Name: Dennis Seidenberg
Position: Defense
Age: 28
Height: 6′1″
Weight: 210
Shoots: Left
Status: UFA

Defensive partners:

Regular season, EV: 78.78% w/Zdeno Chara; 8.28% w/Matt Hunwick
Regular season, PP: 46.72% w/Dennis Wideman; 22.13% w/Chara
Regular season, PK: 63.12% w/Chara; 18.44% w/Wideman

The Good: At the Mar. 3 trade deadline, the Bruins’ brass weren’t too active; especially by not addressing their needs with help putting the puck in the net. But after making some non-impact moves — college/minor leaguers — Boston shipped blue-liner Derek Morris back to Phoenix for a conditional draft pick, and acquired Seidenberg from Greg’s Used Car Lot: aka the Florida Panthers.  Seidenberg’s dynamic presence was immediately felt from day one in Boston — leading the team with over 25 minutes of ice time against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After setting aside my admiration of No. 53, I soon realized that the swapping of defensemen was certainly a slight upgrade for Boston’s back-end. The Bruins got a hulking D-man that logged a ton of minutes — even strength, power play, and penalty kill — blocked a plethora of shots; could move the puck better than any blue-liner on the team; and had great vision, puck handling, and puck movement out of his own end and through the neutral zone.

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Name: Trent Whitfield
Position: Center
Height: 5′11″
Weight: 209
Shoots: Left
Status: $550,000 through 2010-11 season

Line combinations:

Regular season, EV: 13.39% w/Michael Ryder and Mirslav Satan; 12.48% w/Shawn Thornton and Steve Begin
Regular season, PK: 50.94% w/Daniel Paille; 13.21% w/Marco Sturm
Playoffs, EV: 76.19% w/Begin and Thornton
Playoffs, PK: 48% w/Begin; 24% w/Blake Wheeler

The Good: One thing you can’t take away from Trent Whitfield is his hard work, hustle, and tremendous effort.

In 16 games this season in Boston, Whitfield provided 11:02 of average ice time (TOI) and a solid 1:01 during the shorthand. No. 42 was solid on the face-off dot, winning 103-of-178 draws for 57.9-percent. However the 32-year-old got a little overzealous, on Oct. 22, when he dropped the gloves with Flyers’ defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen in his second contest of his NHL season.

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Name: Tuukka Rask
Position: Goalie
Age: 23
Height: 6′3″
Weight: 169
Catches: Left
Status: Re-signed a two-year, $2.5M contract through 2011-12 season

The Good: Give the 23-year-old another dozen starts or so and you have yourself the 2010 Calder Memorial Trophy winner. Period. What was supposed to be a season of riding the pine behind the 2009 Vezina Trophy winner with 20-25 starts, Rask’s sensational play between the pipes earned himself the No. 1 role.

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Name: Patrice Bergeron
Position: Center
Age: 24
Height: 6′2″
Weight: 194
Shoots: Right
Status: $4.75M though 2010-11 season

Line combinations:

Regular season, EV: 41.27% w/Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi
Regular season, PK: 36.04% w/Sturm
Regular season, PP: 17.64% w/David Krejci, Blake Wheeler, Recchi
Playoffs, EV: 37.66% w/Daniel Paille and Recchi
Playoffs, PK: 47.2% w/Recchi
Playoffs, PP: 49.32% w/Recchi and Krejci

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Name: Zdeno Chara
Position: Defense
Age: 33
Height: 6′9″
Weight: 255
Shoots: Left
Status: $7.5M through 2010-11

Defensive partners:

Regular season, EV: 40.44% w/Derek Morris, 28.96% w/Dennis Wideman
Regular season, PP: 37.53% w/Morris, 29.98% w/Wideman
Regular season, PK: 44.2% w/Morris, 27.18% w/Wideman
Playoffs, EV: 83.24% w/Johnny Boychuk
Playoffs, PP: 77.78% w/Matt Hunwick
Playoffs, PK: 80.7% w/Boychuk

The Good: The reigning Norris Trophy winner continues to log insane amounts of ice time — on the power play, even strength, penalty kill and total ice time per game. His total ice time during the regular season was ninth-most in the NHL — with the other eight players having appeared in all 82 games to Chara’s 80 —  and was one of 12 players to average 25 minutes or more. What’s even more impressive is that Chara’s minutes are against the oppositions top-lines; shutting down the league’s best night-in, night-out.

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Name: Tim Thomas
Position: Goalie
Age: 36
Height: 5′11″
Weight: 201
Catches: Left
Status: Signed through 2012-13 at $5M cap-hit per season (4-years, $20M)

The Good: Although sub-par and almost pedestrian numbers for Thomas, many NHL goalies around the league would have been thrilled with his five shutouts and respectable goals-against average and save-percentage this season. Although losing his No. 1 role to Tuukka Rask, Thomas seemed a better fit riding the pine and playing (roughly) once every four-to-six games. And once losing the starting job, Thomas took it on the chin like a pro and kept whatever frustrations he had ‘hush-hush’.

