(Blake Wheeler gets a one year contract worth 2.2 million)

I’ve been sitting here for the better part of an hour trying to figure out what to write about. Nothing has happened with Blake Wheelers situation which is surprising, I certainly would have thought it would have been over and done with yesterday or early today, and nothing of interest has happened with the Bruins as a whole either. What is there left to write about? Well I did discover that the Bruins have a golf tournament around the corner!

Press Release Corner (PRC)

“Hit the links with your favorite Bruins of past and present at the 7th Annual Boston Bruins Golf Tournament on Monday, September 13 at The International in Bolton.

Join the entire roster of current Boston Bruins players, alumni, management and coaching staff for an unforgettable day. The 19th hole will feature an all-star dinner, raffles, and silent and live auctions featuring once-in-a-life time opportunities.”

Date: Monday, September 13, 2010
Shotgun Start: 11:00 AM
Location: The International, Bolton, MA
Pricing: Foursomes are $5,000 (20% discount for Season Ticket Holders and groups that participated last year). Each foursome will be paired up with a current Bruins player or alumnus to make a fivesome.

So in case any of my readers are incredibly wealthy and have an asston of cash sitting around to blow on the Boston Bruins you may just be interested!

That basically does it for me, if the arbiter at any point today happens to feel like making a decision on Blake Wheelers contract I’ll be sure to update the original post from Tuesday on it.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

- Cody Smith

It seems that the Boston Bruins and Blake Wheeler both have different ideas of a fair contract as an NHL arbiter was called in to hear both sides of the story to finally settle on a 2010-2011 salary for Boston’s tallest right winger.

Press Release Corner (PRC)

via our very own rotoworld.com

“I think it was handled very professionally by both sides,” said Wheeler’s agent, Matt Keator. “Our interpretation of the marketplace is different from theirs, hence the disagreement. I think both sides handled it well, keeping it professionally. They pointed out Blake’s shortcomings. We pointed out Blake’s strengths. But Blake already knew his shortcomings. He knows what he needs to work on. There were no hurt feelings in what was said. It was not contentious at all.” Wheeler earned $2.825 million last season, but he’ll probably be forced to take a bit of a pay cut and falling short of expectations in 2009-10.”

(Wheeler gets a one year contract worth 2.2 million)

For those unfamiliar, salary arbitration is a legal proceeding between a team and a player and his agent if applicable. An unbiased third party (the arbiter) listens to both sides arguments typically consisting of the NHL team pointing out short comings and or reasons based upon their choosing that the player in question isn’t deserving of the contract being asked. The athlete is then heard with a similar oppositional retort as to why he in fact IS deserving of the said contract terms. It is then up to the arbiter to use the information given to make a decision as to how much the player will actually make.

Now, there are other rules and regulation on arbitration such as the fact that it’s typically only available after a player has a minimum of four years in the league and just as a player can take a team to arbitration court, a team can also take a player. A player may only be taken to arbitration court once in his career and the outcome cannot be less than 85% of the salary asked.

To wrap it up here are just a few bullet points of the do’s and don’t(s) of arbitration court:

The evidence that can be used in arbitration cases:

The player’s “overall performance” including statistics in all previous seasons.
Injuries, illnesses and the number of games played.
The player’s length of service with the team and in the NHL.
The player’s “overall contribution” to the team’s success or failure.
The player’s “special qualities of leadership or public appeal.”
The performance and salary of any player alleged to be “comparable” to the player in the dispute.

Evidence that is not admissible:

The salary and performance of a “comparable” player who signed a contract as an unrestricted free agent.
Testimonials, video and media reports.
The financial state of the team.
The salary cap and the state of the team’s payroll.

So, as you can see salary arbitration is actually quite a robust proceeding, luckily most players elect to be represented and thus most of the dirty work is handled by who they choose to hire. Hopefully I was able to shed some light on the specifics of arbitration for you!

A result for Blake Wheelers salary arbitration case is expected within 48 hours, when the verdict is reached I will go ahead and update this post with the results. Have a good rest of the week errbody!

