UPDATED: JULY 2018
What are the Boston Bruins 15 best and 15 worst non entry level
contracts they have signed since the NHL had a salary cap? They won the Stanley
Cup in 2011 and I tried to reward the contracts that helped them win the most.
BEST
1- Zdeno Chara, July 2 2006, 5 years 37.5M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. This contract produced a Norris trophy and a Stanley
Cup for Boston. Bingo. He averaged over 26 minutes of ice time per game while
putting up 232 PTS in 398 GP with another 22 PTS in 55 playoff GP.
2- Patrice Bergeron, Aug 22 2006, 5 years $23.7M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. This produced a Stanley Cup and a perennial Selke
trophy nominee. Infact they could rename the top defensive forward trophy “the
Patrice Bergeron Trophy” 20 years from now and it would make perfect sense.
3- Tim Thomas, Apr 3 2009, 4 years $20M: Signed
by Peter Chiarelli. Boston won a Stanley Cup, a playoff MVP, and a Vezina
trophy on this contract. That’s worth whatever you paid even if he sat out the
last year.
4- Tyler Seguin, Sep 11 2012, 6 years $34.5M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. He never played a game in Boston under this
contract. He was traded in July 2013 and Bruins fans have not stopped
complaining about it since. He has scored 384 PTS in 387 GP.
5- Tim Thomas, Mar 18 2006, 3 years $3.3M: Signed by Mike O’Connell. He won a Vezina Trophy in year three. That’s a bargain.
6- Patrice Bergeron, Oct 8 2010, 3 years $15M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. He signed this extension before Boston won their
Cup, so they got a discount on a contract that would produce 2 Selke trophies.
7- Brad Marchand, Sep 7 2012, 4 years $18M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. By year four he was in the league MVP conversation.
316 GP and 241 PTS is well worth that price.
8- Joe Thornton, Aug 11 2005, 3 years $20M:
Signed by Mike O’Connell. Over these 245 GP Jumbo scored 335 PTS. The bad news
for Bruins fans is that they traded him to San Jose.
9- Brad Marchand, Sep 14 2011, 2 years $5M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. 121 GP 91 PTS. He was a 20-goal scorer coming off a
Stanley Cup win. I’m not sure how they got him this cheap.
10- Milan Lucic, Oct 9 2009, 3 years $12.2M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. Won the Stanley Cup in year one. He was a beast in
the playoffs and they don’t win without him. He scored 34 PTS in 54 playoff GP,
adding 206 GP and 150 PTS in the regular season.
11- David Krejci, Jun 2 2009, 3 years $11.2M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. Won the Stanley Cup in year two. Incredible bargain
for what he provided, 176 PTS in 233 GP, with another 31 PTS in 41 playoff GP.
12- Tuukka Rask, July 10
2013, 8 years $56M: Signed by Peter
Chiarelli. 5 seasons into this contract and Rask has won a Vezina trophy,
putting up 172 Wins, 92 Losses, a 2.30 GAA and .920 SV%. He probably won’t
improve on that save percentage over the remaining 3 seasons, but he has
already proved to be a worthwhile investment.
13- Patrice Bergeron, July 12
2013, 8 years $55M: Signed by Peter
Chiarelli. He is starting to get older in age and his production has begun to
decline, but he’s still one of the best 2-way centers in the NHL. Already at
239 PTS in 304 GP with 3 years remaining.
14- Dennis Wideman, July 23
2008, 4 years $15.8M: Signed by
Peter Chiarelli. Over 312 regular season GP, he scored 166 PTS from the
blueline and became an elite power play producer.
15- Brad Boyes, Aug 3 2006, 2 years $3M: Signed by Peter Chiarelli.
That’s a great price for 60 Goals, 111 PTS, in 163 GP.
WORST
1- Glen Murray, Aug 2 2005, 4 years $16.5M:
Signed by Mike O’Connell. When you consider the $39M salary cap when this
contract was signed, that’s more like $7.7M AAV in 2017 numbers. A bit on the
expensive side for 128 PTS in 186 GP. He was eventually bought out.
2- Matt Beleskey, July 1 2015, 5 years $19M:
Signed by Don Sweeney. I can remember a friend of mine predicting in June 2015
that whatever Belesky signs for it will be too much. He was right. So far Belesky
has produced just 45 PTS in 144 GP and by year three was playing mostly in the
AHL.
3- Dennis Seidenberg, Oct 7 2013, 4 years $16M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. He got old fast. He was once an effective compliment
to Chara, but he quickly bottomed out before being bought out.
4- Chris Kelly, June 11, 2012, 4 years $12M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. He had a career high 39 PTS before signing this
contract and never came close to that again, finishing with 57 PTS in 182 GP.
5- Jimmy Hayes, July 6 2015, 3 years $6.9M:
Signed by Don Sweeney. I don’t think the Bruins expected 5 PTS in 58 GP in year
two of the contract before being bought out.
6- Alexei Zhamnov, Aug 4 2005, 3 years $12M:
Signed by Mike O’Connell. They gave a 33 years old player a contract equivalent
to $7.5M AAV in 2017. An injured ankle basically ended his career after 10 PTS
in 24 GP. I don’t think many Bruins fans are still asking themselves
that great “what if” question, what if Zhamnov never broke his ankle? Bruins
saved by LTIR.
7- David Backes, July 1 2016, 5 years $30M:
Signed by Don Sweeney. In year one of this contract he had his worst season
since entry level with 74 GP and 38 PTS. He ran into health problems in year two, but finished the season strong. Backes is now 34-years-old with 3 seasons left to play.
8- Dave Scatchard, Aug 2 2005,
4 years $8.4M: Signed by Mike O’Connell.
He scored 41 PTS in 109 GP and was traded to Phoenix for David Tanabe before
being bought out.
9- Andrew Alberts, June 12 2007, 2 years $2.5M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. His offensive production plummeted in year 1 from
bad to worse. Obviously, Boston wasn’t paying for offense, but that didn’t stop
them from dumping him on Philly for an ECHL player and a 4th rd
pick.
10- Marco Sturm, Feb 24 2007, 4 years $14M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. Injuries were partly to blame for the demise of
Marco Sturm. The part that probably still stings for Bruins fans is that he was
the best piece they got from San Jose in the Joe Thornton trade, one of the
all-time terrible trades. He had a decent first year of this contract, but it
came off the rails in year two.
11- Rich Peverley, Oct 11 2012, 3 years $9.7M:
Signed by Peter Chiarelli. Peverley got a contract similar to Kelly a season
after winning a Stanley Cup. He scored 48 PTS in 109 GP before running into
health problems.
12- Aaron Ward, May 20 2008, 2 years $5M: Signed by Peter Chiarelli.
This would be Ward’s last NHL contract at age 35. In 142 GP he scored 23 PTS.
13- Brian Leetch, Aug 3 2005,
1 year $4M: Signed by Mike O’Connell.
That is the equivalent salary of $8.1M AAV with a $79M cap. That’s a bit too
expensive for 61 GP and 27 PTS.
14- Chuck Kobasew, May 13 2008,
3 years $7M: Signed by Peter
Chiarelli. Chucky had one good season in year one, putting up 42 PTS in 68 GP. He
then followed that up with 31 PTS in the final 112 GP of this contract.
15- Nick Boynton, Oct 13 2005,
1 year $1.8M: Signed by Mike O’Connell.
In 2018 that cap hit would have close to $4M, which is way too much for 12 PTS
in 54 GP.
No comments:
Post a Comment