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

B’s Send five To Worlds

Despite a game seven loss to the Canadiens some of the Bruins are not finished playing hockey for the season. Boston sent five of its members to the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Although not playing, the championship game will be played in Patrice Bergeron’s home town of Quebec City. Representing USA, are Phil Kessel, Mark Stuart, and Tim Thomas while David Krejci skates for Czech Republic and Marco Sturm for Germany.

Phil Kessel, United States

Inconsistency has been the knock on Kessel thus far in his early career but in the Worlds, this Bruins sniper started out strong. Kessel recorded a hat trick in USA’s second game against Slovenia. Kessel is making his third straight IIHF World Championship appearance for Team USA.

Tim Thomas, United States

Thomas has played well in the tournament posting a shutout in his first game. He has only given up one Slovenia goal. Thomas, buoyed by strong defense in front, faced only 12 shots against Slovenia. The Bruins’ backstopper posts a 97.22 save percentage and a stellar .50 goals against average.

Mark Stuart, United States

Stuart, who had been named alternate captain, has played well. Stuart is a +1 and is averaging about 15 minutes of ice time for USA. Stuart is one of the backbones for USA who has only given up 1 goal thus far in the tournament.

David Krejci, Czech Republic

It may be over in Boston but there is still plenty of reasons to watch the remainder of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The great match-ups that will translate into great hockey. Every game will be exciting and Bruins fans still have some connections to each series. Best of all you don’t have to listen to Jack Edwards make the call. So here are the second round match-ups.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche

This heated rivalry is renewed. Reliving the battles of the late 90’s and 2000’s, this will be a sight to see. The Avs brought back some of their key contributors to the rivalry in Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg, while things welcomed Darren McCarty back to Motown. Lots of old faces back in the mix but don’t expected the same blood bath that your custom to seeing between these two in the playoffs. Detroit is a great puck possession team loaded with skill. While the Avs do have some agitators, the series will be less physical and more strategic than a normal AvsWings match-up. The Red Wings come in with a highly skilled and deep team, while the Avalanche do have many big names on their team, Detroit’s depth will be hard to handle.

Bruins captain has been named one of three finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defensman. The other two are Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames and Nicklas Lindstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Stats- goals (17), assists (34) and points (51), plus-minus (+14)

Big Z has been everything the Bruins paid for this season. He has had his best statistical year as a pro. Ranked third among NHL players in average ice time per game (26:50) He led the Bruins and ranked eighth in the League with 223 hits . A major asset to Boston’s amazing turn around.

Prediction- Its hard to go against the season the Chara has had. Its been a great turn around from a season ago. Unfortunately, Lindstrom has been a bit better. Chara will receive a major look, due to the fact that Lindstrom has won the award and Boston’s brief success in the playoffs. I see a second place finish.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings

Stats- goals (10), assists (60) and points (70), plus-minus (+40)

Argument- Another phenomenal year for the Wings’ blue-liner. Lidstrom is a favorite for this award every year. He has won the award five times and this is his ninth Norris nomination in the past 10 seasons. Lidstrom has to be the smartest player in the NHL. He helped the Red Wings post the NHL’s best defensive record with a League-low 2.16 goals per game. In 76 games, Lidstrom led all NHL defensemen in scoring.

The Boston Bruins fell in game seven to the Montreal Canadiens 5-0. Most will see this as an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the rival Habs. That, the Bruins once again let fans down in game seven. The casual fan will now look to the Celtics to roll through the playoffs, the Red Sox to continue to out slug everyone, and the Patriots to get even better with the seventh pick in the draft. The B’s had their shot in the lime light and came up empty. Its unfortunate that it turns out this way but when you’re competing with the best team in the respective league, its a reality.

For an instant the Bruins were the toast of the town. They were headlining sport talk shows. There was chatter all over New England when they forced a game seven. There was more hype surrounding the Bruins than there had been in quite some time. A team that was down and out was about to pull off a Red Sox sized comeback. It was a young likable team with a ticker the size of the ice they played on. An irrelevant team was relevant again. It was fun to be a Bruins’ fan for the moment. The streets outside the the Garden were filled with black and gold. The Garden itself was electric. City bars were at capacity with puck heads. But like all good things it came to an end.

