Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli held a pre-draft conference call today, but not many of the questions he was asked had to do with the actual draft.
Instead, reporters were curious about the Bruins’ tight cap situation, which due to bonus overages from last season will, according to Chiarelli, keep the B’s from going “full force” into free agency, and will also compel the club to make some tough decisions.
One of those decisions is whether to re-sign unrestricted free agent Jarome Iginla. Chiarelli said he’d like to do it, but as we noted last week, that’s easier said than done.
Chiarelli didn’t rule out moving contracts to open up cap space, which won’t quell the speculation that, say, Johnny Boychuk could be traded.
Using a compliance buyout, however, is not in the club’s plans “at this time,” which should quell the speculation around Chris Kelly.