Savard & Bergeron to start the season, you can toss Wheeler in, but i would be something less than shocked to find out he had a new arena to travel to in October. Theoretically you can bring Reich back up next year to play the PK, and run the fourth line with Thornton if he's resigned.

With luck Vladimir "The Terror from Trebic" Sobotka who has been a point per game guy in Providence this year will be up and stay up next year. He's fast, not quite Kessel fast but he can probably go stride for stride with Wheeler or Sturm, he was used on the PK here. With Krejci downchecked for at least a bit having him, doing what Bergeron did this season as combination scoring and checking line center might work.

Of course my dream is that Wideman & Ward get moved for some good picks, and that we sigh Jay-Bo for two years at 4.5 a piece. Yes, I know i can keep dreaming.

Money wise for Krejci, Kessel and Hunwick... I think if we can get Krejci for $3.5, Kessel for $3 and Hunwick for $1.85-2 for each of the next two years that PC should probably start writing his hall of fame entry speech.

My semi-insane off season trade of the week is Wheeler and the 09 first round pick for Evander Kane.

Kessel, Krejci, Hunwick, Lucic, Wheeler. You have to say good bye to AT LEAST 2 of them thanks to the Penguins and Jordan Staal. The Pens gave Staal 4 Million per so Kessel and Krejci will START their negotiations at that level. Krejci will get done first because he is the only replacement for Savard when he is up after next year. I fear Kessel will be shopped at the draft because in todays league his money and potential cap flexibility is worth more than his talent.

Oops, Glen Murry just skated past me. He's not really a forward, so there are actually 4 forward slots and 1 on defense, so ignore post #6.
That makes things tighter. One thing is certain - no matter what Chiarelli does, someone will complain.

SoCal - I agree with what you said except I would bring up Boychuk from Providence next year and not sign Sherrif Shane-o. I love him too - but its not going to work out. (Especially if they go after another defensemen).

Chara's $7.5M will kill this team going forward. Way too much for a guy that is a 3rd defenseman in my opinion. What to do......unload any one or all of these guys....Bergeron, Kobasew and Ward if its possible. Ference can go too since he is incapable of staying healthy. Wideman is another guy that should be shopped around...Unfortunately, in this environment they will have to take salary back so basically they will have to sign Hunwick and Kessel or Krejci...and then play hard ball with the holdout

Good point on Jordan Staal there. Here is a player who is a shoot first centerman with 77 total points over the last 2 seasons (playing 82 games each of those years). Krejci, on the other hand had 73 points this past year and was +37, is a 3 zone player who can play in every situation. I would imagine based on that he would command at least 6mil. That said, no way he makes more than Savard (right?) so we do have that on our side.
The contract on there that bugs me the most is Ryder's at 4mil. He did earn that this year, but I find it hard to believe we couldn't have signed him for 3.25/per (or even 3 mil/per) based his down season. A good sniper, could get 30 goals next year, but not without Krejci as his centerman.
Have to bring back Hunwick. Could be a huge part of this teams future D.
I don't think players can renegotiate their contracts during the middle of them to free up cap space like they do in the NFL.

nash, lets see, you want to get rid of Chara, Ward, Wideman, Kobasew, Bergeron, Thomas, and Claude Julien just to name a few.
Sounds like a recipe for success to me...

One thing that everyone seems to ignore is utilizing your AHL affiliate as a CAP Buster. There are guys like Patrice Bergeron that can be sent down to Providence and his $4.75 million can free up space. In addition, you have insurance on the farm when the injuries occur. The Bruins have Schaeffer down there now, because he is a dog, and the Penguins sent Satan down for a bit as well. You don't have to worry about another team claiming them on waivers, because other teams don't want to be strapped with a bad contract either.

You are correct. NHL contracts can not be renegotiated.

Eric you are suggesting send down Bergeron to Providence, WHY would you ever do that? Not only would that send a bad example to the team that would really be a swift kick in the pants to Bergeron.

Booch - Why would I send down Bergeron? Because he is not worth $4.75 million dollars for 39 pts. in the regular season and 5 in the playoffs. He is ranked as the 20th highest paid center in the game, yet his point production is 77th. Stephane Yelle can do what Patrice does for a lot less money. You could then take the $4 million dollars and use it to sign Kessell, Krejci, Hunwick, Bitz, and a Free Agent Defensemen that can move the puck.

Putting Bergeron up for grabs on waivers - especially re-entry wavers where the Bruins would have to eat half his salary AND loose him would be a bad, bad idea. Trade him for assets you desire, hold on to him to see if he gets back to being a point-per-game player, but don't let the other teams dictate whether you keep him and how much compensation you get.

