Sabourin, Fata signed

Oh my goodness, Anthony Amico was right. The Bruins signed an inexpensive veteran back up for Tank and Rask will be back in Providence. :) NOT!!!!

Well I don't see Sabourin up with the Bruins but he will keep Rask honest.
He's more a security cusion.
ANALYSIS:
Bruins will need in case of injury to Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask.
As for Fata isn't he a foward ? didn't he play with the Pens a few years back ?
Now he's a blueliner ?

BS Legion,

You're thinking of Rico Fata. Drew Fata is a defenceman

BsLegion, your thinking Ricco

thanks Cameron

MORE NOBODIES ,,,,OH I FEEL THE EXCITEMENT OF ANOTHER EARLY PLAYOFF EXIT ALREADY!! BUT REALLY,, WHO CARES, SO LONG AS JERRY SELLS HOT DOGS. AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT!
ONLY THE BRUINS COULD FIND THE "SECOND BEST" FATA IN HOCKEY.

rico fata was really good in NHL 07 for some reason

Rico is one of the Biggest Busts, was a number 6 pick overall and never amounted to anything in the show. I watched him in the AHL all-star game in Rochester and couldn't believe his skating ability, not sure why he couldn't get er done?

And in other Bruins News. Craig Mctavish and his agent are in negotiations with Ciarelli to bring him out of retirement for one more season with the B's. Management feels that Craig still has the ability to score up to 5 goals a season,and think they can bring him in and keep the team under the cap. He should make a great linemate with Grampa Recchi. Jurassic Line t-shirts are said to be set to print, awaiting word of the signing.
Also, hot dog sales last year exceeded the 2 previous seasons, and are projected to continue to improve.

The Fata signing is obviously a response to the Flyers trading for Pronger.

Rask's cap hit is 3.1 mil when his bonus is included. Due to this he will be in Providence for the first 40-50 games playing while TT holds the Bruins fort. He will play full time in Providence and when his cap hit is no longer as much of an issue at the year's end due to his limited number of games for the cap he will be up or will replace TT in case of injury . Sabourin's signing will keep the goaltending $$ low for the cap backing up TT and freeing up money for Kessel or a top4 Dman acquired in a trade for Kessel.

Phil R U Anthony's Brother?

Fluto - Please clarify Rask's Deal again for the umpteenth time!

Maybe you should just put it in every post. :)

Dave - U must be a Habs fan. Zip it already about ownership. That argument doesn't work anymore. Furthermore his name is Jeremy not Jerry. Take your negative @$$ somewhere else.

Phil, I'm going to guess that you concentrated on the Sox until this season - like most fans who know nothing. Rask is will not achieve his bonuses unless he is a starter - in which case Timmy would be on IR and his cap hit would be manageable. Thomas and Rask will be 1 and 2 on opening night unless something dramatically changes.

Trade Tuuka. His cap hit is way too high for a backup goaltender. 3.2 million a year? Come on now. Sabourin can handle backup duty.

phil: bonuses are not counted toward the cap unless they are earned next year; therefore Rask's cap hit would be low (850) unless he achieves bonuses (unlikely due to the fact that he is the backup for 09-10).

Rask's cap hit isn't $3.1 million.

Why are people so stupid?

Fata? I didn't know the Palestinians played Hockey!

wow we have some geniuses here huh. tuukka is the future star goaltender of the bruins. his cap hit isnt 3.1, we should all know this by now. hes in a perfect position to succeed given he'll play 40% of the games. we're not screwing him up like we did with blaine lacher, hannu toivanen, etc. anyone that knows hockey understands the sky is the limit with rask. the signings today are to improve Providence's defense (fata), because, theres more than just the big boys chiarelli has to worry about, and sabourin provides veteran depth if thomas/rask gets hurt. the jeremy jacobs argument is irrelevant given the fact the bruins spend right up to the cap (you know, the whole can't sign kessel because we've spent up to the cap).

Told ya
you will listen to me soon enough. With a deal of 5 years for TT it makes no sense to bring Rask up. Eric if you think he is ready then you think he is ready to sit on the bench. That wouldn't be right, it would be like making Buchholz the long man this season

fu1eye and Lucic glad you finally said it !! I'm fedup of explaining that Rask can hit 3.1 !!

The only thing I really can't understand about the whole Tuukka Rask is the goalie of the future is that the Bruins signed Tim Thomas to a Four year extension for over 4 million a year. It's fine to think that they will reverse roles but what is someone signs Rask to an offer sheet for 3 million a year at the end of next season and if the bruins are forced to match it you have the Khabibulin/Huet dilemma of close to $8 million tied up in your starter and back-up. I think Rask is part of a trade, possibly with Kessel for a top 4 d-man and then some.

ha! I love it, charlie boy and mr. smithers burns are not fooling anyone! the B's will ALWAYS mess up a free lunch!

heres and idea...with Thomas locked up for 4 more years trade, use Rask as trade bait and develope Reagan. in a year or two Rask will be the next Roberto Luango, so move him for a true scorer out west.

