NHL Transaction Madness Through July 1st

Before we get into everything happening in the NHL, let's quickly recap what's been happening with out Boston Bruins

Bostonians Resigning:

G Tuukka Rask – 1 year, $3.5M

C Chris Kelly – 4 years, $12M

C Gregory Campbell – 3 years, $4.8M

LW Daniel Paille – 3 years, $3.9M

New Bostonians:

LW Chris Borque – 2 years, $1.1M from Washington

Bostonians Moving On:

D Greg Zanon – 2 year, $4.5M to Colorado

LW Benoit Pouliot – 1 year, $1.8M to Tampa Bay

D Joe Corvo – 1 year, $2M to Carolina (THANK GOD!)

OK.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go over some of the key signings from the past few days.  I don’t really want to talk about teams resigning players because it’s not nearly as exciting to me – so all of these transactions that I’ll be discussing are big players moving to a new team.  And, again, these are just going to be little tidbits about the big moves happening right now. I’m actually on vacation – and if I were to go in depth about all of these moves I would be missing out on a life.  Yes, contrary to popular belief I actually have a life.

 

G Tomas Vokoun – 2 years, $4M, from Washington to Pittsburgh

As we all saw in last year’s playoffs, Fleury’s play can be a little inconsistent.  The signing of Vokoun is huge for the Pens who will have added depth in between the pipes and will always have Fleury forced to prove himself as a starter.  This pressure may force Fleury to step up his game and play better and more consistently down the stretch.  Great move for the Penguins, at an affordable price.

D Dennis Wideman – 5 years, 26.25M, from Washington to Calgary

Good for Wideman! That’s a pretty hefty contract!  Glad to see a Boston guy do well elsewhere.  The guy had a great season with Washington and was voted to his first All-Star game.  Last season he had 8G, 35A, 46P while averaging nearly 24 minutes of ice time per game.  I wonder if he’ll end up pairing with Bouwmeester? That’d be fun to watch!

RW Brandon Prust - 4 years, $10M, from NYR to Montreal

Man oh man; this is going to spice up the Boston-Montreal rivalry for sure. Prust is a grinding enforcer who will bring energy and veteran leadership to the Habs.  Ranger fans have been crying on twitter all day about him leaving.  Last year he had 5G, 12A, 17P and 156PIM in 82 games.  He will bring some fourth line production and major enforcement.  His tough and gritty play style is exactly what Montreal needs after a soft season.  Also, $2.5M a year ain’t bad for a 4^th liner eh?!

RW Pierre Parenteau – 4 years, $16M, from New York Islanders to Colorado

Damn, this upset me.  I wanted Chiarelli to go after PA, but Colorado got to him first.  We’ll see what kind of damage he can do alongside Matt Duchene this year in Colorado.  The Avalanche top line just got a lot scarier.  I keep saying that Parenteau is an underrated top 6 forward who can bring scoring and power play success and quite frankly I think he earned his contract after his last two seasons on Long Island.  The 1-2 punch from Parenteau to Duchene will be beautiful to watch next year.  You heard it first from me.

LW Ray Whitney – 2 years, $9M, from Phoenix to Dallas

Here’s a little confession, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Dallas Stars because of my love for Mike Modano.  Seeing a great player like the Wizard shipping off to Dallas made me smile.  He’s 40 years old but shows no signs of slowing down.  Last season he had 24G, 53A, 77P and a +26 rating for the Coyotes.  Yeah, he’s 40 years old!  Good move by Dallas to pick him up for 2 years. While expensive, Whitney will bring leadership and top 6 scoring to Dallas.  I’d really like to see him play with former Bruin forward Michael Ryder next season.  Hopefully he can help Ryder develop into a premier sniper in the NHL.

 

D Filip Kuba – 2 years, $8M, from Ottawa to Florida

All of my friends from Ottawa are really upset about losing Kuba.  I think Florida picked him up to fill Jason Garrison’s skates, which means he won’t be signing back with the Panthers. Chiarelli, pick him up!!! Last season Kuba had 6G, 24A for 32P with the Senators in 73 games.  4 million a year is a whole lot, can’t blame the guy for leaving.  He’ll bring 13 years of experience to the up-and-coming Panthers team as well. 

RW Arron Asham – 2 years, $2M, from Pittsburgh to NY Rangers

Not that big of a deal, just thought I should include it because this was clearly in response to losing Prust to Montreal.  Asham had 5G, 11A for 16P last year with the Penguin’s fourth line.  He also had 76 PIM.  Asham is a cheap, and smart, solution to losing Prust.  He will do well in Tortorella’s gritty system.

There is MUCH more to come in the next few days. Parise, Suter, Nash, they’re all on the move to somewhere.  I’ve heard from several NHL sources that Parise and Sutter are fielding offers from 20+ teams right now, and are expected to have answers in the next day or so.  Will the Bruins be one of those teams?  No, they will not. Chiarelli has repeatedly claimed that he intends to keep quiet during this free-agent frenzy because he believes the B’s have all of the necessary parts to win the Cup already.  I’m not sure I 100% agree with that, but he’s the GM not me.  I expect tomorrow to be an insane day in the NHL.  I’ll keep you all posted.