With Blake Wheeler and Tyler Seguin inked and ready-to-go for the 2010-11 NHL season, the Boston Bruins are still in a bit of a salary-cap predicament. Now the club has 22 roster players signed, but are also more than $3 million over the $54.9 million NHL salary-cap ceiling.

The good news for the B’s is that they still have time to get that number right — by opening night in Prague. Of that $3 million that the team is over, $3.5 million will be cleared by the season opener — against the Phoenix Coyotes — when Marco Sturm hits the long-term injured-reserve list (LTIR).

A little over a week ago, I posted a possible line-up that we may see the Black-and-Gold open the season with in Prague on October 9. It didn’t have Wheeler, but it did have Seguin. Below is an update ‘possible line-up’, with the total salary-cap-hit breakdown (via capgeek.com) for each line and defensive combination:

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The Boston Bruins officially announced the signing of 2010 first-round, second overall draft pick, Tyler Seguin, to a three-year entry-level NHL contract. The financial terms, as usual, were not disclosed, but it’s safe to presume that the 18-year-old Brampton, Ontario, Canada native will be pocketing $900,00 for each of his first three seasons in the big leagues, plus bonuses which could net him upwards of $3.75 million.

Just last hour, Bruins’ general manager Peter Chiarelli held a press conference to the media about the signing. Here’s what the GM had to say:

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It took Blake Wheeler and the Boston Bruins a weekend trip to Toronto and a meeting with an arbitrator to agree to financial terms. But at the end of the day, or three days, the two sides met halfway and can now focus on the task at hand: preparing for the 2010-11 NHL season.

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The Boston Bruins made it official this morning by accepting the arbitrator’s ruling and inking 23-year-old Blake Wheeler to a one-year, $2.2 million deal for the upcoming 2010-11 NHL season.

“It is never a pleasant experience for either side to go to arbitration,” said Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli. “However, as a manager, you know that the player will be under contract for the following year either way. We talked to Blake before and after the hearing and we are satisfied to have a good, young player under contract
for another year.”

With the signing, we now know the Bruins have surpassed the NHL-set $59.4 million salary cap limit for the season. Fortunately the Bruins still have until Oct. 9 (opening night in Prague) to make that number.

There will be a conference call in the next hour to media. More later.

After two days of deliberation, Elizabeth Neumeier—the arbitrator in Blake Wheeler’s hearing—yesterday set the 23-year-old’s 2010-11 NHL salary at $2.2 million. And this morning, the Bruins made quick work of their own 48-hour window to make a decision and accepted the arbitrator’s ruling by inking Wheeler to the one-year deal.

The Bruins had three options during that two-day thinking period, but keeping No. 26 was a no-brainer. Although the $2.2 million deal put Boston over the cap, Boston still has some time to get their payroll back down to the $59.4 million ceiling.

The first of three was the most unlikely of scenarios: Boston could have ‘walked away’ from No. 26 and his $2.2 million award. If the Bruins had exercised this right, then the 6′5″ Wheeler would have become an unrestricted free-agent, and the club would have received zero compensation for the former first-round draft pick.

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The arbitration hearing between the Boston Bruins and their restricted free-agent (RFA) Blake Wheeler was held this morning in Toronto, Canada, after the two sides failed come to a mutual contract agreement. A player can only go to arbitration once in his NHL career, so this will be the first and last time Wheeler can use this bargaining tool to settle any future contract disputes.

“[the hearing] Went well – not contentious at all.” Wheeler’s agent Matt Keator told TheHubofHockey.net this afternoon. “Professionally done on both sides”

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Okay, so I’m three months premature here, but I just had to start kicking the tires on the possible opening day lineup for the 2010-11 Boston Bruins.

First, before I list my possible line combinations, here are a few things related that we need to know:

1. According to capgeek.com, the B’s have a whopping $12,229 of cap-space remaining (not including Marco Sturm and his $3.5M salary which will be temporarily wiped away as he sits out the beginning of the season on the LTIR) and 20 roster players inked.
2. Blake Wheeler (arbitration) and second overall draft pick Tyler Seguin are still unsigned. We have a better chance of seeing Halley’s Comet tomorrow night than not seeing Seguin in Black-and-Gold, so he’s considered IN. And as far as Wheeler goes, I’m considering him OUT until it’s official.
3. We’re 77 days away from the start of the 2010-11 Bruins’ NHL season in Prague — a lot can happen from now til then. But for now, Marc Savard, Michael Ryder, and Tim Thomas are still members of this squad. So without further ado, here’s my starting lineup as of Jul. 24, 2010.

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After working ten hours last night and thinking about the recent Ilya Kovalchuk signing, I was pretty stoked to come home and see that the NHL had rejected the ludicrous $102M contract that was to keep the 27-year-old phenom in New Jersey for the next 17-years.

After years of NHL general managers finding loopholes to circumvent the current Collective Bargaining Agreement’s (CBA) regulations on players’ salaries, the NHL has finally had enough and stepped-in to help salvage a bit of its integrity.

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It’s official: the Boston Bruins have re-signed defenseman and restricted free-agent, Mark Stuart, to a one-year contract worth $1.675M. The B’s now have their six starting defenseman under contract for this upcoming 2010-11 NHL season—Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, Andrew Ference, Matt Hunwick and Stuart.

According to capgeek.com, the Bruins have less than $2M of cap-space remaining. So this deal ($200K less than Boychuk, and just $225K more than Hunwick), is a most certainly a hometown discount, while giving the Bruins an extra year to up his pay and years at the end of this contract.

Earlier this week, the Bruins also signed blue-liner Nathan McIver to a two-year contract; adding depth to their back-end. Also in the mix for that possible seventh (or even sixth) spot in the blue-line are Yuri Alexandrov, Andrew Bondarchuk and Jeff Penner, to name a few.

Stuart is coming off an injury-plagued season in which he saw his 213 consecutive games-played come to an end via two separate injuries: sternum and finger. He posted 2-5-7 in 56 games played this past 2009-10 NHL season with 80 PIM, 83 blocked shots, and 103 hits. He made it back from injuries to dress in four post season games for Boston, but had zero points and a minus-4 rating.

The 26-year-old Stuart has  252 career NHL games under his belt, and has posted 12-23-35 scoring totals and 261 penalty minutes. The 6′2″ Stuart has also appeared in 22 post season contests, registering 0-2-2 totals.

The 2010 Boston Bruins Development Camp schedule can be viewed here, and below is the roster of players/participants.

Forwards:

Tyler Brenner, Jordan Caron, Joe Colborne, Craig Cunningham, Alexander Fallstrom, Justin Florek, Mark Goggin, Jared Knight, Tyler Randell, Maxime Sauve, Tyler Seguin, Ben Sexton, Ryan Spooner, Nick Tremblay

Defensemen:
Yuri Alexandrov, Matt Bartkowski, Ryan Button, Marc Cantin, Tommy Cross,
Ryan Donald, Steve Kampfer, Zach Trotman, David Warsofsky

Goaltenders:
Adam Courchaine, Matt Dalton, Zane Gothberg, Mike Hutchinson

* Maxime Sauve is injured, but will attend
** Goaltender Zane Gothberg is not yet confirmed

You can also download a PDF of the roster here with the players’ info (age, height, weight, place of birth etc) or here, courtesy of the Boston Bruins Media Relations Department.