As One Chapter Ends, The Next Chapter Begins

The night is darkest just before the dawn. Perhaps there was no darker end to the Boston Bruins season as it was on Thursday night. When Hurricanes winger and Boston villain Scott Walker ended the Bruins quest for their 1st Stanley Cup in 37 years, Boston fans fell silent and rally towels littered the ice. Despite the rally cries of "We Want It!", the "Believe" signs and the crowd singing along to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" it simply wasn't to be for the 2008-2009 Boston Bruins. However, as this season ends, it's just the beginning of the Bruins bright future.

2008-09 was the year of the Bruins, they dominated almost every team in the NHL and finished with 50+ wins for the first team since the 1992-93 season. They added veteran Mark Recchi at the trading deadline who contributed nicely, losing just Martins Karsums along with Matt Lashoff, who was never really destined for great things in Boston due to the emergence of Matt Hunwick. Along with Hunwick, Czech center David Krejci had a phenomenal breakout year, who's 73 point season and effectiveness as a special teams threat earned him the Boston Bruins 7th Player Award. 2008-09 also marked the year of continuing development of hulking winger Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel and perhaps the most surprising Byron Bitz.

With 2008-09 officially done for the Bruins, it's time to look towards the future.

First off, one of the bigger questions the Bruins have to address is their free agency situation. Both David Krejci and Phil Kessel are the headliners of the Boston Bruins list of restricted free agents. As the case with all restricted free agents, if a player is to accept an offer sheet from another team, depending on the salary the Bruins receive draft picks from that team as compensation. It's safe to say that Kessel and Krejci should command and earn around the 9 million dollar mark between the two of them, but anything more raises interesting questions.

I think it's safe to pencil in David Krejci for a 4 year contract at 4.5 a season, perhaps a little bit more with added incentives. Krejci is definitely the higher priority of the Bruins if you ask me as at just 22, he's already showing signs of becoming a true number one center in the NHL. There's no doubting that his potential is only going up. Whereas Kessel, despite his ability to often make goalies and defensemen look foolish is too inconsistent to command more than money that Krejci. However, due to both players strong post-season play it's possible that they both of their stocks have just raised.

If either player is to go, it'd be due to another team offering big time money. In which case, it's likely that the compensation would be for over 5 million dollars a season. Which would force the other team to send the Bruins at least their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks. Ultimately, if it boils down to it, if Kessel leaving the Bruins brings you in multiple high draft picks, I'm not going to lose sleep thinking that the Bruins had made a terrible choice.

Besides Kessel and Krejci, Bruins defensemen Matt Hunwick and Saskatoon native Byron Bitz are also restricted free agents. Both Hunwick and Bitz made strong strides towards becoming NHL ready players, however neither are ready for big money. In all likelihood, both should sign for around the 850-900 thousand mark, the only difference being that their contracts should become 1-way deals, making them have to go through waivers before getting them sent down to Providence, making them likely to stay with Boston all-season long.

Along with these restricted free agents, the Bruins have an older crop of unrestricted free agents they need to address as well. Headlining this list is life-long Bruin P.J Axelsson, who set career highs in virtually every category this season. Axelsson's current salary cap hit sits at 1.8 million dollars a season, however with the Bruins having to re-sign Kessel and Krejci and the NHL salary cap expected to stay at the same amount of money (if not go down), it's unlikely Chiarelli and Co. will be able to give the Swedish forward and penalty-killing machine a raise, let alone his current salary.

Next in line would have to be the depth guys, such as Stephane Yelle and Shane Hnidy. Both Hnidy and Yelle, provide veteran presences on the lower lines for cheap money. If Yelle and Hnidy can be re-signed for the same amount of money (750k) a piece, then it's probably likely to see them both back with the Bruins. However, this could change if the Bruins decide to hand the reins of 4th line center to Vladimir Sobotka, and 7th defensemen to Johnny Boychuk, who had a very strong year for Providence in the AHL.

Perhaps the biggest question mark is the future of Mark Recchi. Recchi is still a capable NHL player even at the age of 41, but his contract up and his future is uncertain. It's likely that the 5'10 winger with over 1,400 career points will retire, but it's also possible that his thirst to continue playing is still alive and well. If he can be brought back for the same price tag, it's likely that the Bruins will do whatever they can within their power to keep Recchi with the Bruins to provide added veteran presence.

The "automatics" to not return to the Bruins have to be Steve "Watch Me Create A Turnover" Montador and Manny Fernandez. Montador truly never wow'd Bruins fans as he often created turnovers within his own zone and looked to be over-thinking every aspect of the game. Fernandez, who missed over a month due to a back injury, is on the fence on whether he wants to retire or continue playing. The opportunity will surely be there for Fernandez to play as a platoon goalie in Colorado, Ottawa, Detroit or even Philadelphia but there's simply no room for him in Boston as Tuukka Rask looks ready to step into the NHL.

With the NHL having a salary cap, it's unlikely that no cap-saving deals will be made. The 3 players that stick out the most as potential trade-baits to "cap crunch" are Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Aaron Ward. All players make over 2 million dollars and could be dealt if it means keeping the Bruins under the NHL salary cap. Ward's veteran presence on defense is greatly appreciated, making it unlikely that he'll be traded on account of his veteran know-how. However, the Bruins performed very well without 2007-08's leading goal scoring Marco Sturm, who missed most of the season with a knee injury and is most likely to be dealt if need be.

With the Bruins done until October, one thing's for sure, it's going to be an interesting summer.