- Cody Smith

bullet facts via about.com

photo courtesy of blakewheeler.com

Most any sports conversation is bound to lead to some sort of salary talk, whether it be the salary cap, how much Tim Thomas isn’t making in a particular season, or how overblown a teams payroll may or may not be. I always take one thing from conversations such as these, athletes are terribly overpaid human beings.

It is in my opinion that the salary cap is something that sports need, period. Baseball is the best and one of the only examples of how insane salaries and egos are allowed to balloon given the current uncapped pay scales. To further bring home my point, let me illustrate to you the difference between NHL salaries and MLB salaries over three years.

2009 Highest Paid (NHL and MLB)

NHL – Vincent Lecavalier, C Tampa Bay $10 million

MLB – Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees- $ 33,000,000

2008 Highest Paid (NHL and MLB)

NHL – Dany Heatley (Ottawa Senators) $10 million

MLB –  Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees- $ 28,000,000

2007 Highest Paid (NHL and MLB)

NHL – Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay Lightning) $10 million

MLB – Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees- $ 27,000,000

Looking at those numbers can you honestly tell me that athletes specifically those in the Major Leagues are not overpaid? The difference in 2009 alone between the NHL’s top paid and the MLB’s was 23 MILLION dollars. That’s not even counting sponsorships and all of the other deals and exponentially large agreements that professional athletes hook themselves into.

Let’s take a brief look at team payrolls for this past season between both leagues shall we?

2009-2010 Team Salary Highs (NHL and MLB)

NHL – New York Rangers $63,880,000

MLB – New York Yankees $201,449,189

Just for fun let’s throw the top NFL and NBA teams in the mix as well as far as 2009-2010 total team payroll:

NFL – New York Giants $137,638,866

NBA (the newest I could find was 2008-2009) – New York Knicks $97,085,751

Don’t get me wrong, if I was in the MLB or any other professional league I would LOVE to be pulling down 10-15-20 million a year, luckily i’m not and as such am not subjected to the koolaid that professional athletes get hooked on that somehow grants them the right to so much money.

As you can see salaries are all over the place, but they’re all higher than the NHL. How can this be? It’s simple, professional hockey simply isn’t as popular as baseball, basketball, or football are. Remember the 2004-2005 NHL lockout? Do you remember the huge outrage that ensued after it? I sure as hell don’t, I’m pretty sure that the only asses it chapped were those that had financial stake in the teams.

My point in all of this isn’t to defile the sport of hockey, it’s to bring to great attention just how insanely overpriced professional athletes are these days. If anything NHL players should be paid the most, they take the most gruesome and legendary beatings out of all of the sports I mentioned in this article. Take this article with a grain of salt, but do remember where so many of our entertainment dollars are going, or rather, who they’re going to.

- Cody Smith

all statistics sourced from usatoday.com

After the Bruins exit from the Semi Finals last season probably every players mental well being was in question, none more so than Chara considering he was also fighting a hand injury for the majority of the season.

“Well we had a few meetings with the doctor,” said Chara. “He basically recommended not doing any surgery on it for one important reason.”

“He said he could make the finger straight, but there’s a risk I could lose the grip, which I didn’t want to lose, especially on my bottom hand,” continued Chara.

So it would appear that surgery wasn’t necessary after all which could be either a good thing or a bad thing, it could re-aggravate itself at any point in the season, or it could be completely fine and result in a great decision by the Bruins medical staff.

Chara later went on to tell us a little bit about what he’s been up to this off season.

“Right after the season I went down south to Florida,” said the B’s captain. “I spent four weeks there. I took some time off, not very long, but took some time off to regroup after a long season.

“Obviously it was a very hard, difficult season with the Olympics. Then I started to train…right away.

“Now I’m just enjoying the summer. The workouts I’m getting are really, really good.”

There certainly was no slacking for Zdeno Chara this off season, no sitting naked on a beanbag eating Cheetos for him. The fact that Chara is able to work out hard and for extended durations speaks well for how his hand should fair this season.

So, with yet another piece of the Bruins puzzle coming along nicely, what does this mean for the Bruins? Of course it means everything, healthy players win Stanley Cups, it’s that simple. If the Bruins can somehow keep themselves together this season health wise, and new comers step up and play Bruins caliber hockey, this season could be a season worth watching.

