(with apologies to Dire Straits – Money For Nothing)
Custom Kitchen Delivery! Marc DesRosiers-US PRESSWIRE
We’ve got to move on these, centers and wingers…
We’ve got to lock up all of these young guns.
That ain’t working, this is how we’ll do it…
Extend Lucic at the Garden, TD.
As the B’s moved to lock down another piece of their core, one has to wonder if Peter Chiarelli realizes he isn’t actually playing with Monopoly money. While nailing down Milan Lucic is a great move, his contract may be another story.
On Saturday, the Bruins extended Lucic to an eye-brow raising three year, 18 million dollar deal. That’s six million a year! All tied up in a guy who’s only scored 30 goals once, and seems to lumber about with questionable intensity at times. For the money, Boston would have been better off shipping Lucic and a draft pick to Anaheim for Bobby Ryan(as swirling rumors would have it earlier this summer), saving cap space in the process. After this season, his Ryan’s hit would’ve been nearly one million dollars cheaper than Lucic. And for one less contract year!
Lucic get’s allot of support in New England, but not nearly as much as he once did. The fact is, the desire just isn’t what it used to be. He used to be a poor man’s Cam Neely, creating space with fierce body checks and hands of stone. Now he’s trying to rely on those stone hands to score finesse goals. Looch, it ain’t gonna happen. And if the Bruins think their six million dollar investment will bring out the big man’s inner beast, they may have another thing coming.
Milan doesn’t realize it yet, but the pressure just got turned way up. Boston is a demanding city. If you’re going to get paid six mil. a year and take up enough cap space for nearly two players, then you better sure as hell live up to it. It won’t take much for fans to starting dubbing #17, Milan “Boo-cheech”. Anything under 35 goals, 10 fights, and a nightly mean streak will quickly be dubbed “garbage” by the would-be Gallery Gods.
The most jaw dropping part of the deal is the shear uncertainty to which Peter Chiarelli is committing himself. No one knows how this lockout is going to end. The owners are stumping for a cap rollback. The B’s are going to be tight going into next year as it is. How can they justify dumping six million into one player, having no clue what kind of rodeo they’re getting into? The last time the Bruins thought they had a handle on the changing CBA, they got burned faster than a thirteen year old at the middle school dance.
Perhaps things are different this time around. At least the Bruins have an actual roster heading into the potential upcoming season. And it’s highly unlikely any dramatic changes will affect current rosters. Like rebellious teens throwing a party the first night their parents head to Maine on vacation, Chiarelli has some time (about a year), to sort out any broken bottles or pizza stained couch type messes that may arise. Until then…
I want my…
I want my…
I want my N-H-L.