Interesting. The Bruins have the best record in the conference, go seven in the quarterfinals, but so many of you just can't keep from jeering. Tell you what, go imagine how much fun it's been being an Islanders, a Lightning or a Thrashers fan the last couple years before the next round of whining. Swear to God, I think anything but a Cup is a waste of a season for the fairweather fans out there, and come July AFTER a Cup win the whiners will be out in force again. Tell you what, why not just stick to Fenway and stay with your pink hats, huh?

First off, Lucic, I couldn't agree with you more about anything...soulmates?

Secondly, Dave, you are obviously an absolute tool who shouldn't have been let out of his mother's house. Crawl back, and leave this space alone for people who actually know what the sport of hockey is...I hear there is a bingo game tomorrow night...have fun, pahhhtnaaaa...

This is a good signing. He's not good enough to breath down Rasks neck but he is good enough to bring up in an emergency. By the way, to the loser just looking for trouble...get a life.

Providence needs a goaltender now that Rask is up. That's all.

Also, there was a reason the Bruins gave a contract extension at that time last year. His age being a big factor (35years + old contracts) . If Thomas performance goes down and not able to perform as a number 1 they can buy him out . Look it up !
As for Rask , he'll get his chance soon enough , this year he has to prove at training camp he's ready for the NHL , then he'll be the backup and we'll see the following year if he can play more and more and eventually be a number 1.
I think the Bruins are being prudent and smart on the development of Rask.

What's with Chiarelli? last time i checked, the Bruins still hadn't won the Cup last year. But to look at Chiarelli's posturing and positioning and standing pat etc you'd swear they had. Sitting back is well n fine as a strategy, but, meanwhile their Divisional rivals are all getting better, stronger. What the 'bleeps' the plan with Kessel already? What's the plan? Sign him or to replace him? To make Cap Room or to cry poor as you die the death of a thousand Steve Begins? I'm sorry, but as of today, the Bruins don't look improved from the team that was bounced by a stronger, hungrier Carolina this past Spring. I don't see the holes that were revealed by the Hurricanes being patched, filled or addressed. All i see, or hear, is a vacuum of information from Pete.
To this end, one of the biggest, if not the biggest holes to fill is at Centre. All the good teams, all the winners, have 'a horse' at the Centre position, The Pens had two (Crosby/Malkin ...and J. Staal as understudy); The Wings, two (Zetterburg/Franzen); The Canes beat the Bruins with one (Staal). Who is the Bruins horse? The guy who can take the team on his back at crucial moments? it wasn't Joe Thornton, apparantly, so, who will or could be? Savard? Bergeron? Krejci? To mix metaphors, 'Horses' don't grow on trees. I'm willing to concede that, perhaps this is what's driving Pete's (Julien's) trepidatious feelings about Phiol Kessel but If Kessel isn't that horse, who is? If not Kessel, then Pete needs to be cooking up something a lot larger than Mark Recchi, Steve Begin, Drew Fata, Dany Sabourin...C'mon Pete, dazzle us.

With all due respect to those who offer their opinions here, I think there are some on this board who should not forget our club was picked by most so-called "experts" to finish anywhere from EIGHTH to TENTH place before the start of last season! While its true other teams have made changes, they don't always translate into IMPROVEMENTS! Other clubs (i.e. Habs, Leafs) had far bigger holes to fill than the Bruins did this off-season. Should we not trust in PC's judgement on what our team lacks/does not lack and look forward to the upcoming season with some sense of optimism and reasonable expectations instead of impending doom?

This is a 116 point club that hopefully has learned they must show up to compete every night and that effort can't be turned on at will! Perhaps then we'll go deep into the playoffs and not have results like that of the Carolina series. The ultimate goal is to win the Cup, right? Let's see how far our boys can go and along the way not lose sight of the current management team not being the brutal Sinden/O'Dumbell tandem. These are the Boston Bruins and thankfully not the circus that is the Tampa Bay Lightning!

Theo- U must remember that it is still early. Peter doesn't have to do anything regarding Kessel. They have made their qualifying offer and nobody has tendered him an offer.