- Cody Smith

Since the Bruins are short on news of signings or other developments, I can finally strike up another learning lesson for us all. The topic today will be hockey sticks and hockey pucks and how they’re produced. I have found a couple of handy videos on youtube basically showing the process which makes it easier to visualize rather than me just explaining it in words. Without further ado, how a hockey stick is made:

As you can see the process is a complicated one encompassing multiple materials, many sets of hands, and multiple areas of expertise. On top of the difficulty a single stick makes, the majority of these sticks are custom ordered depending on each players physical attributes as well as personal tastes such as stick flex, blade flex, stiffness,  and stick whip ability depending on what position they play or what kind of a shooter they are. Obviously a defensemans stick will likely be different than say a winger or another forwards stick.  Lack of skill or ability aren’t necessarily the only reason why defenseman have significantly lower scoring numbers than forwards do, it’s also because of the stick they may happen to be using. Scoring with a stick that isn’t tuned for scoring can be an almost impossible task depending on who’s using it.  So the next time that defenseman takes a shot and shoots it about 5 feet wide of the net, consider the fact that his stick simply sucks for scoring and that he probably gave it his best shot!

Now, let’s learn about how a puck is made shall we? Most think it’s simply a circular chunk of vulcanized rubber and it….is but we’re going to take a closer look at it for our educational benefit! Here is another youtube  video depicting the production of a regulation NHL hockey puck:

As you can see a hockey puck is also a pretty high precision piece of gear consisting of 11 different materials. A perfect blend of rubbers and chemicals are blended to create one of the worlds most painful objects to be struck with. As the video mentioned hockey pucks are almost always frozen, the exception would likely be 5 and under leagues, some pee wee leagues, etc. This is done to help control the bounces and ricochets that the puck would take otherwise. It would be a bouncing mess that no one would ever be able to get their stick on well enough to skate any distance with before losing it. Usually there is a large freezer kept by the official scorers in between the penalty boxes loaded with cooler packs with pucks stacked inside. They slip one out to the referee at request and probably toss the used puck into a separate bin to be frozen for later.

So there you have it, two of the three things necessary in the sport of hockey. What’s the third you ask? Well that one’s easy, beer.

- Cody Smith

As promised I’m here with a breakdown of the Boston Bruins 2010-2011 regular season schedule.

The first highlight is the obvious European trip that the Bruins will be kicking off the season with in Prague facing off against the Phoenix Coyotes in a two game series. I think it’s pretty awesome that the Bruins begin their season in a country other than Canada or the United States. Similar to what the Patriots did in London, it’s just interesting. I’m not sure what hockey culture is exactly like in Prague, perhaps someone who knows can fill me in, but i’m sure it’s a welcome event in their country.

Something else interesting to note is is that the Bruins won’t have played their first home game until October 21st which is five total games into the season.

Jumping ahead to February 27th brings us a series against the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton. This will be the first meeting between both Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin since their last romp against one another in the OHL playoffs last season.

The Bruins will play 41 games at home and an equal amount away also at 41 games. The benefits of a 50/50 split are obvious, giving the team an equal chance both home and away at winning or losing. Teams who do better at home will have 41 chances to pick up a win, teams who don’t do well at home have an equal number of games away to attempt to put another digit in the win column. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s balanced however. Certain schedules depending on how they work out could completely screw a team over before the season has even begun.

Those of you looking for the schedule can check out one of my earlier entries where I lay the entire thing out so you can see for yourself how the Bruins stack up this season. It doesn’t seem looking at the schedule that the Bruins are in for a whole lot of beat downs too frequently. They do play the Philadelphia Flyers (don’t get me started) on December first at the Wachovia Center. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the unspeakable happened during last years Semi-Finals.

The Bruins will finish their season in New Jersey against the Devils. Given the fact that the Devils whooped ass in their division last year going 48-27, this could either be a high note or a low note for the Bruins. Hopefully by the time they’re worrying about playing the Devils they will have already secured a high playoff spot and it will be a non issue.

