After a very quite month following the first day of free agency, the Bruins made head ways yesterday by signing one, releasing one, and trading for another. Boston inked defenceman Dennis Wideman to a multi-year deal. Wideman had a career year last season setting career best with 81 games played, 13 goals and 23 assists while posting a +11 ratings.  Nine of his goals came on the powerplay.  He also played in all six of the Bruins playoff games, picking up three assists.

Terms of this deal were not disclosed. However, the signing of Wideman meant the end of the line for forward Glen Murray in a Bruins’ sweater. The Bruins placed Murray on waivers yesterday. No team has claimed Murray and now the B’s have 48 hours to complete a buyout.  The 35-year old who has one-year remaining on his contract at $4.15 million, had 17 goals and 13 assists in last season’s injury plagued campaign that saw him play only 63 games. The buyout would save the B’s approximately $2.7 million against the cap.

The Bruins were also busy swapping minor league forwards who both saw NHL time last season.  The B’s acquired forward Martin St. Pierre in exchange for forward Pascal Pelletier. St. Pierre played five games with the Blackhawks last season. He spent most of the year with AHL Rockford and led the team in scoring with 88 points (21-67) in 69 games. Pelletier played in six games last season with Boston. He scored 71 goals in 206 regular-season games with AHL Providence between 2005-08.

Dennis Wideman and the Boston Bruins are close to signing a new deal. The contract will be a three or four year deal worth a little more than $3M per season. The 25 year old defenseman is a restricted free agent that had filed for arbitration. If the two sides cant reach a long term deal before August 1st then the contract talks will go to a hearing. Wideman has played two season for the Bruins playing in 101 games posting 14 goals and 25 assist.

When Wideman signs, other Bruins’ contracts may be bought out. Mainly Glen Murray’s $4.15M. Signing Wideman will put the Bruins over the $56.7M cap. In order to bring that number down, Murray’s contract will make the most sense to buy out. The Bruins will take the cap hit of $1.4M each of the next two season.

<Owner Jeremy Jacobs and his son Charlie quickly told The Boston Globe that the rumors of them selling the team is not true. Jacobs also owns TD Banknorth Garden and a chunk of NESN. The rumors started flying last week when Boston Celtics part owner, Wyc Grousbeck, was interested in buying a piece of the Los Angeles Kings. That led to the obvious speculation of whether he’d want to buy the Bruins instead. Jacobs quickly squashed those rumors saying that the team wasn’t for sale."I can say with great confidence that it’s not on the market," Charlie Jacobs, executive vice president of the Bruins, told The Globe. "My dad enjoys operating the team and having a say in what happens here, as do I. That’s not happening. Nothing there. Absolutely zero. Zip. I don’t think that’s happening in my lifetime."

The Boston Bruins have agreed to terms with winger Michael Ryder on a three-year deal at $4 million per season.

Today marks the start of a much anticipated free agent period for the Bruins. The big prize, Marian Hossa, is waiting for a new home and is looking at any where from 7-10 million a year. The Bruins were thought to be in the hunt but they don’t appear to have the cap space as we stand right now. The Bruins may in fact be setting their sights on second tier free agents to help with their scoring. The Bruins just don’t have the money to pay what Hossa, who reportedly rejected about $7M per year from the Penguins, can get on the market. Boston has only about $7M in cap space.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said yesterday a broad range of options is conceivable, and there is a good chance the B’s will bag at least one free agent today. But he indicated it’s unlikely the team will make a “huge splash” in the market.

“I’d say it’s better than 50 percent that we’ll sign someone (today),” Chiarelli said. “We have a lot of flexibility. (Today) we’re out to buttress our scoring. We’re going to look at all options that are out there.”

The Bruins have signed restricted free agent Mark Stuart to a multi year contract extension. Stuart is a former 2003 first round draft pick and played in all 82 games last season for the Bruins. This signing only leaves Pettri Nokelainen, Dennis Wideman, and Glen Metropolit as the only unsigned Bruins from last year’s team.

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Boston has acquired defenseman Johnny Boychuk from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks. Both players spent the majority of last season in the minor leagues. Boychuk is a 6-2 225 pound pointman who tallied 26 points last season and 17 of those on the powerplay for Lake Erie of the American Hockey League. Boychuk also saw little time with the Avalanche, playing in four games.

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Former Bruin goaltender Andrew Raycroft was put on waivers yesterday by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Raycroft appeared in only 19 games last season after losing his starting job to Vesa Toskala. Raycroft went 2-9-5 with a 3.92 goals-against average and .876 save percentage. He earned $2 million and has a year left on his deal at $2.2 million.

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Marian Hossa has told the Pittsburgh Penguins that he will test free agency making it almost certain that he will not resign with the Penguins. Pittsburgh’s GM Ray Shero cant waste time in seeing what Hossa will do. He has a slue of free agents on his roster that he must take care of. The Bruins tried to get Hossa at the trade deadline, but the Thrashers wanted Phil Kessel and Peter Chiarelli didn’t want to part with him.

