Tim Thomas traded to the Islanders!

Thank you, Garth Snow!!  Thank you!

I found myself stewing with mixed emotions as I heard the news.  The first reaction was pure joy.  Not because Thomas is gone (well sort of), but because his $5mil cap hit is gone.  That was a significant chunk of dead weight we were carrying on the books.  Pooof!  Gone.  We received a conditional 2nd round pick in either 2014 or 2015, but really who cares.  The most valuable part of this trade is the CAP SPACE!  If we put Marc Savard on long-term injury reserve, I think I heard on the radio that we would then have $11mil in cap space.  Let that sink in.  $11mil of cap space to play with.  That is a tremendous amount of room to add a stud player or two.

A caller on the radio had the same thinking as me: JAROME IGINLA.  For the love of hockey gods, please,  let's bring this guy to Boston.  He's on a horrible Calgary team and is nearing the end of his career.  He has one more year left on his contract, and his cap hit is $7mil.  Yes that is high, but the B's have the room and he's a FA after this year.  He's scored 30+ goals 11 straight seasons, scoring 50 or more goals twice.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CALL THEM.

I don't know what they'd want in return.  Dougie and Seguin are off limits.  I'd be hesitant to offer a player on  our roster.  I'd offer up draft picks (yes multiple) and then a pick out of our top prospects: Jared Knight, Ryan Spooner, Jordan Caron, Alex Khokhlachev, etc.  Since he'd be a "rental" player, I don't think the B's would have to give up too much, but hey, make them take our offer.  Load it up now and make a run for another Cup!!

That was my giddiness.  Remove the White House snub, the Facebook posts, the Chick Fil A support, etc, and I'm a little sad this is how the Tim Thomas era is ending.  This guy had one of the greatest sports stories in recent memory.  He fought his way through Europe and the minors to finally be a starter on a team and then basically single handedly ended the B's 39 year Cup drought.  I mean take a look at this video.  Without a majority of those saves, the B's don't even make it out of the 1st round let alone the Finals.

Farewell, Thomas.  It's officially TUUKKA TIME!!

First move of the offseason: Good-bye Zach Hamill

In the first move of the offseason, Chiarelli decided to close the painful chapter known as the Zach Hamill Experiment.  The former first round draft pick and current restricted free agent was sent packing to D.C. in exchange for the son of Bruins legend, Chris Bourque.

As I've written before, Hamill has been the biggest draft bust for the Bruins in recent memories.  It's been frustrating waiting for him to develop with later draft picks leap frogging him on the depth chart like he didn't even exist.  He was suppose to have plus offensive skills, but just needed to get bigger and play more responsible defense.  Unfortunately, he just never panned out in Julien's system.  Maybe a change of scenery will be good for him.  If the Capitals go back to their "run and gun" style of play, he'd fit in perfectly.  Okay well maybe not perfectly, but much better than here. 

Really the only sexy thing about Chris Bourque is that he's the son of Ray Bourque.  His production in the pros has been borderline nonexistent; playing in 33 games total and only sporting a 1-3-4 and a minus 6.  First they have to sign him as he's an unrestricted free agent (though I'm sure they will).  Secondly, I can't see him cracking the big club to start.  He's been a fairly productive AHLer and that's where I believe he begins his Boston career.

Dustin Brown to the B's?

I thought that headline would grab your attention.

Is he coming to the B's?  No.  The trade deadline is over, so there's no way we could get him this year although it is reported that we tried.  This is just me playing GM.

There's a report that the King's want to strip Brown of his captaincy and give it to Mike Richards (former captain of the Flyers).  I can just envision how that conversation is going to go in the offseason...and I'm sure that won't piss Brown off....not one bit....

If this is really the case, it makes the most sense to trade Brown instead of relinquishing him of his captaincy, which just seems mean.  Has that ever been done?

If he's made available, I would love the Bruins to make a play for the American this offseason.  He's signed through 2014 with only a $3.175m cap hit, so the B's can easily fit him in under the cap.  He's incredibly durable, playing close to 80 games a season during his 7 years.  He also has scored more than 20 goals the past 4 seasons and appears to be on the verge of continuing that streak this year.

What would it cost to get him?  Good question.  It'd put out feelers for Krejci and Thomas this offseason to see who's interested.  The Kings aren't lacking for either centermen (Richards and Kopitar) or goalies (Quick and Bernier).  In fact, they also have two starting caliber goalies on their team.  They did just trade Jack Johnson to the Blue Jackets, so they could be looking for a defenseman.  Sending them Boychuk wouldn't be enough.  Do we make Hamilton available?  I'm sure they would at least listen, but our prospect pipeline is already thin, so I'd prefer not to give up Hamilton as some believe he'll be with the big boys next season.

For this to happen it seems like a third team would need to get involved unless the brass are making players available that I wouldn't consider available.  Maybe a team interested in Thomas could send a player/picks to the Kings and the Kings could send Brown our way.  Or maybe a team interesting Bernier would also be interested in Krejci and we get a deal done that way.  In those scenarios I'm sure the B's would also have to include picks as well.

Why would I get rid of Krejci?  He's underachieving and frustrating.  He does have enormous potential, shows flashes of brilliance and his cap hit is very friendly, so he could be moved and I'm sure teams would be interested.  I would then slide Seguin up and over to the first line center (his natural position), resign Horton (as long as he's healthy) and then you figure out who Brown works better with: Lucic and Seguin or Marchand and Bergie...that's where he goes and Horton goes on the other line.

Pretty simple right?  Anyone got Chiarelli's number?  Realistic?  Eh probably not, but it's fun to throw out ideas.