BY: Mark Harriman, Senior Editor
BOSTON- Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli’s cell phone rang as he sliced his way into a crowded work room in the TD Garden’s 9th floor press area just prior to his team taking the ice tonight against the conference-leading New York Rangers.
Without missing a beat –and to no one in particular- he deadpanned “Hold on. I have to make a trade” and ducked around a storage locker to take the call.
While it was probably not another member of the GM fellowship on the other end –all joking aside- that call was probably the symbolic beginning of the Bruins’ race towards the fast-approaching NHL trade deadline. At least it was the most public start, anyway.
It was a few seconds later in front of a scrum of reporters that Chiarelli announced the signing of defenseman Johnny Boychuk to a three year contract extension, thus likely taking the 28 year old defenseman off the market as trade bait.
“Johnny really wanted to stay here. I think that’s the overriding theme,”
Chiarelli said, wedged in front of a makeshift Bruins backdrop. “He has obviously been a good performer for us.”
Chiarelli revealed that the extension through the 2014-15 season is worth $10.1 million over the term of the deal ($3.1, $3.4 and $3.6 million). Boychuk was also rewarded with limited no-trade clause.
“I won’t get into the details, but it’s flexible for both sides> It’s basically providing a list of teams and certain terms.”
The deal to re-up potential free agent Boychuk started four weeks ago, well ahead of the frenzied free agency period which begins July 1st. The GM speculated that Boychuk could have received a better offer had he exposed his talents to the other 29 teams in the league, though his player took somewhat of a proverbial hometown discount.
“He chose not to test the market, which was good for us. And we have him under contract for three more years,” Chiarelli said. The trade-off for Boychuk was the security in knowing that he will be plying his craft in Boston for the foreseeable future.
After the Bruins’ 3-0 shutout loss to the Rangers, Boychuk spoke briefly about the new deal.
“Nope. I wanted to stay here,” he said in succinctly stating his thoughts about testing the open market after the season. “I’m obviously happy. It wasn’t a really big secret that I wanted to stay here, so I’m excited I guess.
“Boston as a city is probably the best place to play I think, even though I haven’t really played anywhere else (he played only a handful of games at forward with the Colorado Avalanche, who drafted him in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft). The fans are just so into it, they’re always cheering – sold out every night. Why wouldn’t you want to stay here?”
Including tonight, the 28 year old defenseman has skated in 53 contests this season (3+7=10 points) and is third on the Bruins on +/- with a +23. He trails only Patrice Bergeron (+26) and Captain Zdeno Chara (+25) in that category on the team, which also ranks him 8th overall in the NHL.
As Chiarelli continues to concentrate on improving his team for what could be another strong playoff run, he admitted tonight that maintaining Boston’s chemistry is a driver.
“I think that’s probably my priority when I look to add something. I do want to add something and I’d like to help the team. I’d like to add to our depth…..It’s a fine balance, chemistry, and you have to be careful.”
While he was officially dubbed “Sleepy Pete” by Kevin Paul DuPont of the Boston Globe two years ago for his inactivity at the deadline, he certainly shed that moniker last year in acquiring Rich Peverley, Chris Kelly and Tomas Kaberle.
As this season’s trade talk continues to jell, Chiarelli’s thoughts are also on Nathan Horton, who has missed seven straight games after his concussion on January 22 and suffered a setback earlier this week as he attempted to get back on the ice for conditioning.
Horton will not accompany the team on its six game road trip which begins in Montreal tomorrow night and the GM has to be prepared to lose his forward for an extended period and possibly the playoffs.
“I don’t know. I expect him to be back,” Chiarelli said as the presser wrapped up.
But he became fairly equivocal as each sentence progressed.
“He’s progressing and I would think he’d be back. In the back of my head, it’s that he may be something we have to replace, but I would expect him to be back. But we look at players and say ‘Hey, maybe this player could add to our depth, but maybe he’d have to play in a certain spot, too,’ like Horton’s spot.”
That’s GM-speak for ‘These concussions are tricky things and we have to be prepared……’ Stay tuned, boys and girls. This could be an interesting few weeks for all involved.
