Bruins haven’t made progress with Chara or Bergeron on contract extensions

of the Buffalo Sabres of the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 26, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Sabres 4-3 to win the series.

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The Boston Bruins have had their own adventurous summer of sorts. After getting bounced out of the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games after once holding a 3-0 series lead, the Bruins’ summer has consisted of fighting off Marc Savard trade rumors, going to arbitration with Blake Wheeler and dealing with losing Marco Sturm until at least November. If you think that sounds like a daunting off-season, a summer where you’re trying to re-sign Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron sounds as equally appealing and it’s why the Bruins are already talking to those players.

Of course, talking and making progress are two entirely different things as ESPN Boston’s Jimmy Murphy finds out.

That’s why it’s not surprising to hear that there is nothing new to report on the Bergeron and Chara extension talks. Chiarelli and Chara’s agent were unavailable to comment on the matter Tuesday but a source told ESPNBoston.com that it’s status quo on Chara, and Bergeron’s agent Kent Hughes said the same regarding the center.

“Nothing to report at this point on the contract front,” Hughes told ESPNBoston.com.

There has been speculation that the recent arbitration ruling that rescinded Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year, $102 million deal for circumventing the spirit of the CBA, and the subsequent focus and continuing investigations of similarly front-loaded deals like that of Bergeron’s teammate Marc Savard could have an effect on the extension talks with Bergeron and Chara.

But Hughes said he doesn’t expect that issue to impact Bergeron because the 25-year-old isn’t about to sign a “retirement” contract.

“Kovalchuk is unlikely to impact Patrice on this contract,” Hughes said. “He is 25 years old and I don’t anticipate him signing past his 40th birthday. I don’t expect this to be his last contract.”

We’ve hit on the potential Kovalchuk impact on the Bruins future deals earlier, but the Bruins do have some good things going for them in that there’s a ton of money coming off their cap after this season so the stress to get a “creative” deal done with Chara and Bergeron is low. They certainly don’t need to get a deal done sooner than not, but you’d always like to avoid having two unrestricted free agents avoid making it to July 1 in the first place. Let’s just hope for the Bruins and their fans’ sake that Chara and Bergeron aren’t opposed to negotiating new deals during the season.

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