So there you have it, a brief breakdown of what to expect from the Bruins and the league this season. Again, if you would like to analyze it yourself either google or just scroll down a handful of articles or so on bruinsbase and you will see the post I made about it. Everyone enjoy the start of your weeks whether it be couch surfing, desk jobbing, or otherwise!

- Cody Smith

Some great news has slipped out of Boston GM Peter Chiarelli’s office today as he announced the signing of Adam McQuaid. McQuaid last season had limited ice time with the Bruins but spent it wisely. In 19 games with the Boston Bruins McQuaid scored 1 goal, no assists, for one total point. He was a -5 through those 19 games which may not speak well for his defensive prowess. However, he’s young at just 23 and has displayed an incredible amount of potential. I think with some more time in the AHL and some more ice time in the NHL he could eventually be seasoned into a second line or better defenseman.

Press Release Corner (PRC)

via nhl.com

“The 23-year-old Adam McQuaid is a veteran of 19 NHL regular season games and registered 1 goal and 21 penalty minutes in those contests. He split the 2009-2010 season between Boston and Providence.

He skated 32 games with Providence this past season compiling 3 goals, 7 assists, 10 points and 6 penalty minutes. He was recalled on five occasions to Boston and skated in 19 regular season games. He played his first NHL game on December 19th in Toronto. He scored his first career NHL goal with the game winning goal on February 7th in Montreal which came in his 12th career NHL game. He skated in 9 post-season games with Boston with 6 penalty minutes. His first NHL playoff game was on April 15th in Buffalo in the 2010 conference quarterfinals.

During his 2008-2009 campaign with Providence, he set career-highs in goals (4), assists (11), points (15), penalty minutes (141) and games (78). He suited up in career- best 16 playoff games, adding three assists. He also received the P-Bruins Hendricks Memorial Fan Appreciation Award.”

As far as Andrew Bodnarchuk goes, he has had EXTREMELY limited ice time skating in just 5 games with the Bruins last season. He went 0,0,0 with a -2 through those 5 total games. He spent the majority of the 2009-2010 season in providence skating in 62 games netting 1 goal, 8 assists, 9 points, for a -2 overall. He was also with the Bruins for several playoff games but never dressed for them. Given the fact that Bruins fans haven’t really seen much of this guy yet I’m going to reserve judgment. He’s a 22 year old defenseman who seems to be somewhat similar to Adam McQuaid as far as potential and caliber of player.

Gregory Campbell has six years of NHL experience all with the Florida Panthers. In a career total of 363 games he netted 29 goales, 56 assists, for a total of 56 assists. His career +/- is -39 which, given the fact that he is a Center isn’t necessarily something you want to hear. Almost everyone knows that Florida is a horrible team to play for, and the fact that they are such an unstable organization doesn’t typically yield top shelf athletes. I will be interested to see what he brings to the table, especially if Savvy ends up being traded away. At this point I’m not 100% sold on the fact that he will be, but at least if he is Chiarelli is ushering in new talent.

Jeffrey Lovecchio has no NHL experience and spent the entirety of the 2008-2009 season with a concussion.

The rest of Press Release Corner (PRC)

“The 26-year-old Gregory Campbell skated in 60 games for Florida last season and registered 2-15=17 totals. He skated in 363 games over six seasons in his NHL career – all with Florida – and has tallied 29-56=85 totals and 312 penalty minutes. Campbell’s best season statistically came in 2008-09 when he registered career highs in goals (13), assists (19), points (32), and penalty minutes (76) in 77 games.”

“Last season, LoVecchio skated in 65 games for Providence, with 15-9=24 totals along with 32 penalty minutes, all career highs for the left-winger. He also managed 128 shots on net in those 65 games.

The 6’2”, 205 pound Chesterfield, Missouri native made his pro debut with Providence on March 14, 2008 and recorded his first career pro points with a goal and an assist the next night against San Antonio.

While he missed the entire 2008-2009 season with a concussion he sustained in July 2008, LoVecchio came back to finish the 2009-2010 season ranked ninth in points on the Bruins AHL affiliate.”

