Bruins Make Savvy Move

TSN is reporting that the Bruins have locked up forward Marc Savard to a 7-year contract, with an average annual cap hit of $4.2 million. This is great news for the Bruins Nation, as Savard has continued to be an over-achieving / under-appreciated asset in the NHL, and the Bruins clearly want to retain his services long-term.

One of the darkest days for me as a Bruins fan (and there have been quite a few) was the day that Joe Thornton was traded away. At the time (and now!), Thornton was in the top five in scoring, and in exchange the Bruins received players who are simply not in the upper ranks - only one of whom still plays for the club (and before anyone considers this an insult, I will say again that I am big fan of Marco Sturm, but everyone must acknowledge that he does not put up the points that Thornton does). It was yet another example of the Bruins scuttling the quality of the team for some short-term gains.

Conversely, one of the happiest days for me as a Bruins fan came on July 1st, 2006, when the B's signed Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard, ending a looooooong drought where the B's chose the bottom line over on-ice performance. They've both been outstanding Bruins.

As Savard approached unrestricted free agency, I was pretty concerned that the team would decide to shop around, once again bringing in role players and mid-level talent for an elite set-up man. Fortunately, the Bruins decided to stay-the-course they chose a few seasons ago, and re-up Savard for the long haul.

A great move for the Bruins, a great opportunity for Savard, and hopefully, a move that puts Savard onto the radar of the Team Canada management, who have thus far criminally overlooked Savvy for the Olympics.

Welcome back, Savvy.