The Bruins skated past the Canadiens with a 5-1 victory in Montreal last night. The win saves the B’s season and brings this relentless bunch back to Boston to try and tie the best-of-seven series at three games apiece. Boston, who had only score a total of five goals in the previous four games, lit the lamp up for five in Thursday’s playoff battle.

A major component to the Bruins success was the return of Phil Kessel, who scored the Bruins’ first goal and tied the game at one. Kessel had been a healthy scratch for the last three games of this series. Call it being unfairly singled out for the lack-luster play of the Bruins in game one. But it was a coaches decision for the benching. It seemed that Claude Julien wanted to get a tougher bunch against the Habs. It wasn’t only Kessel that seemed outmatched in that opening game. The entire Bruins team looked terrible. However, with hardly any playoff experience the B’s sub-par play was somewhat expected. I liked the move of changing things up and getting Vladimir Sobotka in the line up but Julien took out the wrong guy in my opinion. Sobotka deserves to play, but not at the expense of Kessel. Julien should have sat out Jeremy Riech or Shawn Thornton in those three games. Both guys are exactly the same type of players. If these two are playing a lot, your team is not scoring. The two players are grinders at best. You need offense and whether it shows up on the score sheet or not, Kessel’s speed and creatability opens the ice for Boston’s offence, especially with no red line.

Although Montreal has the commanding lead, Boston deserves its due, especially amongst the locals. There is no way in hell that anyone watching at home should hear the Montreal “BOOs” when Zdeno Chara touches the puck in the Garden. And there definitely shouldn’t be any Oh-laay Oh-lay Oh-lay Oh-laay ringing throughout the hub. Kudos to the B’s fans who went out to support the team and did their best to drown out the red shirts.

I understand that Habs fans travel well and hockey is all they got up there but are we that spoiled in Boston where we can’t come out and support hockey’s most surprising team, who happens to be in the playoffs. Yes their run into the playoffs was next to impossible, and beating the Canadiens seemed impossible. Even still, this over achieving bunch of no names deserved our home support and we couldn’t deliver. To have that many Habs fans in our home arena was embarrassing. You wouldn’t have a sea of pinstripes at Fenway or a J-E-T-S chant at Gillette, so why would you let it happen to the B’s.

Regardless what happens up in Montreal, when the Bruins come home they deserve a heroes welcome. If it was ten years ago, before all of the championship parades came to Boston, they just might receive that. Gone are the days of appreciating the underdogs in this town. Unless you have a star-studded roster with championship aspirations, you are an after thought. It’s not too long ago where we took pride in the over achieving Patriots and Red Sox. We loved their guts and the way they played the game hard. Now the Pats and Sox are tops of their leagues. The Bruins are in the same position that those two franchises once were.

Game three at the Garden saw the Bruins snap the Canadiens unbeaten streak against them. Marc Savard’s overtime goal gave the B’s a 2-1 victory. That goal was Savard’s first career playoff goal. What a way to get your first. This game could be a huge momentum swing for the B’s. It now gives the young Bruins confidence to beat the Habs. Which is something that hasn’t happened all year.

The Bruins haven’t won a playoff series since 1999, losing three straight. Two of those three times they lost to Montreal. Losing all eight regular-season match ups to the Habs, Boston didn’t have the lead in a single game, for a single second. Up until Milan Lucic’s first period goal, Boston has either trailed or have been tied with Montreal in every moment of every game in the 2007-2008 season, including playoffs.

This win changes the whole complexion of the series. Montreal still leads two games to one, but it could easily be the Bruins with the series lead or Montreal with a commanding 3-0 lead. After being dominated by the Habs in the first game, Boston has outplayed Montreal in the last two. If it wasn’t for some questionable calls in Montreal late in game two, the B’s would be looking for a 3-1 when the series resumes on Tuesday.