The Boston Bruins system has two World Junior Camp invitees this year. While one is obvious - Tyler Seguin for Team Canada - newly drafted Zane Gothberg is also making a bid for Team USA. While Seguin will be looked to as a leader as one of the older, more experienced members of Team Canada this year, Gothberg is looking to secure a backup role to gold-medal-winning Dallas prospect Jack Campbell and vying for the second spot with two undrafted rookies, Pennsylvanian Michael Houser of the London Knights, and New Yorker Andy Iles of the USHL Under-18 program.

Gothberg was drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 NHL draft, straight of of Thief River Falls High School in Minnesota, where he won the Frank Brimsek Award, which is given annually to Minnesota's best high school goaltender. He will play for the USHL's Fargo Force next year, and eventually hopes to transition to the University of North Dakota. He participated in Bruins Development Camp in June 2010.

Zane Gothberg, Bruns development camp 2010.

USA Hockey's World Junior Development Camp kicked off this weekend, and right off the bat, Gothberg is looking good. Through two days of camp, he has been assigned to the White squad, and White has defeated Blue three days in a row in scrimmages. Goalies exchange places halfway through the second period of each game, and the tandem of Campbell-Gothberg has proven far stronger than that of Iles-Houser. Campbell isn't carrying the goaltending, either - Gothberg is holding his own. In game 1, which ended 4-1, Campbell let in the lone goal. Similarly, the second game ended 4-2, and Gothberg only allowed one.

Today's game was the third of the three scrimmages, and at first appeared to be going more in the Blue squad's direction, with that team putting three goals past Campbell. At the halfway point of the second period, the score was 3-1. Enter the new goalies. White turned around and scored seven unanswered goals, and Gothberg stood tall - the final score today was 8-3.

Over the course of the next six days, Gothberg and the American squad will face a combination of players from Finland and Sweden, as those teams also work to develop their rosters for the World Junior Championship. The games can all be watched online at USAHockey.com. Gothberg will definitely be the goalie to watch over the course of the next few months, and appears poised to secure a role as backup goaltender in the tournament in January.

The Bruins and forward Blake Wheeler have agreed to terms on a one-year contract, valued at $2.2 million, according to league sources and confirmed by WEEI's DJ Bean.

The Bruins' main priority before training camp starts in September now becomes signing second-overall draft pick Tyler Seguin.

Per a report from Jimmy Murphy of ESPNBoston.com, talks between the Bruins and Seguin's agent Ian Pulver have been progressing and Pulver expects a deal to be done before the Bruins take the ice at Ristuccia Arena for training camp.

The cap hit from Wheeler's contract is an even $2.2 million and it is a possibility that the Bruins may pursue a buy-out of one of the members of their current roster in order to accommodate Seguin's salary, expected to be around $850,000, plus bonuses.

Until Marco Sturm returns from recovering from surgery in his right knee, his $3.5 million cap hit will not be a concern for the Bruins, but the stingy winger is expected back in mid-November and a deal will have to be completed by then in order to keep the Bruins under the cap.

Assuming everyone stays put, the Bruins' offensive lines at training camp in Wilmington this year will probably pan out something like this:

Seguin-Savard-Horton

Lucic-Bergeron-Recchi

Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler

Thornton-Campbell-Paille

Jordan Caron and Brad Marchand are the most likely options as thirteenth forwards.

After signing Seguin, the Bruins front office will not be able to rest on its laurels. Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Michael Ryder, among others, are all in contract years. Bergeron and Chara should be big priorities for a team built on grit and energy.

Wheeler brings a lot of promise to a Bruins bench that is going to see an infusion of young talent this year; his 39 goals over two full seasons with the Bruins are not unimpressive, but his lack of physical presence have led many to question his real worth to the franchise.

Wheeler has struggled to find his game in the playoffs each of the past two years, registering only 6 points (1-5) in 21 playoffs games with the Bruins. On a team expected to make another deep run into the playoffs for the third year in a fow, he'll need to improve on those stats if he wants a contract offer for the 2011-12 season.

After a grueling 57+ hour wait, the numbers have been finalized. Blake Wheeler has been awarded a one-year, $2.2 million dollar contract, numerous sources within the industry confirm.

The Bruins now have 48 hours to purchase the contract, buy out the contract of a current roster player to accommodate Wheeler's salary, or walk away from the offer. A sign-and-trade is still an option, although it doesn't seem to be one that Chiarelli is interested in pursuing.

More updates as events warrant...

Blake Wheeler may be donning Black and Gold for at least another year.

An NHL arbiter awarded the raw, promising forward a one-year contract worth a reported $2.4 million, according to ESPNBoston.com's Jimmy Murphy. The deal would keep the soft-handed winger around Boston for the 2010-11 season.