DrCC- Who is going to trade for Bergeron? If most of us think he is not worth $4.75 million dollars, what makes you think that there is a GM in the NHL that thinks he is worth it? As far as I am concerned if someone claimed him on the waiver wire, that free's up the cash the Bruins need to sign more productive players not only next year, but the following year when Lucic and others hit the market. Satan was sent down in March and he had only a $3.5 million dollar contract with the same production as Bergeron and nobody took a flyer on him for only $875K for the rest of the year, even though he is a UFA. What makes you think that a team will claim Bergeron at $2.5 Million for next year and $5.75 million the following year? Jacobs has the pockets to pay a few bad salaries to guys playing in Providence to make a run at the cup, and he has shown the willingness before to spend. ( although many of you think otherwise)

If you think no one would want him, you may need to re-watch the games against Carolina. He may not have scored - but he almost always made things happen while on the ice, and with more support from his wings probably would have made the difference in the series. If he plays as he did, and gets half his goal scoring ability back there are many teams that would be happy to have him. Toronto, Columbus, Colorado, all are likely to be interested in centers and could probably be persuaded to give up more than waiver mandated compensation for him.

Stop bagging on Bergy. The guy had an off-season in terms of points - came back from 2 concussions and played well for the most part. He does a lot of little things very well that the casual fan wouldn't see. Huge defensively, huge in the faceoff circle - if 2010 isn't his year then perhaps it may be time to dump him at the trade deadline - but I think he's a Bruin through and through. Remember, he's still very young, not much older than Kessel or Krejci.

If Glen Murray's salary wasn't on the books along with Chara and Thomas' inflated salaries....

Calling Chara's salary over pay is absolutely absurd.
Yes, he is the most highly paid Dman in the NHL.
He had 50 points, 169 hits, 128 blocked shots, and 28 takeaways, in 80 games and 2,085:28 total TOI

The next two guys on the list are Lindstrom & Campbell. Lindstrom is older than dirt and put up numbers of:59 points, in 78 games, 43 hits, 67 blocked shots, and 26 takeaways. With 1,936:08 for TOI.

Campbell 52 points, 34 hits, 15 takeways 72 blocked shots, 1,851:06 TOI in 82 games.

To put that in perspective: Mark Stuart had more blocked hits and almost as many blocked shots as those two put together, and played more SHTOI than Campbell, where as Z played about twice what Campbell did. Within a minute of Lindstrom.

Overpaid? Um... sure, what color is the sky in your world today?

I've said it before, but Bergy contributes in so many ways. I agree with DrCC. He is an aggressive, strong force on the ice, especially on the forecheck. The guy also came back to quickly from his second concussion and probably risked his career for this team and this, well, your city. I'd be far more grateful than turning on the guy because of his numbers. I bet more than 20 teams would take him for $2.5M/year. Look at what you get for $2M these days.

If we went by the numbers, then Ward and all of his intangibles and off-scoresheet contributions would be traded or cut. But most everyone agrees he brings a lot to the team. In fact, anyone notice Hnidy had more points than Ward in the same # of games, and the same points in the post-sbut in 1/3rd fewer games. We'd never say Ward and Hnidy should swap 1-3 line positions.

Lidstrom...Its spelled LIDSTROM!

posted comment:
"If most of us think he is not worth $4.75 million dollars, what makes you think that there is a GM in the NHL that thinks he is worth it?"

I'm sure there are GMs out there who want Bergeron just like there are people here who think he's worth it. Especially for a team thats got alot of cap room. Maybe the Bruins don't get equal value in return as far as players, but they open up some cap space.

Personally, I don't think he's worth his salary. Thats not to say he's not a good player, but he certainly is not worth $4.75M. You don't pay a player that type of money just to do the little things & be good in the faceoff circle. You alos need to produce on offense & he's not the goal scorer or playmaker that Savard & Krecji are.
And then some are going to blame his wingers? PLEASE! All of a sudden his wingers gone bad? The same wingers that seem to produce when they play w/ Krecji or Savard.

If Krecji can be signed for cheaper money, then he's has more value the Bergeron & Bergeron would be the one shopped around. With the Bruins close to the cap limit, sacrifices have to be made in the best interest of the team.

You know, trading Chara isn't such a far-fetched, crazy idea. The Bruins would eliminate his high cap figure and the Bruins would be able to fetch a great return for sure. Of course, the Bruins will need to get a #1 defenseman in return or have to sign someone like Jay Bo.

Chara will probably win the Norris, logs alot of minutes, can score, big, physical, etc. We all know his assetts. But he's been injured in both playoff years w/ the Bruins, has been traded or released by two other teams. Regardless, his salary is still high at $7.5M and it eats up alot of cap space for ONE player.

I'm sure PC being a good GM listens to & considers all offers and is open to all suggestions and possibilities.

DrCC and Todd C- You guys are missing the point. He does do the things that you state well. However, those things can be done by paying someone like Yelle $750K. It's not about if I like Bergeron or not, it is about the salary cap and what $4.75 million dollars needs to represent on the scoresheet. And don't act like he was on a helicopter line (no wings).

