Boston Bruins: Tough Offseason Moves Ahead

May 14, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins right wing

(12) reacts to scoring a goal on Montreal Canadiens goalie

(31) during the second period in game seven of the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2014 NHL Entry and Draft and July 1st about two weeks away, the Boston Bruins still have a lot of decisions to make. With just nine million dollars to fill out their roster, they’ll have to be extremely tight with every penny they’ve got. That being said, a lot of conversations are circulating in the Boston area on how the Black and Gold will spend that money.

The biggest talk around the area is the retention of Jarome Iginla. Peter Chiarelli seems to want to retain his services, and it’s a matter of crunching dollars and potential bonuses. He’s certainly a plus for Boston, and played well on the Krejci line last season. If Iginla asks for two million a year or more, and the Bruins give it to him, they’ll have to be some serious changes to the team.

As the potential controversy over keeping Iginla wasn’t bad enough, there was yesterday’s Marchand for Marleau kerfuffle. Jimmy Murphy (formerly of ESPNBoston.com) reported the Bruins and Sharks have talked about a deal that would bring Patrick Marleau to Boston. At face value, that trade seemed utterly nonsensical. Let’s get rid of a twenty year old player for a player that’s nearly a decade older, that has an additional two million plus hit to the salary cap, and seems to have the same post season troubles. Boston media jumped all over it, and many of them thought it was a great idea.

The fan base was united in its rejection of the notion. Some fans objected to Marleau’s lack of postseason production. Others just didn’t want to see Marchand leave Boston. Personally, I thought the Bruins had a tough enough struggle with their salary cap already. Chiarelli had to public address that issue. So it looks like Marchand is staying in Boston.

The Bruins will have to figure out what they want to do, and they need to do it quickly. If they can’t afford Iginla, they’ll need to have a ‘Plan B’ in place.