Players skating, GMs talking, former coaches leaving

After weeks with zilch for activity, things are finally getting started in anticipation of the opening of training camp in a few weeks. 'Bout damn time, too.

Per Fluto at the Globe, 10 players have gotten together to start informal skates in Boston, including Marc Savard, Big Z, Tim Thomas, and Andrew Alberts. The small group is expecting more players to join in soon, and seeing everyone excited to be on the ice and building the team is great.

Uncle Dave "Grady" Lewis is now out in LA as an assistant coach with the Kings. I *believe* this means his salary is off the books, but I am NOT sure. If anyone can confirm this for me, I'd appreciate it. Usually there are clauses in coaching contracts stipulating that fired coaches will receive their contracted salary until they are under contract to another team. So he's out in LA with MOC, two guys who will be forever remembered by fans as the leading causes of the demise of the B's after the lockout.

Peter Chiarelli led a meeting last night with some season ticket holders at the New Garden, Chara, Savard, and Cam Neely were also in attendance. The Globe hit on the nice, good stuff they talked about but they didn't list any of the biting questions I'm sure some B's fans had. Chiarelli continued to push the "we're moving forward" angle, bringing up the Fernandez and Schaefer trades as well as the signing of Shawn Thornton. He also discussed a real desire to get the kids into the lineup, we'll see if that actually happens. We hear that a lot here in Boston, but....

Finally, The Hockey News picked the B's to finish last in the division. Before you raise your fist, just remember that after the lockout TSN ranked the B's 2nd in the entire league before the season. And we all know how THAT turned out....

Quiet part o' the summer

Not much posting going on here, only because there's not much going on with the B's. No player movement to be noted recently, the coaching situation is all set, and we've got about 3+ more weeks until training camp.

A few interesting things to note...
-Elsewhere online, it's been confirmed that Chistov has signed in Russia, yet in today's Globe Chiarelli makes it seem like there's nothing official yet. Too bad it was a wasted 3rd round pick, but it is what it is.

-Nice to see Cam working with the B's in the front office. Everyone around here seems to scream that Cam or Ray "Trade me right f'ing now" Bourque should be the coach. Because, you know, with ZERO experience they absolutely would do wonders for this team, right? But it's good to see Cam staying involved with the team, because as Chiarelli rightly points out, Cam is everything a Bruins should be.

-I haven't wasted the time or space to discuss any of those insipid Bergeron trade rumours propagated by The Hack. There's no basis to them, and he's been confirmed to be a fraud once again by some smart Isles fans who got sick of him taking their stuff and trying to pass it off as his own. Relax B's fans - Bergy once again confirmed he was injured for the most of last season, and he'll be back on his way to Stevie Y-ness this season.

Chistov gone/Hamill, Sigalet, Curry signed

According to Spector's Hockey (which is citing eurohockey.net) Stan Chistov has signed with Salavat Yulaev of the Russian Superleague. Because Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement (see all the crazy James Bondish stuff behind Malkin coming over last year) Chistov can sign and play in the RSL, and will be suspended by the Bruins and considered a defected player. This opens up $800K under the cap, and is another slot that can be filled by a youngster as noted in my last post.

B's first-rounder Zach Hamill also signed a few days ago, getting the rookie max along with some decent bonuses. It's almost a given that Zach will be back in juniors this season unless he pulls a Bergeron, but it's great to see a proactive approach by Chiarelli in locking up the kids. Given that this'll be Hamill's 5th season in the WHL (I *think*) he may end up in Providence once his season is done.

Jordan Sigalet and Sean Curry also re-signed; Sigalet will most likely back up Rask in Providence as he gets the bulk of the starts, and Curry will provide some veteran leadership on the blue line for the Baby B's.

What's the dealio, Cheese?

Looks like the B's may be getting $800K in cap relief soon - word has been that Stan Chistov may be signing with a Russian team shortly, to play in the RSL next season. A few blogs had mentioned this previously, but now that it's in the Globe it looks like it may be close to happening.

(SIDE NOTE - ironic that an unofficial blogger wouldn't use another blog as a source, isn't it?)

If Cheese does indeed sign in Russia, the B's will suspend him and not have his salary count under the cap. Chistov would also have his rights held by the B's for as long as he had time remaining on his deal (much like Dmitri Kvartalnov, who the B's always expose in expansion drafts since they technically still hold his NHL rights. Maybe the B's can trade those, along with Zinovjev's rights, to the Ducks for an autographed Chris Pronger stick). This will help clear up the forward logjam and help create room for youngsters like Krejci.

In other news, Milan Lucic signed an entry-level deal with the B's last week. He'll be back in juniors this season, captaining the Vancouver Giants, but with his deal in place he might end up in Providence after his junior season is done. It'll be a few years before he's potentially in Boston, but I'll be glad to drive down to Providence to watch his game develop.

B's coaching ranks are filled

According to Doug Flynn in today's Herald, Craig Ramsey and Geoff Ward will be Claude Julien's assistants, along with Doug Houda who was retained from the old regime (that of the 1-year reign).

I guess it's a sign of getting old that I remember coaches' playing careers in the NHL. Ramsey was a standout in Buffalo for a long time, and has been behind the bench for a lot of teams including the Flyers and Lightning. Ward was recently named the head coach of the Springfield Falcons but he's now in Boston.

Quick trivia - Springfield was my first pro-hockey game when I was 6 years old. Back then it was the Springfield Indians. My friends Darren and Danny got pucks from over the glass, and not wanting to be left out, I bought one at the souvenir stand. It just wasn't as cool, though.

The rumblings were that Scott Gordon might have been "called up" to be an assistant in Boston, so once again a good coach in Providence gets passed over for a Boston position. Sound familiar?