Bruins dealing with latest NHL drama
After the NHL’s latest debacle that was the Ilya Kovalchuk contract saga, the league is now going to be reviewing other front-loaded contracts.
This does not bode well for Boston Bruins and forward Marc Savard.
Savard signed a seven-year contract with the Bruins on Dec. 1 that pays him $28.05 and a yearly cap hit around $4 million. However, the NHL seems to now have a problem with these types of front-loaded contracts and will be looking at Savard, among others, to determine whether or not they can be deemed valid. Other players being looked at are Chris Pronger (7-years, $4.9 cap hit), Marian Hossa (12-years $5.2 cap hit) and Roberto Luongo (12-years, $5.3 cap hit).
If the NHL does indeed go back and nullify these contracts it would be a big move not only for the NHL, but the world of sports. To void a contract that the league has already approved will likely not go over to well, so it would be an edgy move for Gary Bettman (5-years, $WAYTOMUCH cap hit) to pull.
For the Bruins, who sit $3 million above the cap are certainly looking for a way to free up some room would not want to go back to the negotiating table with a guy they were recently (and still are) shopping. If the contract voided the odds of Savard remaining in Beantown aren’t good. Savvy stated that if the Bruins were going to trade him, he would like to go to a team in Southern Ontario to be close to his family. So that means the Bruins would be sending their top playmaking centre to a division rival in the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators with no return.
Having Savard back in form for the 2010-11 season is big for the Bruins. This is a guy who only missed eight games since 2005, before missing Xx games this past season. In all likelihood, second-overall pick in this year’s draft Tyler Seguin will make the team out of training camp and having Savard for him to look up too would be brilliant for the kid’s maturation in to a legitimate NHLer.
The Bruins have a lot of depth at the centre position, with Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Dan Paille, not to mention Joe Colborne and Zach Hamill waiting for their chance at the big club. But you cannot go wrong with a wily veteran like Savvy, who brings grit, tenacity and magic hands to each and every game he plays in.
With the recent addition of Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers, it once again gives Savard the goal-scoring winger to play with. Horton may not have the game breaking shot of Phil Kessel, but he is a big body that knows how to put the puck in the net.
Pending the league’s decision, if the Bruins do have to move forward without number 91 in their lineup, you will see Krejci move in to the role as number one centre. Before suffering a playoff ending injury off the Mike Richards hit, Krejci stepped his game and showed everyone why the Bruins are excited about this kid. He quickly developed chemistry with UFA Miroslav Satan and gave glimpses of the playmaker he can be.
I would like to see Savard stick around, because it could be another season or two before Krejci is ready to step in to the number one centre role. There is also Seguin to think about, because one has to think that he will quickly rise up the depth chart in the coming years. To think that if the Bruins keep their centre core together in the coming years that Patrice Bergeron would be fourth on the depth chart boggles my mind.
It shouldn’t be too long for the league to come to a decision on the front-loaded contract situation. They will have to give enough time for the teams to renegotiate before the season begins.
Its just one big sticky mess that’s also know as the National Hockey League.
Brandon Macdonald
NHLHS Boston Bruins Correspondent
bmacdonald@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter @bMacdonald8