As far as centers go, I think that you are underestimating Savard And Krejci. If you look at the playoff stats, Savard had 13 pts in 11 games for 1.18 per game with 2 GW goals. Krejci had 8 pts in 11 games (with a hip that required surgery) for .73 per game and 1 GW goal. Compare that to Zett avg. 1.04 pts. with 0 GW goals, Franzen avg. 1 pt with 3 GW goals, Malkin avg. 1.5 pts with 3 GW goals, and Sid avg. 1.3 with 2 GW goals. I think the Bruins centers stats hold up pretty well. They may not be Secrateriat, but they aren't miniature ponies either.

Oh no, the Bruins did something to help the guys in Providence develop, the HORROR! the HORROR! OH EM GEE THE HORROR!!

Steady rise for 3 straight years.
That's enough dazzle for me.
B's Legion, good call on the loophole allowing them out of TT's contract if needed (I was reading up on it the other day and didn't even realize it could be applied to Thomas).
Anthony, they sign a "depth veteran" goalie for Providence and your crowing about how right you are? This has more to do with Regan than Rask. Rask will be the backup and will play as warranted.
Theo, do you think there are any other teams out there that would like to have Savard, Krejci, and Bergeron as their top 3 centers? I'd say most would.
To all you continually "sky is falling" dunces, there are 25 teams (at least) that would trade places with the B's in a heartbeat. They are deep, talented, and are not building this team to placate nitwits in the middle of summer. I'm sure the FO is saddened by the fact that you boys don't approve of the length of the Kessel negotiations, sign him or trade him, what does it matter? you'll hate the results either way.

I agree with Chrystal Phoenix - it's so annoying having all those haters post on here about jacobs for the millionth time or how they haven't made a "splash" during the offseason because management is dumb. The reason they can't get anyone "big" is because they would have to unload Savard or Chara or Thomas, which isn't something that's going to happen. And I don't think Kessel is worth $5 mill. That was his first breakout season where many of his goals were late game or garbage goals. That's not a bad thing at all, but I'd certainly like to see Savard or Krejci with the puck late in a game and shouldn't he be paid more than them. I'd hate to see him leave, but he's not worth what he's asking. Please just leave the real fans who know what they're talking about here and join the canadiens fans, cause you're just as bad.

Topics Never to be discussed again:

1. Rasks salary being over 850K: Flutos explained it 900 times go check the last mailbag damm
2. Ownership not willing to spend money: When we are struggling to stay UNDER the cap??
3. The Bruins not making any major moves: Explain to me why they have to make giant moves when the team had 116pts last year. A) They will be healthy: Sturm, Krejc, Ferrence, Hunwick et al. 2) They gained a crap load of experiance by playing with each other and within a great system: Lucic will be better, krejc will be better, wheeler will be better....so lets make some giant move because everyone else is?? 4) Free agency started a week ago. They have until Oct to sign hunwick, convince kessel if he wants to win sign a 1 yr deal and get paid via arbitration or a long term deal next year when the cap has more of a direction. Or trade him for a # 2 D man who will create more offense anyways. Any other comments are welcomed, thanks

Flavor Flave comin correct! I couldn't have summized it better myself. Outstanding post my friend.

Crystal Phoenix, seaobrien, and flave have got it right. Unfortunately the whiners don't read your comments and do not understand the concept of reason.

I personally cannot wait until training camp and the season opener!

I see most of you failed to take your rose colored glasses off after a barely decent team whooped the Bruins butts out of the playoffs. This team isn't good, is not getting any better, and wont be .Winning in the regular season means nothing, unless Menino had a " thanks for nothing parade" and i missed the headlines.
Face it,, common denominator here is the owner. If you think bringing it up doesn't work anymore, why do you always cry like a schoolgirl when its tossed in your face?

No one's crying, Dave. It's just stupid.

As a proud member of the "rose-coloured glasses" gang, I'd like to suggest to those whose continued pre-occupation with the owner, GM, Rask's "3.2 million" salary and other issues not based in reality, please close your eyes very tightly and pretend this is the 1999 / 2000 season when our club finished with a total of 73 points and 24 wins. Your attitude better suits that era!

seems to me the haters in here reveal themselves unintentionally, with such hints as "centre" instead of "center". Habs fan, I suspect? Sweep still hurt?

This is a team that spends right up to the cap limit, has loads of talent, and in the end, just didn't get the job done when the chips were on the table. So how is this the owner's fault? I'm not a Jacobs fan by any means (wish he would sell the team), but the Bruins are nearly at the cap and are still trying to get Kessel and Hunwick signed. This isn't baseball. You can't just go out and sign any player off the free agent market. I wish we could, but let's all be realistic about this. The B's haven't made any "big moves" yet because they don't have the cap space to do it. That has nothing to do with the owner.