Wheeler will now wait for the Bruins, who had been unable to come to terms on a contract with the young gun despite numerous tries, who have 48 hours to either sign the winger or to decline the offer. If signed, he will likely find himself paired alongside Patrice Bergeron on the second line or Gregory Campbell on the fourth line.

That, of course, assumes the Bruins are able to retain Marc Savard as their first-line center and sign Tyler Seguin to play a role on the third line. If the Bruins do sign Wheeler, it is hard to believe Savard will come back.

Wheeler, who has been a regular for the Bruins in the past two years, playing all but one regular-season game and making an appearance in all of the Bruins 2010 playoff games, has averaged 20 goals in each of his first two seasons, but many in the organization believe that he can be much better.

The area in which he most needs to improve to make that happen? Physicality.

The team has long been concerned with Wheeler’s ability to get into the zone and get physical in the corners, two things which he’s shown an aversion to doing, especially in the playoffs last year.

Even if given the contract, Wheeler's not guaranteed a spot on the 2010-11 Opening Day roster. It’s likely that management views the influx of talent acquired in the past couple years (Colborne, Seguin, Knight, Caron) as a proving grounds of sorts; and Wheeler would have to sign and get through the studs before suiting up on October 6th in Prague.

There is also the option that Bruins' management might pursue a sign-and-trade with Wheeler, especially if they are able to acquire future draft picks and not take any additional cap hit for him.

More to come in the hours and days ahead...

Unfortunately, we all knew that this was coming. On July 5, 2010 Blake Wheeler and his agent Matt Keator informed the Bruins that they would be filing for arbitration to settle the now stagnant contract negotiations between the two sides.

Before we get all hot and bothered about Wheeler heading to arbitration, let's take a quick look at what the restricted free agent (RFA) class means as well as the arbitration process. First of all, Wheeler is a restricted free agent and via the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (Article 10, Section 10.2), a restricted free agent is a player who is considered neither entry-level nor an unrestricted free agent (based on age of signing their entry level contract and years of experience in the NHL).

Every team who has restricted free agents must make a qualifying offer to those players before the July 1st deadline. If a team does not extend this qualifying offer than the player loses his restricted free agent label and becomes an unrestricted free agent (UFA), which means he is able to negotiate contracts with any team he wishes. On June 28, 2010 the Bruins extended qualifying offers to all of their restricted free agents except Dan Paille and Kevin Regan, meaning Wheeler would not become a UFA when July 1st hit.

After the qualifying offer is made, RFAs (as well as teams) have until July 5 to request salary arbitration to come up with a contract but can still negotiate up until that date. Arbitration can be scheduled for any time from late July to late August.

So what exactly is arbitration?

Arbitration is a process used by the NHL to settle salary disputes between teams and players. Each side (one side is the team, the other is the player/agent) gives the arbitor a salary number and then explains why they feel this number should be given to the player. A decision is usually made within 48 hours of the hearing and when that decision is announced, the team has the right to decline the deicision. If this happens, said player becomes a UFA. When the decision is announced, the team has the right to decline, or "walk away" from the award. If the team exercises this right, the player can declare himself an unrestricted free agent.

Taken from About.com:

The evidence that can be used in arbitration cases:

So what does this mean for the Bruins?

Boston will probably have a tough time keeping Wheeler down to a smaller salary since they can't use financials to plead their case. The fact that he has scored an average of 19.5 goals in two years should help him. What I believe will happen is that this process will surely mean that Wheeler is on his way out of Boston.

The Bruins (per capgeek.com) currently have $12,229 in cap space available with 20 players signed to their roster. This doesn't include Wheeler or Tyler Seguin. Under the restricted free agent tag, Wheeler's qualifying offer was 100% of his 2010 salary which was $2.8M. Unless Boston is able to scrap some dead weight (Ryder, Sturm) there is no way they can keep Wheeler at that price. I also don't think Wheeler is the type of guy to take a pay cut for the team. He doesn't strike me as that type of player, but I could be wrong. Hell I've been wrong before so why stop now?

There is a big rift within the fan base when you talk about Blake Wheeler. A lot of people like him because he's a big forward who can score goals. A lot of people don't like him because he's a big forward who doesn't use his body to his advantage. This could be because he's still a young kid (23) or it could be because he's not ever going to be that type of player. I'm not a Wheeler guy. For a  player to be drafted 5th overall by the Coyotes and then was basically let go by said team, there has to be some sort of issue.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens with Wheeler and his arbitration case.