LoVecchio played his college hockey at Western Michigan University, where he was named captain in just his second season with the team. There, he recorded 35-38=73 totals in 113 games and 98 penalty minutes in three seasons with the Broncos.

Originally signed to an amateur tryout agreement by Providence on March 14, 2008 after going undrafted, he was then signed as a free agent with Boston on March 18. He has yet to make his NHL debut.”

On Sunday I will break down the Bruins 2010-2011 schedule for you all, since these four signings snuck up on me I assumed it proper to go ahead and make notice of these rather than ignore them and cover something that I could cover whenever I want. Everyone have a great Friday and Saturday and I’ll be back on Sunday with that breakdown for you all!

- Cody Smith

Who knew Andrew Ference was an intellectual? The answer to that question is a lot more now than a few days ago as Andrew Ference has elected to head to the BP disaster site in an effort to help educate the public on the effects of this tragedy and what we can do to prevent it from happening again.

Press Release Corner (PRC)

“On Tuesday, July 13, Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference and his wife Krista will visit New Orleans to view the damage caused by the BP oil disaster. The Ference’s will be joined by fellow professional and Olympic athletes including: the NHL’s Mike Richter, the NFL’s Mike Alstott and Ovie Mughelli, NASCAR’s Leilani Munter, and Olympians Stacey Cook, Loree Smith, and Gary Morgan. This visit is being organized by the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States.

Ference and the group will meet in New Orleans tonight, Monday, July 12 and leave for the coastal boat tour tomorrow at the morning at 9:00 a.m. ET. from the Myrtle Grove Marina to witness firsthand the damage caused by the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf Coast and demonstrate their support for Gulf Coast communities.”

Ference was quite vocal about his efforts

“You can tell everyone is talking about it,” said Ference via cell phone. “It’s obviously affecting everyone in different ways.”

“That [way] we can keep it in the news and help people understand how devastating it is to a massive region down here,” said Ference. “I’m one of those people that has a tough time sitting down doing nothing if I feel something is wrong.” he later added

Given that the office of Peter Chiarelli has been abnormally quite the past week or so I don’t really have much to write about as far as the Bruins go. I think I might bust out the chalkboard at some point this week and post another learning experience regarding something to do with the NHL that most people don’t know much about. After that I think I might also break down this upcoming seasons schedule and post some predictions! So, look forward to those articles on both Thursday and Sunday and have a great rest of the week!

- Cody Smith

Yesterday Peter Chiarelli confirmed the signing of defenseman Mark Stuart to a one year deal marking his third straight season (six total) in Boston.

Those of you who need a refresher may want to check this video out for a reminder as to what he brings to the table:

Stuart finished up last season with 2 goals and 5 assists totaling 7 points over just 56 games. His low numbers are somewhat to be expected given the fact that he missed the majority of the season due to surgery on an infected finger. Though these numbers don’t speak well for him, he’s  beast and one hell of an enforcer when he feels like it. All last season he just had an “I just smelled shit” look on his face and was constantly looking for trouble. When he located it, he exploded on his opponent with cannibalistic aggression that made everyone and their mothers brother in-law cringe with disgust. It’s that kind of play that makes Stuart worthy of a re-signing.

Press Release Corner (PRC)

via nhl.com

“The 26-year-old Stuart is a veteran of 252 NHL regular season games and has compiled 12 goals, 23 assists for 35 points and 261 penalty minutes in those contests. He has also skated in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games, registering 0-2=2 totals in the postseason.

Last season, Stuart played in 56 games for Boston, notching 2-5=7 totals and 80 penalty minutes before being sidelined for 26 regular season games and 8 postseason contests with a broken left pinky finger and a subsequent infection within that finger.

During his 2008-2009 campaign, Stuart set career highs in goals, assists and points as well as tying his career high in games played, registering 5-12=17 totals in 82 games. He then added an assist in 11 postseason games that year. He has spent his entire career within the Bruins organization, and had played in 234 consecutive games prior to his injury last year.

The 6’2”, 213-pound native of Rochester, Minnesota was selected by Boston in the first round (21st overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.”

