Boston Bruins 15 Best/Worst Contracts of Salary Cap Era

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 4^th 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.