IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR?
By Lowetide
8 years agoPeter Chiarelli took over as Boston Bruins GM on May 26, 2006. 36 days later, Zdeno Chara arrived via free agency and the battle was joined. On April 24, the Oilers hired Chiarelli to be their GM, but 36 days later there is no Chara in Edmonton. There are options available, and one of them plays for the Boston Bruins.
- Elliotte Friedman: With Dougie Hamilton as Boston’s number-one priority and a tight cap
situation, a couple sources said this week the Bruins informed UFA-to-be
Carl Soderberg that he was unlikely to be re-signed. Source
The Bruins have some legit cap issues and new GM Don Sweeney has some contracts that are going to be difficult to trade. David Krejci ($7.25M), Tuukka Rask ($7M), Zdeno Chara ($6.917M), Patrice Bergeron ($6.875M), Milan Lucic ($6M) represent $34 million—or about 48% of the reported $71 million cap for 2015-16 tied up with five major pieces of the cluster.
That leaves a window of opportunity for teams to pounce on unrestricted free agents like Soderberg, and possibly on RFA’s like the extremely talented Dougie Hamilton. Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe built a very strong case for an offer sheet, even outlining a possible ‘line in the sand’ where an offer might be too painful for the Bruins to match:
- Shinzawa: To sign a player for $7,305,316 to
$9,131,645 annually, a team would have to give up two firsts, one
second-, and one third-round pick. As highly as the Bruins think of
Hamilton, this would be a steep price to pay. Source
If the Oilers offered Dougie Hamilton a massive contract via offer sheet, the Bruins would do their damndest to match. If you look at the aging depth chart in Boston, Hamilton is vital to success over the next several years. My guess is that new GM Sweeney, Cam Neely and the Bruins would move heaven and earth to deny Chiarelli the opportunity.
Which brings us to the Phil Kessel trade. Chiarelli was on the other side of that deal, receiving impact picks that turned into Tyler Seguin and Hamilton as partial payment for Kessel. Is it worth Chiarelli’s time to go through the front door and pursue a trade, as Brian Burke did with the Leafs for the Kessel deal?
It would be expensive, the payment would level Edmonton’s 2016 draft and could include components on the Oilers roster and bubbling under.
Edmonton needs a top-pairing defenseman and that player needs to be young enough to grow with the group and good enough to make things happen opening night.
VOLLMAN SLEDGEHAMMER
Tough part of the graph (tough opposition, reasonably tough ZS) and a lovely blue bubble. He’s going to cost the moon. Thoughts?
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