National Hockey League: Bruins sign Daniel Paille for $2.15 million
As soon as free agency opened, the Bruins General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, signed Left winger Daniel Paille to a two year, 2.15 million dollars contract. Ever since, though, the Bruins have been on the sidelines avoiding the Free agency frenzy. Just before free agency opened Chiarelli was a busy man. In the days leading up to the free agency the Bruins re-signed winger Shawn Thorton for a 1.625 million dollars contract for two years. They put 13 million dollars in to defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, committing him to the Bruins for the next four years.
The star of the new Bruins line up though was Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick of the 2010 draft. With Tyler and the trade with Florida for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell in exchange for Dennis Wideman, the Bruins now have very little cap room. The Bruins just can’t go free agent hunting. GM Chiarelli had a strong side going into the draft and came out even stronger with Tyler and Nathan. Chiarelli wanted to add to his forwards and with that there no longer is any dire need for him to be looking for more. Of course no one would ever say no to a good option. The Salary Cap means that the best the Bruins can get is a trade. Chiarelli said that unless something came up in terms of a worthwhile trade, he is done shopping for this season.
Apart from Paille, the only move the Bruins made was Jeremy Reich. Reich was offered a one year contract with Bruins. It didn’t exactly create waves in the NHL world but the deal that should be no reflection on Reich’s value as a player. For most of his career, Reich has played with the Bruins. He isn’t a goal scorer and that is not what Chiarelli wants him for. He wants the 6’1” 203 lb Reich for the fury he brings to the ice. He might only have two goals and four assists but has 161 penalty minutes in his 99 NHL games, that’s the kind of player he is.
Daniel is a penalty killing specialist. He averaged a second short of 2 minutes of penalty kill per game leading other forwards with the Bruins. Chiarelli didn’t fail to notice. “He really shored up our penalty-killing and I thought he brought his speed to the line up in the forward group”, he said. The left wing forward has 10 goals and assists in 76 games. With his re-signing the Bruins edged closer to the Salary Cap making the relatively inexpensive Reich good value for money. Daniel’s signing was not short on economic good sense either. Chiarelli didn’t tender a qualifying offer to Daniel and ended up saving about 600,000 dollars.
Daniel wasn’t particularly disappointed. He said that he was extremely happy to return to the Bruins and that he had enjoyed his past season with the team. Even though he was not given a qualifying offer, he was glad to be in Boston. He said that his confidence improved. Something Chiarelli also touched up on, as the year went on and he believes that this year he could improve further.
Marc Savard’s name constantly came up in trade rumours. Mapple Leafs was allegedly gunning for Savard but their GM, Brian Burke, has silenced those rumours. Other rumoured contenders were the Ottawa Senators. But the Senators too are almost at their cap and the Savard deal seems more and more unlikely.
Currently the Calgary Flames are said to be trying to get their hands on Savard. Or maybe that too is just sporting rumours. Chiarelli wouldn’t mind more options but sticking with Savard won’t be an unwelcome outcome either. There is limited room in the Bruins cap if they want to spend up to the cap limit. They could increase the limit with the Savard or goaltender Tim Thomas trade or as the Bruins GM hinted already, simply stop shopping. It’s Chiarelli’s move.
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