No Shanny? UFA grades around the national media

In today's Herald, Steven Harris reports that the Bruins may no longer have interest in signing Brendan Shanahan, who is rumoured to be looking to the Wings or Blues at this point. It's been reported that Shanahan has visited many teams now, and is continually having the monetary value of the contracts offered go upwards. At this point, $5M/year is being tossed around, and I'd most definitely have to say NO to a contract of that size. Given the RFAs who need to be re-signed, I'd rather see that money spent on Bergeron, Boyes, Alberts, etc. and maybe pick up one more UFA at a lower cost/shorter term if the player was right (Sykora, or Samsonov part deux?).

In the national media scene, CBS gives the Bruins an A grade for the UFA signings so far. Fox Sports' Alan Adams shows his complete hockey ignorance in discussing the Chara deal, and how he's setting himself up to be traded just like Thornton. Um, Adams, Chara has a NO TRADE. But thanks for doing your research, though. Oh, and claiming Phoenix won for giving Jovanovski a $6.5M/year contract? Great way to shoot what little credibility you might have had right out the window. ESPN's Scott Burnside jabs the Sens for not offering as much as the B's to Chara, but in the next paragraph knocks the B's for signing Chara to a big deal, and says if he can't be a leader, then the signing was worthless, as was the Savard signing. Hey guys - we know the Sens are playoff chokers (sound familiar B's fans?), and we know that Savard's production jumped up astronomically playing with Kovalchuk. But what other NHL team made prominent signings? The Habs (Francois Boullion)? The Blues (Guerin)? The Leafs? (Hall Gill and Pavel Kubina)? The Bruins needed to address some issues, the signings did just that.

Last year, all the outlets were proclaiming the B's as having the best depth in the league, TSN ranked them the #2 team in the league in the pre-season. And look how THAT ended. So if people want to knock the B's, that's fine. If the finish is the opposite of what they're predicting, a la last year, I'll be quite happy.

Also, the Montreal Gazette can't resist taking a dig at the Bruins, even when they're discussing a different sport! In an article today about their national soccer team (they actually have one?) they poked fun at how many coaches the Bruins have had over the years. Strangely, there was no mention of how Mike Ribeiro would be a better soccer player than Scab with the way he dives all over the place and falls down, goes boom whenever someone looks at him. Apparently that sort of schoolyard behavior is more acceptable in futbol that is in the NHL...