http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?blogger_id=91Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:00:35 -0400 http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15954 It’s not yet July 1st, the start of free-agency, and already money is being tossed around. Ryan Malone’s new contract – a seven year, $31.5 million contract that will allow him to make as much money as Zdeno Chara next year and the year after – is the type of inflated deal we’ve come to expect in the post-lockout NHL. Malone, who is 28 and for the first time in his career just scored m Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:54:29 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15823 For two years in a row, Peter Chiarelli’s first round picks have been met with the same crowd response. “The Boston Bruins are proud to select Zach Hamill” provoked a reaction which was liable to spontaneously generate a lone tumbleweed, gently bouncing by in a soft breeze as a single onlooker slightly coughed. Last night’s selection of Joe Thorcolborneton generated a similar response fr Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:03:05 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15769 It seems like I will be going to the draft after all. I’ll bring my notepad and my Jack Klompus astronaut pen and over the weekend I’ll post a blog about all of the sights, sounds and goings-on at the draft. The Bruins took most people by surprise last year when they drafted Zach Hamill with the eighth overall pick. Their scouts must’ve seen something in him they really liked because he Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:45:31 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15711 According to the Boston Globe (and this site), the Boston Bruins have agreed to terms with Blake Wheeler, a solid power-forward prospect with lots of size, skating ability and an interesting name which lends itself out nicely to puns. Wheel we see him in the NHL next year? There are no guarantees of that, but Bruin fans have to be happy about getting this 6’4”, 5th overall draftee (selected Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:06:20 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15475 The Bruins exchanged Jonathan Sigalet, a 22 year old defenseman with a bright future, for 20 year old Matt Marquardt, a 20 year old forward (soon to be 21, this July) drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Sigalet was +20 with the Providence Bruins last season and is definitely a solid two-way defence prospect. Sigalet is, however, not overly large and would likely have to wait for quite some t Wed, 28 May 2008 10:15:49 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15367 With so many young players on the Bruins, it will be very interesting to see which players improve or regress next season. I think a few of the Bruins are just a few exp points from levelling up and developing some new abilities while a few others are possibly going to incur quite a bit of exp debt which they may not be able to repay. On that note, the purpose of this blog will be to determine w Mon, 19 May 2008 14:01:56 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15281 This off-season will undoubtedly be the most difficult for Peter Chiarelli since he began his tenure as General Manager for the Bruins. It’s often easier to make a very bad team turn over a new leaf (that almost sounds like a Leafs joke but it wasn’t intended that way) and become respectable than it is to turn a decent team into a genuinely good team. Unlike in past off-seasons, Chiarelli wi Mon, 12 May 2008 23:15:32 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15190 When last I left off I had bought out Glen Murray, offered a contract to Aaron Ward, set a spending limit for Dennis Wideman and Mark Stuart’s contracts, attempted to trade Andrew Alberts, told Peter Schaefer he was welcome to stay another year only if he showed conviction, and told Cam Neely to find a neuralizer with which to brainwash Manny Fernandez into thinking he is a florist from Topeka. Wed, 07 May 2008 10:05:14 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15099 If television has taught me one thing, it’s that it is definitely possible to swap your own consciousness with that of another human being. Some people may be able to understand the concept by thinking of the movie Freaky Friday, where a teenager and her mother swap consciousnesses and hilarity (I’m being generous) ensues. I suspect many of my readers may be more inclined to associate the co Thu, 01 May 2008 12:07:19 -0400Bruins http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=15047 A lot of fans of other teams don’t necessarily understand why Bruin fans are so upbeat about this past season. They see that the Bruins’ offence was terrible, that they only squeaked into the playoffs and that they lost in the first round once again to their most difficult and hated opponent. But what they may not necessarily understand is the change in culture that is going on in the Boston Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:07:57 -0400Bruins