The Boston Bruins have made a commitment to Blake Wheeler. After Wheeler’s arbitration case was decided yesterday with the winger winning a $2.2 million award, some wondered if that cost was going to be enough to make the Bruins walk away from the young scorer. After all, the Bruins are in a bit of a salary cap bind and they’ve still got to find a way to get Tyler Seguin locked in. All of that doesn’t matter now though as the Bruins have accepted the arbitrator’s award and signed the forward for one year at $2.2 million. Fluto Shinzawa gets some words from Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli.
“It is never a pleasant experience for either side to go to arbitration,” GM Peter Chiarelli said in a statement. “However, as a manager, you know that the player will be under contract for the following year either way. We talked to Blake before and after the hearing and we are satisfied to have a good, young player under contract for another year.”
Ideally swinging a trade to free up the cash would be a great solution but the main man of rumors, Marc Savard, likely isn’t going anywhere. Other guys who might be considered for deals are the aforementioned Ryder and perhaps a defenseman like Andrew Ference. The catch with those two, as always, is the money. Ryder has one year left at $4 million and Ference was given a contract extension last year that pays him $2.25 million for the next three years. How the Bruins handle this situation will be worth watching.