Ryder-ing it out

So yesterday began free agency in the NHL (as well as that league that the Celtics just won a title in but no one cares about that anymore until next year's playoffs). As I have mentioned in this blog before I have been getting somewhat excited about this free agent period as I was hoping for a big splash by the Bruins of adding the next piece to take them from a tough first-round elimination to perhaps making it to the 2nd or 3rd rounds of the playoffs. Yesterday, I was disappointed.

As I have watched the past few days it became clear that Tampa Bay has decided on the Ranger approach to the NHL. When all else fails, overpay for high profile free agents and hope that the high priced skill you put on the ice will be enough to get you a Cup. They also added a blast from the past by making Barry Melrose as coach. But what the Lightning forgot was that the way to win now if to make smart moves with a nice blend of young players you have developed and older veterans for leadership. The Rangers can tell you that spending money on just elite free agents will not win you a cup (just ask Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Jaromir Jagr, and the myriad of other who have wore the blue shirts at MSG since they last won).

That aside there was danger in the water (or on the ice as the case may be) for the Bruins the minute that Ryan Malone (who had a career year with 27 goals & 51 points while playing on a team with Sydney Crosby & Evgeni Malkin) signed his deal. It set the bar by which all other free agent skaters were going to be judged. This meant that the coveted Mr. Hossa was going to cost over $8 million a year to sign and Bruins were still going to owe Wideman over $3 million a year once his arbitration is settled. This meant bad news for my high hopes.

At about 3:45 yesterday Chiarelli released a piece on the Bruins website stating that he had gone after a "very elite player" and that upon finding out that the Bruins were not very high on his wish list, they backed down and explored other options. I knew it was Hossa. I didn't want it to be but with their cap space they could only afford one high priced free agent and scoring was more important than defense so he wasn't talking about Brian Campbell.

Later that night there was word that Chiarelli was going to have a conference call to make an announcement that most thought was going to be the signing of a player. We knew we were in the running for someone but no one seemed to have an idea of who it was. At a little after 10pm we found out...Michael Ryder.

Huh??? This is the guy who was in Guy Carbonneau's dog house at the end of the season and didn't even play most of the games down the stretch. The two-time 30 goal scorer who only managed 31 points last year? HUH??

I guess I understand the need to go for value but why does this smell of old deals like Alexei Zhamnov (one of the worst signings in Bruins history). Not that Ryder is old but something was clearly wrong last year. Maybe the scuttle is right and Claude Julien has some sort of rapport with this kid (he coached him in juniors and with Montreal) and can regain that 30 goal touch. I certainly hope so for $4 million a year.

I don't mean to be too critical. I understand in this day and age with the cap that teams have to make hard choices when trying to build their team. In blogs past I have applauded the Bruins for resigning their young talent (which they continued by resigning Nokeleinen on Monday) and I don't want to take away from that. By doing so, from the start they had less money to throw around than a team like Tampa Bay which let most of its free agents go to market and traded away one of their pricey contracts (Brad Richards) last season. Plus as Chiarelli was ready to point out that we are also returning Patrice Bergeron which is almost like a free agent signing considering how little of the season he played in last year.

I want Ryder to be the Ryder of two seasons ago when the Canadiens were so high on him and saw him as their big goal scorer of the future. I want Bergeron to be player he was two years ago before the Philly Prison Inmates (also known as the Flyers) took him out for the season. Time will tell. My hopes have been dampened a little. I was expecting the big splash and all I've seen so far is a ripple. But I'll keep watching and I will of course keep you, my loyal reader, up to date.