Chiarelli comments on free agency
As expected, the Bruins didn't do anything big once free agency opened at noon today. Instead, they tinkered with their lineup, signing unrestricted free agent forward Steve Begin to a one-year, $850,000 contract and re-signing restricted free agent Byron Bitz to a multi-year extension.
In the 31-year-old Begin, the Bruins get a hard-nosed, agitating forward they know far too well from his days in Montreal. In Montreal's first-round win in 2007-08, Begin teamed with Bryan Smolinski and Tom Kostopoulos on a wrecking-ball line that regularly hammered Boston's best players. Toward the end of the regular season, Begin's cross-check to Marc Savard left the center with a broken bone in his back.
"He's a versatile player, a useful player, a gritty player," Chiarelli said. "He's a guy that can slide a little bit up the lineup. He can kill penalties. He'll wear the emblem on his sleeve. There are a lot of good things about him."
In 62 games last season between Montreal and Dallas, Begin scored seven goals and five assists while recording 42 penalty minutes.
"He's a tremendous, tremendous, competitive player and person," Chiarelli said. "He'll kill penalties. He'll fill a role. He has some energy. We're excited to get him."
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Yelle was much better in the room. He will be missed.
We still have a kick butt team that's gonna rock come October!!!!
Again, WTF!
This guy has less offensive upside than PJ, and spends less time in the lineup than Bobby Allen did.
Hells.
Can you actually have less offensive upside than PJ? Is that even possible? Love him as a penalty killer, but he was terribly offensively. I'll take him back, but when talking about PJ/Begin, it has little to do with offense.
Yes, yes you can. Go dig up his stats, I think i had to go to the Stars site, and look at his career stats there. Him and PJ came into the league the same year (Savvy too) and he's played about half as many games as PJ...
If this means Axey is gone all I can say is.....THANK GOD!!!!!!! He scored more goals than Axelsson did I think............
its not just about offense/defense, hes a gritty fourth line player we were missing in the playoffs, i applaud PC for trying to move us into a more big bad bruins type of team.
this deal probably means one of our third line players will be moved to fit sobotka into the lineup as he doesnt pencil in at the moment.
lucic savard (kessel)
wheeler krejci ryder
sturm berg kobasew
bitz begin thornton
(t
Nash, you must be a moron. PJ was consistently put on the ice against other teams best goal scorers and he shut them down. He's done it to Ovie, Crosby, St. Louis, etc. You can't measure someone's value to a team based solely on points.
Great resigning of Bitz
sometimes I wonder how many of you posting comments actually understand the game of hockey. PJ is not gone yet: he's exploring the market. Moreover, PJ is an integral player to the Bruins and can be put in all on-ice situations. If you're paying attention to the games, ask yourself how many times PJ makes mistakes on the ice. There's not many that come to mind. Scoring is important in hockey, but so is knowing how to play the system. PJ understands too well the nuances of the game. If we lose him, it's to our loss.
waste of money!
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