Hub Hockey

Big Z Finalist For The Mark Messier Award

Yesterday the NHL announced that Bruins captain Zdeno Chara is one of three finalists for this years Mark Messier Award. The award itself honors players who lead and motivate in a positive light on the ice, while also showing great dedication to their community and charitable causes off the ice. Along with Chara, Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla were also nominated. The winner will be decided by none other than Mark Messier himself on June 18th at the NHL Awards ceremony where Chara will also be in the running for this seasons Norris trophy.

"Last offseason, he visited Tanzania and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to focus attention on Right to Play, the international charitable organization that uses sport and play to enhance child development in areas of disadvantage. Chara also raised $24,000 for Right to Play by winning the Hardest Shot competition at 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend after getting his competitors, the competitors’ respective NHL clubs, the NHL and the NHLPA to contribute to a pot to go to the victor’s charity of choice. Chara won the competition with a record-setting 105.4 MPH blast.

The winner will be announced Thursday, June 18, during the 2009 NHL Awards that will be broadcast live from the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Hotel Las Vegas on VERSUS in the United States and on CBC in Canada." -Bruins Official Press Release

B's Re-Sign Krejci To 3-Year Deal Worth $11-Million

"BOSTON, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has signed forward David Krejci to a multi-year contract extension. Per club policy, terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Chiarelli and Krejci will be available to the media via conference call on Wednesday, June 3.

Krejci established a career high in games played, goals, assists and points this season with 22-51-73 totals in 82 games. His 51 assists ranked him second on the team behind Marc Savard, and he led the NHL with a plus/minus rating of +37. In 2009, Krejci also received the Bruins Seventh Player Award, given to the player who performs above and beyond expectations.

In his three-year NHL career, Krejci has recorded 28-72-100 totals in 144 regular season games. He appeared in all 11 playoff games for the Bruins this season contributing two goals and six assists." -Official Bruins Press Release

Hub Hockey: So even though the deal was officially announced by the team on Tuesday, the terms have yet to be disclosed. But there has been some pretty creditable speculation going around that the 3-year deal will consist of $3.5-million during the 2009-2010 season, $3.75 during the 2010-2011 season and $4 million during the 2011-2012 season.

This is a huge re-signing by the Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. Going into the offseason there has been much debate around the re-signing and status of both young stars Krejci and Phil Kessel. Anyone can sit here and debate on which is the more valuable piece to the B's puzzle so I will save you that drama. But in my opinion Krejci was the first priority for the team. And how could anyone not be happy with this deal, especially seeing how early into the teams offseason the B's perused and signed him. Not to mention the fact that they didn't overpay either. Which has become a common tradition for the Black & Gold in the past.

So whats next for Krejci and Chiarelli? Word on Krejci is that he will undergo surgery tomorrow (June 4th) to repair his hip and then will be on the long road to recovery. As for Chiarelli, he still has a lot of work ahead of him with the possibility of re-signed restricted free agents Phil Kessel, Matt Hunwick and Byron Bitz and even a few unrestricted players. This deal though I believe is a good sign of things to come. The B's don't have a lot of wiggle room left but I still think they can keep Kessel and maybe even Hunwick if they play their cards right. But the real question is at what cost. Time will tell and until then, congrats Krejci.

Thomas & Chara Named To SN's All-NHL Team (Thomas: "Goalie of the Year")

Sporting News has donned their Black & Gold yet again this week, when they named Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara to their 2009 All-NHL Team on Friday. This list is comprised of the best of the best from around the league this season including Ovechkin, Parise, Malkin and Green. If being the only team with two players to be selected wasn't enough, on top of this Tim Thomas was also named SN's "Goalie of the Year" via a poll of 292 NHL-players. Thomas now joins Claude Julien ("Coach of the Year") and Peter Chiarelli ("Executive of the Year") on the list of Sporting News award winners this post-season.

Both Thomas (Vezina) and Chara (Norris) will also be looking to take home some hardware at the NHL Awards Show in Vegas on June 18th.

Fenway To Host The Winter Classic: Confirmed?