Although free agency doesn’t start until July 1st, the Bruins will have a deal in place on free agent Blake Wheeler.  Wheeler was a 2004 first round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes became a free agent after he opted out of his contract. The 21 year old  forward stands at 6-4 220 pounds and had more the 20 NHL teams interested in him. Wheeler just had completed his junior year at the University of Minnesota.

Wheeler told his agent to complete a deal to join the Bruins because he like the way the organization was heading. He especially liked the way Boston develops its prospects along to the NHL much like David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Mark Stuart all had done in recent years.

Of course, we can’t sign him until July 1, but we look forward to getting him in the mix," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli told The Globe. "Anytime you can get a young player of Blake’s caliber with that blend of size and skill, you are very fortunate."

Sorry for the absence of posts this past week. I have been working on this one for some time. Before we get started I just want to congratulate the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings for a great Stanley Cup final. I did pick Detroit but I picked them in seven instead of six. Ah well. Well here is the list of 50 things that Bruins’ followers maybe looking forward to this off-season. There is no real order; I just listed them as I thought of them. Enjoy!

Chiarelli’s direction as a GM

Is he Theo Epstein? A GM that takes pride in his farm system that thrives on development of his own but still has the resources to make a big signing or deal. Or is he a Danny Ainge? Stock pile of young talent to trade away for high impact players. Or maybe he is a Scott Pioli? Build with the draft and sign veteran free agents to fill a role. That answer is incomplete. In Peter Chiarelli’s two years as Boston’s GM he has looked a little like all three. He has had the big Lugo/Drew type contracts to Savard and Chara and blended them with the youth in the system. He pulled off an Ainge-type deal when he dealt prospect Peter Kulas to Minnesota for an all star goalie in Manny Fernandez. Chiarelli has also drafted like Pioli, getting good value from middle round draftees and has filled in the depth with veteran role players like Aaron Ward and Glen Metropolit. Chiarelli has created a good mix of youth and experience. My bet, when all said and done, Chiarelli just may resemble Theo Epstein. He has already shown reluctance to trade away his prospects. He bowed out of a deal for Marian Hossa at the trade deadline much like the way Theo wasn’t willing to part with Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury for Johan Santana.

The NHL offices must be thanking the hockey gods for setting up such an unbelievable finals. The NHL has seen itself fall from the mainstream and struggle to even make a highlight on Sports Center. Once a prominent fixture in the sports world, the NHL lost its relevance outside the hockey loyalist. Its been a struggle to gain fans back from the lockout just a couple of years ago. This just might be the finals that rescues the NHL from being that “other league”.

Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings are the two best teams in the league and the most exciting to watch. There will not be an underdog nameless team that got to the finals because of a hot goaltender and lucky bounces. This finals will feature a titanic match up between some of the most skilled players in the world. Game One of the Stanley Cup finals will be the first time these two teams have played each other this season. This series has all the making as an instant classic and a cant miss present. The last time these two powerhouses faced off against each other was way back in October of 2006. Detroit won that game 2-0. I highly doubt only two goals per game will be scored in this series. Especially with all of the offensive firepower each team displays.

Why I Like Pittsburgh

It’s stupid to say that the Bruins are interested in Pittsburgh Penguin’s superstar, Marian Hossa. That’s a given, the entire league is interested in the upcoming free agent. As the rest of the league watches Hossa play along side Sidney Crosby, GM’s around the league cant help but drool over the possibility of the Slovakian star wearing their team’s sweater.

Financially the Bruins can give Hossa what he wants. Word is that Hossa could get as much as $8 million per season for a five-year deal, or more. With the $4.1 million salary of ex-Bruin Alexei Zhamnov ending, and the NHL salary cap expected to rise $4 million to $5 million, the B’s would have nearly $10 million available to spend. The Bruins have almost $39 million committed for the 2008-09 season and the NHL’s salary cap is expecting to rise to approximately $53 million. Boston could free up even more money if they dumped Glen Murray and his $4.15 million cap hit.

Speculation that Hossa could become an unrestricted free agent this summer was risen by a report claiming the Penguins won’t try very hard to re-sign him. This is not shocking considering that Pittsburgh is loaded with home grown youthful super stars who will be taking the Hossa dollars away from Pittsburgh. It’s believed Penguins management will put more priority into retaining young stars Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal.

The Boston Bruins signed forward Chuck Kobasew to a multiyear contract extension on Tuesday after his highest scoring season in five years in the NHL.

The team did not disclose contract details.

Kobasew had career highs of 22 goals, 17 assists and 39 points in 73 games this past season. He finished second on the team in goals to Marco Sturm , who had 27.

Kobasew missed the playoffs with a fractured left leg. The Bruins were eliminated in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games. He was drafted with the 14th overall pick in 2001 by Calgary, which traded him to Boston on Feb. 10, 2007.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press