Can the Boston Bruins keep Jarome Iginla?
Apr 24, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Boston Bruins right wing
Jarome Iginla(12) celebrates his overtime goal against the Detroit Red Wings in game four of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Joe Louis Arena. Boston won 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins are in tight trouble with their salary cap and have several tough choices to make within the next week and a half. While Iginla is certainly the big name here, a lot of people forget that we will still need to sign Reilly Smith. There is no way the Bruins are going to give up Smith after they got him in that steal of a deal that sent Rich Peverley to the Dallas Stars. He was the breakout star for the Black and Gold this year, and he’s due for a decent raise. Fifty point scorers aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, and the Bruins want to retain his services. Also in the forward department, the Bruins will need to sign Justin Florek. There is already talk that he will be the speed they need on the fourth line, and it’s hard to construct the line if they haven’t secured them with a contract.
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Once the Bruins patch up their cap holes with their forwards, they’ll have to take a look at the blueline. While Smith was the breakout star of the forwards, Torey Krug was his counterpart for the defensemen. Krug like Smith is a restricted free agent who is in line for a healthy raise going into next season. The organization has ten days to put that together as well if they don’t want to be looking at a greater headache once free agency frenzy begins in deadly earnest. Even if the Bruins clean up their problems with the forwards and the defensemen, they’ve got one more major problem in front of them.
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The Bruins have still not signed a back up goaltender. Niklas Svedberg and Chad Johnson can start shopping around on July 1st. (Thankfully, Svedberg is still a restricted free agent.) It would be a shame to see Johnson go by the wayside here. The Bruins gave up a chance to secure Anton Khudobin last season, and the Bruins loss certainly became the Carolina Hurricanes windfall. The Bruins will be signing at least one of these players. To refuse to do so will make Malcolm Subban the lead goaltender in Providence (and he’s not ready). Also, the Bruins will be scrounging threw the market hoping that lightning will strike three times when it comes to finding a quality backup goalie. If the keep Johnson, you can expect a million dollar contract (or slightly under it). If they keep Svedberg, that’s six to eight hundred thousand dollars spent.
It’s all boiling down to own ugly truth Bruins fans, it will be very hard if not impossible to keep Jarome Iginla in Boston. (Unless we get rid of Johnny Boychuk and/or Adam McQuaid) Iginla seems to like it in Boston, and his odds are winning a Stanley Cup here are significantly greater than him trying to win one back in Calgary. The problem is, there are at least a half dozen teams that have almost a good a shot as the Bruins and they have significantly more cap space. The Bruins can’t attempt another year of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ when it comes to bonus money.