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Name: Steve Begin
Position: Center
Age: 31
Height: 6′0″
Weight: 192
Shoots: Left
Status: $850,000 salary UFA

Line combinations:

Regular season, EV: 18.28% w/Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille — 14.51% w/Thornton and Byron Bitz
Regular season, PK: 69.22% w/Paille — 7.25% w/Bitz
Playoffs, EV: 21.65% w/Thornton and Paille — 16.9% w/Thornton and Trent Whitfield
Playoffs, PK: 72.32% w/Paille — 10.71% w/Whitfield

The Good: A warrior. Played banged-up and hurt many-a-nights, Begin was a solid, versatile center that complimented the fourth-line and linemates. No. 27 started the beginning of the year on a tear, posting 2-4-6 totals in the first nine games of the season. The 31-year-old UFA was arguably the most physical player on the ice on any given night, as he led all Bruins’ players with 184 hits throughout the regular season — 33 more than Chara who ranked second — and his 41 hits in the post season was second behind Lucic’s 42.

Along with being an all-around fourth-line center, Begin finished the season with a respectable 53.5 faceoff winning percentage, and 53.7 percent in the playoffs.

Flirting with a handful of shifts on the top-line, it was on the shorthand where Begin shined. His presence on the penalty kill helped ranked Boston third overall in the NHL this season, and first in the post season. He logged 146:27 total ice time (TOI) on the PK, second behind Paille, and lead all Black-and-Gold forwards with 2:28 average PK/TOI per game.

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Name: Mark Recchi
Position: Right wing
Age: 42
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 195
Shoots: Left
Status: $1M salary UFA

Line combinations:

Regular season, EV: 38.91% w/Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm, 14.02% w/Bergeron and Daniel Paille.
Regular season, PP: 34.04% w/David Krejci and Blake Wheeler
Playoffs, EV: 38.61% w/Bergeron and Paille, 26.94% w/Bergeron and Milan Lucic.
Playoffs, PP: 51.06% w/Bergeron and Krejci

The Good: Where to begin? Hustle; extra effort in every game; a Captain in-and-out of the locker room even without the “C” etched on his jersey; a leader by example…Recchi was an absolute stud all season long.

At age 42, Recchi was one player on the 2009-10 Boston Bruins roster who showed up to play every night. And there weren’t too many that did. The durable right winger played in 81 games this season, and was a healthy (rest) scratch for the Boston’s meaningless Game 82 against the Capitals. Recchi’s 43 points was fourth-best on the B’s roster; his 18 goals tied him for third-most; was one of 11 players on the positive side of the plus/minus (plus-4); and his eight power play goals topped the Black-and-Gold’s charts.

In 13 playoff games, the 20-plus year veteran continued to step-up his game as if he was 22 again — logging the second-most total ice time (TOI) of any Bruins forward with 253:20 (19:32 per game), the most power play time of any forward with over 37 minutes (2:50 avg./game), and chipped-in with top-5 forward minutes on the penalty kill (1:43 avg./game). No. 28 also compiled six goals (first), four assists, 10 points (T-3), three PPG’s (first), and 26 shots on goal throughout the post season.

The Bad: [Read more ------>]

Name: Blake Wheeler
Position: Right wing
Age: 23
Height: 6′5″
Weight: 205
Shoots: Right
Status: RFA — $875,000 salary; $2.825M cap-hit/bonuses

Line Combinations:

Regular season, EV: 39.37% w/David Krejci and Michael Ryder
Regular season, PK: 69.59% w/Krejci
Regular season, PP: 40.79% w/Krejci and Mark Recchi
Playoffs, EV: 52/03% w/ Vladimir Sobotka and Ryder
Playoffs, EV: 63.16% w/Krejci
Playoffs, PP: 69.75% w/Krejci and Recchi

The Good: Wheeler’s 18 goals was tied for third-most on the offensively challenged Bruins team this season, and his 38 points and 159 shots on goal ranked him fifth on the squad in each category. The skilled and talented Wheeler was a decent cog for the second power play unit (2:04 PP/TOI), on the penalty kill (1:10 SH/TOI) with Krejci, and had 10 of his 38 points coming via the man-advantage and shorthand.

At 6′5″, Wheeler is a very good, agile skater for a player of his size with terrific stick-handling abilities. And there’s no questioning the 23-year-old’s durability, as he was one of two players — Michael Ryder — to play in all 82 games this season (Mark Recchi was a rest/scratch in the meaningless last game No. 82).

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Name: Shawn Thornton
Position: Left wing
Age: 32
Height: 6′2″
Weight: 217
Shoots: Right
Status: UFA — $550,000

Line combinations:

Regular season, EV: 22.98% w/Steve Begin and Daniel Paille
Regular season, EV: 18.24% w/Begin and Byron Bitz
Playoffs, EV: 30.98% w/Begin and Paille
Playoffs, EV: 24.18% w/Begin and Trent Whitfield

The Good: A notorious face and voice for the Boston Bruins, Thornton has been the B’s enforcer for the past three seasons. And just like every season, Thornton has made the best out of his limited ice time — 7:08 average TOI in 127 shifts in the playoffs and 9:02 TOI during the regular season — in his fourth-line grinding and policing role. The Oshawa, Ontario, native ranked amongst the top in the league with 21 fighting majors; always answering the bell when it was time and having his team’s back.

With tremendous tenacity and all-out-effort, Thornton is generally the last player off the ice during a line change, dumping the puck in and forchecking. No. 22 is a solid leader and a smart character player both on and off the ice, and for the money, is an absolute no-brainer to re-sign before Jul. 1.

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