Don’t be surprised if Marc Savard’s contract is traded, a la Chris Pronger to Arizona.
Bruins GM Don Sweeney confirmed today that he’s spoken to a few teams about a transaction that would clear Savard’s $4 million cap hit (through 2016-17) off Boston’s books, and put it on a team that could perhaps use it.
No longer able to play due to concussion issues, Savard has an actual salary of just $575,000 in the final two years of his contract.
Dealing Savard would help the B’s in that they wouldn’t be as prone to the bonus-related overage issues that have plagued them recently. On that note, Sweeney suggested the Bruins intend to keep spending to the cap, and that they’re dealing with a current overage of approximately $1 million.
The challenge for Sweeney in trading Savard is that, after Pronger was dealt to Arizona, there isn’t really a team that’s in serious jeopardy of not reaching the $52.8 million cap floor for next season.
Sweeney also took the opportunity to insist that goalie Tuukka Rask is “absolutely...not on the market,” despite the speculation.