The 5th and final day of the 4th annual Boston Bruins development camp is tomorrow. Today as I mentioned Bruins prospects paying visits to the aforementioned locations in my last article. Instead of covering it in tedious detail, I’ve decided to collect a list of quotes from players involved who can perhaps explain it better than I can.

Tyler Brenner – “Yeah it’s probably going to [be] a little bit a step up,” he said. “But I’m excited for the competition and it should be fun.”

Justin Florek – “It was a dream come true for me and I couldn’t really believe it happened but it’s still a shock right now,” he said. “I just settled in and I’m really looking forward to working from here.”

Zach Trotman - “[The Program] was really challenging. It’s not your typical work out. It really challenges your mind and you have to stay focused.”

Matt Dalton – “It was a great learning experience for me for my first year,” said Dalton. “I played a lot of games and got a lot of shots.”

“I played a lot and to get better you have to be playing.”

And an awesome video to wrap this whole article up featuring the young Tyler Seguin, enjoy!

- Cody Smith

photo courtesy thehockeynews.com

It was announced yesterday that Bruins prospects will be putting some time aside to work with the community providing hockey instruction to youths, taking a trip to a local library sponsored by EBSCO Publishing to spend some time with local youths and participate in activities, as well as taking a trip to a local nursing home to play video games with the elderly. Playing games with the elderly sounds frigan awesome, grammy would no doubt throw down all OVER my ass if I busted into the facility and attempted to face off against her.

Press Release Corner (PRC)

via nhl.com

“The first group of Bruins prospects will provide 100 youth hockey players with on-ice instruction followed by a 40-minute non-check scrimmage. The skate will take place at the Burlington Ice Palace (36 Ray Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803), courtesy of FMC Ice. The group of skaters will include 40 lucky Squirt and Pee Wee hockey players that won a spot after participating in the Boston Bruins online contest. The participating Bruins prospects include: Joe Colborne, Tommy Cross, Matt Dalton, Steve Kampfer, Tyler Seguin and David Warsofsky.
The second group of Bruins prospects will head to the Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center (96 Forest Street, Peabody, MA 01960) to play games such as Nintendo Wii, Bingo and Air Hockey with 30 elderly patients. The participating prospects include: Yuri Alexandrov, Ryan Button, Marc Cantin, Adam Courchaine, Craig Cunningham, Alex Fallstrom, Mark Goggin, Michael Hutchinson, Tyler Randell, Ben Sexton and Nick Tremblay. The Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center is part of Berkshire Healthcare, one of the largest, nonprofit, long-term care providers in Massachusetts.
To kick-off the Boston Bruins Summer Reading Program “When You Read You Score” presented by EBSCO Publishing, the final group of Bruins prospects will be at the Newbury Town Library (0 Lunt Street Byfield, MA 01922). The prospects will be joined by 50 children and divided into three groups, where they will be making craft hockey sticks, navigate a hockey obstacle course and set up the “Bruins Reading Rink,” featuring a Bruins rug, Bruins themed hockey furniture and bookcases made from hockey sticks. The participating Bruins prospects include: Matt Bartkowski, Tyler Brenner, Jordan Caron, Ryan Donald, Justin Florek, Zane Gothberg, Jared Knight, Max Sauve, Ryan Spooner and Zach Trotman.”

The Bruins just finished up day three of four of their annual development camp. This camp features physicals, grueling physical workouts, hockey instruction and play making, and some actual on ice time at Ristuccia arena mixed in for the hell of it. I haven’t really been doing too much updating on it as it’s really sort of “unimportant” in the grand scheme of things. These are all big strong guys, they won’t have any trouble making it through, and if we’re lucky they all will have learned something about being a Bruin when they’re finished. Tomorrow I’ll write a summary of the important moments and things that you all might find interesting.

As most of you know by now I’m sure, Kevin Youkilis was edged out by the New York Yankees Nick Swisher for the American League final vote spot. Unfortunately Kevin won’t be attending the All-Star game (like he should be), but I wanted to thank those of you that voted and went even further and threw our own Darryl Johnson some views on his Redsox blog.

Thank you all again!

- Cody Smith

photo courtesy www.notredame.sk.ca