Bruins Sign Paille To Two-Year Extension & Bring Back Reich

Jeremy Reich has signed a deal to return to the Boston Bruins organization.

When the NHL’s free-agency market officially opened up for business at noon yesterday, not much was expected from the Boston Bruins and for good reason. The B’s came into the day with the highest cap-total of any team not named the Chicago Blackhawks and with a plethora of restricted free-agents to keep in black-and-gold not much was expected of Peter Chiarelli on a day where the contracts typically vary from crazy to downright reckless.

Bruins Extend Paille for Two Years at 2.15 Million

No shock here folks, the Bruins keep their ace penalty-killer and P.J Axelsson replacement of 2009-10 Daniel Paille in town on a two-year deal worth 2.15 million dollars in total. Acquired from Buffalo in mid-October in exchange for a draft pick, Paille quickly relieved a woeful penalty-kill upon arrival, helping establish a solid top-unit alongside center Steve Begin.

Scoring just 10 goals in 74 games for Boston, Paille’s biggest contributions come from the fact that he’s an aggressive forward who rarely gives up on a shift. He’s not overly physical, but his tenacity in battles for the puck made him a solid asset to Boston’s fourth line. He along with projected fourth-line center and fellow restricted free-agent Gregory Campbell seem to the be early favorites to become Boston’s number one penalty killing tandem and look to keep the B’s in the elite class of the NHL’s P.K-units, who finished with the 3rd best kill in the league last season.

Struggling to pot goals on his dozens of breakaways throughout the season, the deal for Paille is undoubtedly a fair one and in fact is cheaper than Paille arrived with, a rare occurrence from the B’s front office.

Bruins Bring Back Jeremy Reich

When the Bruins cut ties with enforcer Jeremy Reich at the end of the 2008-09 season, there seemed to simply be no room for the brute in Boston. There certainly wasn’t any room for him with the NHL club during the season for that matter and while Reich captained the Providence Bruins with 34 points in 76 games, the Bruins’ biggest enforcer from 2006 to 2008 was destined to dawn a new color in 2009-10.

Signing with the New York Islanders and seemingly a lock for the role of enforcer on the NHL roster, Reich’s hopes were broken (literally) when he suffered a fractured wrist in the Isles’ pre-season finale, landing him on the shelf and limiting him to just 33 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, where the 31-year old had 12 goals and 8 assists.

Returning to Boson with familiarity within the organization and the system played by both the AHL and NHL club, Reich will add an element of toughness that seems to generate into success at the AHL level but in all sincerity, if fans see Reich up with the big club at any point this season–you know the team is in some big trouble.

Bruins Lose Sabourin, Begin and Satan Hit Open Market

In more Providence-related news, the Boston Bruins lost goaltender Dany Sabourin to free-agency yesterday when he signed a one-year deal to join the Washington Capitals for just over 500,000 dollars. Sabourin, who signed with Boston last summer, had 28 wins and 27 losses for the P-Bruins in 2009-10 and made a brief bench-cameo for the NHL-Bruins but didn’t see any ice-time.

Given Sabourin’s departure along with no tender being offered to Providence back-up and former-UNH standout Kevin Regan, the Providence Bruins seem likely to roll with a tandem of Adam Courchaine and Michael Hutchinson next season. Both goaltenders spent last season in the Ontario Hockey League and had a combined record of 52-36-4 with a .915SV%. However, don’t count out the possibility of former Bemidji State University goaltender and part-time P-Bruin of 2009-10 Matt Dalton sliding into the equation at some point if either is to falter.

On another potential loss to free-agency, B’s GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed that he notified the agents of both Steve Begin and Miroslav Satan yesterday and told them that they will not be offered contracts in the immediate future for the Bruins. Expected by all means, but it wouldn’t shock me if either are to come back to Boston if they’re still seeking employment come September.

YouTube Becomes TyTube: I Started Video-Blogging

In this crazy world of social-networking, you have to be one-step ahead of each other or simply try to keep up with the times. That being said, I’ve finally taken the leap and joined the world of video-blogging. And while I’m still getting used to it, I have to admit it’s a pretty fun beginning and I’ll certainly be posting related-videos into all of my HockeyIndependent blogs. Hope you enjoy!

What’s Next?

Expect the Boston Bruins to sit tight in terms of the free-agent market but watch for the club to lock-up restricted-free-agents Greg Campbell, Mark Stuart, and Blake Wheeler sometime within the next 10 days. It’s hard to picture all three of these players exiting Boston given the praises they’ve heard from the Bruins’ front-office along with their still unmet-potential (looking at you, Wheeler).

————————————————————————————————

Say Hey In Under 140 Characters: Follow Ty on Twitter!

“I’ll Facebook You!”: Add the HockeyIndependent Bruins Facebook profile as a friend today!

Spring My Form: Ask Ty a question on Formspring!

Don’t Change My Channel, Subscribe: Subscribe to Ty’s YouTube account.

Questions? Comments?: Email Ty your love/hate notes to TAndersonBruins@gmail.com