(photo credit: The Boston Globe)

"Yes, there will be a sheet of ice in Fenway Park for a Jan. 1 Winter Classic. It's a done deal, Bruins vs. either the Capitals or Flyers. The league will make it official at the start of July, with a splashy media event in the old ballpark. NHL free agency begins July 1, which grabs headlines around league cities (except for Phoenix, of course) for 2-3 days. The Sox play at home July 3-12. If the league wants the day for full media attention, it likely will wait for July 13-14 to make official all details, including how to purchase tickets." -KPD via The Boston Globe

Kessel Had Successful Surgery Today

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced today that Phil Kessel underwent a successful surgery earlier today to repair his torn rotator cuff and labrum at Mass General. The surgery was performed by Dr. Peter Asnis and Dr. Jon J.P. Warner. As mentioned when I first reported on the injury, the injury recovery will mostly likely sideline Kess for about six months. This of course could mean that Kessel will not be ready for the start of the season, missing possibly two-months.

Phil Kessel played in 70 games this season and lead the Bruins with 36-goals. Kess also totaled 24-assists for 60-pints during the regular season. He also netted 6-goals and grabbed 5-assists during his 11 playoff games.

Bitz Heading To Providence? Not So Fast

Earlier in the week it was reported that Bruins rookie Byron Bitz would be assigned to the Providence Bruins roster as extra help during their playoff run this season. The Baby-B's are are currently tied 1-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the AHL powerhouse Hersey Bears. This was a major sign of Calder Cup hope in the eyes of Providence fans. Bitz, who played 37-games with the team earlier this season, can be considered one of the Bruins best players during the Bruins/Carolina series. So it wouldn't hurt having him in your lineup. But all the hype was worthless because now it looks like it won't happen.

According to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal, one day after the move was announced Bitz has been benched for the rest of the season with a rib injury. By the sound of it, it looks like the rib injury is nothign new and the rookie was suffering through the playoffs with it. I guess Bitzy was just another banged up player on the Bruins roster that needs to be added to the "M*A*S*H list".

Sporting News Loves The Bruins

Yesterday, Sporting News Magazine named Bruins head coach Claude Julien as their "Coach of the Year". Now today, the love keeps on coming as Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has been named the "Executive of the Year". Both well deserved and huge honors, especially considering that the results are based on votes by 39 of their peers.

This was really a no brainier for me. Just look at what these two have done since joining forces. The Bruins went from the cellar of the league to having a Cinderella season last year, almost droping their arch rivals in a brutal seven-game series. But that didn't stop them as they kept improving all the way through this year, winning a Division Title and making it to the second-round in the playoffs for the first time since 1999. So I guess even though the B's bid for the Cup was "Staal'ed" (yeah I made that joke), we really can't forget about what a success this season truly was. From the upper management all the way down to the bench bosses, this team has turned things around in the past few years. And by the look of it, things will only continue to get better.

Also, hopefully this is a sign of things to come as Claude Julien looks to take home the Jack Adams Award in Las Vegas at the 2008-2009 NHL Awards. Congrats guys!

"Breakup Day": Julien & Chiarelli Press Conference

Hits Keep On Coming: Krejci, Ference, Kobasew & Recchi...

Now Fluto Shinzawa is reporting that David Krejci will be having hip surgery sometime during the off-season. This is the same case as the Kessel injury in that no other details have been released on the severity of the injury. This is a huge blow to two of the biggest restricted free-agents that the Bruins have the job of resigning in the next few months. As with Kessel, I will keep you posted as new details come in.

On top of Kessel and Krejci, there were others that suffered through the second round. Andrew Ference will undergo surgery soon to repair a groin tear he suffered back in early April. Chuck Kobasew broke two ribs in Game One of the Carolina series. And Mark Recchi was suffering though a rib injury and also had emergency surgery before Game Seven to remove kidney stones.

I'm not going to use the injury excuse because every team has to play through injuries, but god damn. That is a lot for one team to go through that early in the playoffs. Especially when taking note of the players involved.

Kessel To Have Surgery Thursday: Torn Rotator Cuff & Labrum

According to Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, Bruins forward Phil Kessel will undergo surgery Thursday (May 21st) of this week to repair a torn rotator cuff and labrum. As of right now, this is all that is known about this injury. I would expect that after today's "media send-off" day, in which the Bruins players and staff will be available to the media one last time, that more details will be revealed. Just as a side note, the normal recovery time involved in a procedure such as this could be between 4-6 months to completely be back at 100%.