I agree that Bergeron may be a necessary cap casualty, I just think the Bruins can get reasonable return on him in a trade. I did some crunching, and after the second concussion (and including playoffs) he averaged almost identical points-per-game as Jordan Staal. Staal's extension will carry a cap hit of $4 million a year - not that far off from Bergeron's.
As for wingers, the one play that really stuck out at me was when he was battling along the boards for a good 15-20 seconds against TWO Carolina players, and still managed to get the puck out towards the net ... only to find not a single Bruin anywhere on the tv screen.. It may not have been a helicopter line (that's a great one, by the way) but it sure looked like one then.

Eric

Name three current Bruins who have scored 30 or more goals in a Bruins uniform.

Then name the top three forwards for PK minutes per game on the B's this season.

After that, name the guy who finished 12th in the NHL in faceoff win percentage, and despite less games actually won more faceoffs than 3 guys ahead of him. It should be noted that guys like Gomez, Spezza, Crosby, Lecavalier, Getzlaf, and Drury who are all payed a couple million a year more than this mystery man all finished below him.

b&gbleeder- You are making my point for me. You want to pay Bergeron $4.75 million dollars to kill penalties and win face-offs. You can get Manny Maholtra who was 4th in face-off % for $1.2 milliion or Radek Bonk who was 3rd for $1.6 Million and both of them put up similar pts. to Bergeron. In addition, please reach into your pocket and remove the pipe, as you must be smoking if you are mentioning Bergeron in the same category as the players that you listed. I can hear it now, "Hi Ray, it's Peter, will you trade me Sid the Kid for Patrice Bergeron. Why are you laughing Ray, he has a better face-off winning % and kills penalties", dial tone. Tell me another third line center that is making $4.75 million and I will show you a team trying to figure out how to get out from under that contract as well.

Begeron healthy is not a third line center. Recchi who's played for a tiny bit of time in the NHL called him the best defensive center he's seen.

And given his late season performance, I suspect Bergeron will be back at 20+ goals next season. And trading Sid for Bergeron would actually improve the Pens, they might be able to afford a viable blueline. Right now they have Hall Gill, some octogenarian offensive defenseman and some pylons on skates. Bergeron scored 31 goals in a season where he was the biggest offensive threat and faced the top defense every night and played more than twenty minutes a game some nights.

And Malhotra has never put up more than twelve goals in a season. Meaning that in half the time Bergeron has put up more goals, assists and points than Malhotra in 11. Bonk in more than three times the games as Bergeron barely has twice the numbers and has again _never_ broken 30 goals. And of course there is the fact that Bergeron has carried the "A" at 23, neither of those two does, which likely means there is less organizational faith in them.

Sorry, your math is off. Try again if you like.

Eric, your point is well taken & I share the same feelings. We could get a player to do those same things at alot less than $4.75M. When a player gets that much, he needs to produce & his play has to stand out.
I like Bergeron, but his production & overall game does not justify his hefty contract. If we need to move a player or centerman to do it, then Bergeron is the one to move out.
But there is no arguing or debating w/ some here when they lock onto a favorite player or two. They will praise or justify them any way, any how. So to look at Bergerons hefty contract in a tight cap & to justify it w/ lame face-off percentage win is lame & ridiculous.
Did winning more face-offs get us into the next round? And Carolina was 3of 10 on the pp at one point in the series where I think they scored only 1 ppg in all of the Jersey series. It must have been Bergerons other pk partner sucked.

OK.... We all know the B's have a lot of dealing to do in the offseason... There is a lot of talk about signing the 2 K's and rightfully so. My personal belief is that DEFENSE wins championships. Not just in hockey but ALL sports. If you need some proof, just look into it..... I think the B's need to address the situation with the free agents on the blue line right after the K's situation gets settled.... Shane Hnidy is a very nice compliment for Mark Stuart on the 3rd line and he can be signed for short money. The B's did as well as they did this year due to DEPTH deep into their roster .....I would send Montador packing ..WAAAAY too many scary decisions made when trying to move the puck up ice..... ....Huge signing in Hunwick (proven he can play with the big boys)...... Free up some more $$$ and let one of the defensive W's leave even though I like Ward.
I also cant see why Patrice Bergeron is making $4.75 million to be a 3rd liner...That is a VERY steep price to pay for any 3rd liner... He has not proven anything to me yet. He is also another player you can move. Do it before its too late because I can not see his numbers getting any better. Especially if he keeps his head down looking at the puck anymore. He also is a lost soul on the PP and can not play the point in that situation.
Savard should be locked up for a while as he is pure and has "soft" hands...His skills are better than anyone on this team.....Lucic and Bitz are your future Big Bad Bruins and fit the Boston mold to a "T"..... Recchi, "thank you for your time." P.J. I love ya but you can not skate with the 20 yr. olds anymore.......