Update: Jimmy Murphy passes this note along about Seguin’s contract.
(Note: as usual, this news is still in “report” mode but it seems like a pretty reliable one at this point.)
Though they’re not out of the salary cap woods by any means just yet, it seems like things are really starting to come together for the Boston Bruins. The team decided to accept Blake Wheeler’s one-year, $2.2 million arbitration decision on Friday and now Jimmy Murphy reports that they came to terms with their first round draft pick Tyler Seguin today.
As I said before, the team is almost Wheeler’s salary over the cap right now (and that’s assuming that Seguin’s yet-to-be-announced cap hit wouldn’t be added to the mix). The good news, though, is that there is a maximum salary for rookies so the team really will only see savings (or lose some cash) if Seguin hits whatever incentives the two sides agreed upon. Financial details have not been released yet.
Some people have suggested that the Bruins should only play Seguin in nine NHL games or less so the first year of his entry level deal wouldn’t kick in until the 2011-12 season. My feeling is that the team will only do that if he’s struggling with the speed or physicality of the NHL game. If he can play at a high level, the Bruins will find a way to make it work.
We’ll definitely keep you informed as the Bruins will have some wiggling to do to get under the cap, whether Seguin makes an impact on their ceiling or not.