Dave,
Your right winning in the reg season doesn't mean anything, its just how you get to the playoffs. And finishing first isn't important it is how you attain home ice advantage through the playoffs, although I'm sure the B's didn't enjoy when you ran out to get your playoff tickets to only yell "shoot it!" when its in the Bruins zone. No one's bringing ownership up anymore because it is irrelevant. The Jacobs didn't give Rechi Kidney stones or punch Hunwick in the spleen or cause any of the other injuries that had them having guys like hnidy and montador playing in the playoffs. So get over it you sound like a pissed off ex BF whose girl friend has moved on but clearly you haven't.

Dave, are you green and live in a garbage can? Someone who possess "clear vision" and an understanding of the game wouldn't call losing a 7 game series IN 7 games "getting their butts whooped". You're probably the type who would find fault even if the Cup were won by the Bruins. I can hear you now; 'Yeah, it's great they won the Cup, no thanks to Jacobs though. They just got lucky is all.'

Cups they won with jacobs? Nixon was president, gas was 32 cents a gallon, 1 dollar bought a loaf of bread, a quart of milk and a pack of cigarettes. penny candy existed . Dime stores were what dollar stores are now. anyone 36 and under wasn't even born yet. The bruins gagged after a bad call on Axelson in the first period in game 7, and never responded, couldn't score a goal with multiple powerplays, and were lucky to even get to overtime. Don't give me the crap about injuries. Everyone in the league has injuries after a season of playing hockey.
Do you think Carolina was healthy? You're all a bunch of wining women making excuses for the B's and there inability to win . Home ice advantage doesn't mean much if you lose at home.

No disrespect intended but Post # 46 sounds like he could brighten any room just by LEAVING it!

Dear Dave,

#1: the only person REALLY whining is you.
#2: I am a woman and I would thank you to not make derogatory comments towards our sex in your feeble attempts to insult everyone here. Clearly you lack class.

Sorry everyone, guess you are all right and I am wrong. This is the greatest team ever~!! Going all the way!! Kessels gonna score 85 goals this year!!
What was I thinking? How can a team that wasn't even close to good enough last year not win the next 10 stanley cups? I mean,, you must be right. Who needs common sense when hooplah truly dictates how great a team is?
You know,, every player in the league loves playing for a team that only gives contracts for 1/2 the years that every decent team does.
I hang my head in shame here. All of your udder hockey brilliance leaves me no choice but to say you are right and I am wrong. Everyone go jockey for your seats on the parade route now, come neext year, it will be sttanding room only!!

Dave makes me feel like Johnny Upton walking out of the room after the Hansons:

"It's f------ embarrassing"

Dave is right.
Let's just stop being fans and complain about how bad they really are. This team is nowhere and will never win anything...ever. The Jacobs' caused all this. This front office is stupid. There is no reason for hope. If your team doesn't win the Stanley Cup in X amount of years, all of their fans should be forced stop watching and cheering for them and only follow the current Champion. They shouldn't even have a season, just go to the playoffs and eliminate the B's by mid-October. They can't win at home. Last year wasn't enjoyable at all. One bounce away from the Eastern Finals, Bah! The coach is terrible. When Rask ruins the cap space, you'll see! Who cares about the future? You morons posting about hockey in July...get a life! The fact is, the B's are the worst. Chara is dog with NO hockey sense. They have no depth. Orr and Shore are not walking through that door. We should hope the B's don't even make the playoffs so we can deprive the Jacobs' of their concession money. Why do we even bother? Hockey is stupid anyways. This franchise is DOOMED! I wish Dave was our Owner, GM, Coach and top scorer. Then, just maybe, we'd have a chance.
; - )

Seo? how do you know I'm not the owner? Don't I sound like the kind of guy who would own a team that hasn't won a cup in 37 years?

Dave, that was actually pretty funny.

You should go root for the Red Wings, but apparently they can't seal the deal on home ice anymore either. Try the Penguins.

Honestly though, as hard as it is to imagine, if the B's don't win the cup for another 37 years, I, and a large bunch of hockey lovers in this town would still consider ourselves Bruins fans. We're not a bunch of front runner bandwagoneers, and will cheer for our team until we die. Most fans are casual (i.e. front runners), but those who stick it out through thick and thin are the true fans, not just of the Bruins but of the great game of hockey. It'll also be that much sweeter for us when they do win. This team has made good strides in the last 3 years and there are plenty of reasons for optimism. They should be one of the contenders next season and with the bad loss to the Canes in memory, I think they will be tougher and will be better for the experience. I constantly relate this past season to the '03 Sox. There are a lot of parallels. Rose colored glasses? sure, why not? Better than crap covered glasses. If you choose to be a constant glass is empty (not even half empty) guy, a'la Nash, that is your right. Try to enjoy your disdain for us and our club. I'm just glad most of us don't share your bleak views.