Bruins off-season still incomplete, drastic decisions lie ahead?

The Boston Bruins off-season hasn’t been lacking on intrigue. From the quest to pick Tyler Seguin at #2 overall in the draft, to the rumors about where centerman Marc Savard could end up to the pressing need to get their salary cap in better functioning order, the drama has been at a high this year. Bruins beat writer from The Boston Globe, Fluto Shinzawa, still sees some big moves ahead and his thoughts on what could be done to help get things straightened out are worth taking note of.

The first question is, what to do with Marc Savard? This off-season leading up until the start of free agency was ripe with rumors about Savard being traded to either Toronto or Ottawa because Savard’s no-trade clause got tighter on July 1. So what can the Bruins do if they get too frustrated by the no-trade clause and want to make room for Tyler Seguin?

But the Bruins could widen the scope by taking a drastic route: threatening to place Savard on waivers, thereby giving 29 teams, starting with Edmonton, a crack at claiming the center and rendering his no-trade irrelevant. It would be a last-resort move that would see a point-per-game center walk for nothing, with cap relief being the only benefit.

This would be a shocking development and add another level of eyebrow-raising fascination to this situation if it played out this way. After all, Savard took a below-market contract extension with the Bruins rather than become a free agent this summer because he wanted to finish his career in Boston. If the Bruins got so desperate to move him that they put him on waivers just to avoid his no-trade clause, the after-effects this would have on the Bruins organization would be drastic. Look at it this way, if you’re a player looking to sign with a team as a free agent and you want a no-trade clause in your deal, would you want to go to Boston knowing that they rather dishonorably found a way around Savard’s NTC? I don’t think so.

On the other side of things, the Bruins have $4 million tied up with right wing Michael Ryder. His streaky play and inconsistent goal scoring ability are sources of frustration for Bruins fans and brass alike. The Bruins are a bit hard up against the cap with still a few more restricted free agents to get signed. Fluto’s got the plan to help free up some money the hard way.

Assign Michael Ryder to Providence. Because [Blake] Wheeler and [Greg] Campbell filed for arbitration, there will be a second buyout window later this summer. But the Bruins will not buy out the $4 million remaining on Ryder’s contract. That would be $1.33 million of dead money applied toward the cap in each of the next two years. Far more palatable cap-wise to send Ryder to the AHL, much like the route Peter Schaefer took two years ago.

Obviously, if Ryder went to the AHL, he’d be there to stay because trying to bring him back up would cause a couple of problems. He could be claimed by another team and then the Bruins would be paying Ryder $2 million to score goals for someone else or he gets brought up and the Bruins cap situation potentially gets re-blown up by having him there. If you’re a Boston fan and you’re worried that the off-season has been boring, just hang on for a while, business might just pick up a bit.