The Bruins’ free agent dealings were practical rather than glamorous, but did they have a choice? - The Boston Globe
Don Sweeney, constrained by some factors out of his control — but some within it — had to move quickly and responsibly without any big splashes when the market opened.
The Summer of the Great Black-and-Gold Second Guessing hit its zenith Sunday when Tyler Bertuzzi signed on with the Maple Leafs with a one-year deal that will pay the ex-Bruins winger $5.5 million next season.
The cry from the Black-and-Gold fandom: “Hey, why not us?!”
The answer, though seemingly convoluted, actually is very simple: there’s not enough money in the Bruins’ budget. The NHL hard cap is cruel, and it is especially so right now for the team owned by Jeremy Jacobs, he who, let us not forget, led the owners’ crusade some 20 years ago for a capped payroll system.
Oh, when irony hits like a two-hander cracked under the chin.
That $5.5 million may look small — even in Bertuzzi’s eyes right now — but the Bruins didn’t have that money to spend, arguably even before GM Don Sweeney unloaded Taylor Hall earlier in the week and then went on his spending spree Saturday to bring in the likes of James van Riemsdyk (34 years old), Milan Lucic (35) and Kevin Shattenkirk (34) for the NHL Seniors Tour.