Hey puckheads,

As part of Something's Bruin's plan to conquer the globe, we're expanding our coverage this fall. Not only will we be covering the Bruins and the Baby Bs (or, as one unnamed editor of this website prefers to affectionately refers to them, the Peebs), we're also going to be covering college hockey in Boston, Hockey East and hopefully the NCAA and AHL/ECHL at large.

Unfortunately, we're only three people. And we can't possibly be in all those places at once. So, if you're a hockey fan of any sort, and particularly one that likes writing about hockey, shoot me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please include "SomthingsBruin" in the subject line.

If you happen to attend a HE school, are interested in journalism and are looking for a way to get your foot in the door, this is a pretty awesome opportunity. We'll be able to set you up with media credentials so that you can write from the game and interview after it and get you rolling from there.

For now, that's all from me. Hope you're all enjoying the great baseball weather we've been having lately.

-RD

Before I write about what I feel 'The Curse of Tim Thomas' actually is, I want to express how great it feels to write for this blog again. Ever go home after a long, frustrating day of work and slip on something comfortable? For me, it would be my green and black mesh shorts. I don't know what it is, but once the jeans come off and the shorts come on, everything is right once more. It could be a sign of peace or just stripping the day away for something comfortable, but whatever it is it works. That's Something's Bruin to me. I left it under frustration and the weight of my life, but as always, they are my shorts. It's good to be back.

Enough about my comfy shorts though, it's time to talk about hockey. As you (hopefully) have noticed, the Bruins have made some changes to their roster this offseason. From signing their RFAs like Johnny Boychuk and Mark Stuart, trading for Nathan Horton, to retaining trade pieces like Dennis Sidenberg and even drafting some kid named Tyler Something-Something-Twilight. Hell, this fanbase has even had to endure Marc Savard trade rumors and quite possible the worst, most ridiculous reason why he will be traded (#5).

With all that said however, there remains one name on this roster that should not be there by opening night. That name is Tim Thomas.

For those of you rolling your eyes at another "Greg Ezell hating on Tim Thomas" entry, stop it. This has nothing to do with Tim Thomas the player, it has everything to do with Tim Thomas' inflated and outrageous contract. You know the one I'm talking about right? The one where Tim Thomas, who is now our backup goaltender, will make $5M a season and also has a NMC/NTC. Yeah, that's the contract we're talking about.

The moment the Thomas contract was announced, I shook my head in bewilderment. How can you give relatively unproven goaltender a long-term contract with a no trade/no movement clause? Before everyone starts getting all up in arms about the fact I called him "unproven", look at the numbers. Thomas has only played 60+ games once with the Bruins, 55+ games once and only 50+ games once. If I'm paying my goaltender $5M, I expect 60-65 starts a season consistently. Another number I have an issue with is 36. Thomas will be 36 when the puck drops in October and his window of performance is beginning to close.

As fans, we're very aware of how physically demanding the goaltender position is. After an injury-plagued season as well as being ousted as the #1 goaltender, what has lead us to believe that Thomas will come back and be able to play those types of games again at a consistent basis. How many times was Thomas pulled last season? I believe that number is 7, most of them after January 1, 2010. There were times where Thomas looked awful (games against Ottawa come to mind) and let in some goalies he had no business letting in.

To be fair, I'm not calling for Thomas to be exiled to some island so he can wrestle with a 10-story gorilla, but I do feel that he is no longer of use to the Bruins. Boston currently has $1.68M of salary cap space left with 18 players on their roster (this does not include Seguin by the way). Thomas' cap hit of $5M would be a HUGE relief on the Bruins as they could sign Seguin and still grab a back-up goalie floating around at a much cheaper price. Unfortunately though, not many teams are willing to take up a contract on an aging goalie.

I believe that this contract is one of the worst moves Chiarelli made during his tenure with the Bruins. With Tuukka Rask waiting in the wings and eventually taking over the top spot, this contract seemed like a rushed decision, something Chiarelli seems to be known for (hello Andrew Ference and Milan Lucic extensions).

Overall, this contract needs to go. With each passing day Thomas gets older and makes this contract even worse. This is the type of NHL contract that can restrict a team from achieving the level of talent they deserve. Although you may just think I'm a Thomas hater, ask New York Islanders fans how they feel about their Rick DiPietro contract situation...

100% you'll get here, 110% you'll stay. That's the motto that adorns the Bruins' development camp t-shirts this year, sported around the locker room by draft picks and invitees alike.

The first grueling three days of Bruins Development camp are complete. The kids are over the hump of insane workouts, swimming in pools with sweatshirts on, and the first few bouts of on-ice conditioning. Sticks have been broken (Warsofsky, yesterday), Vladimir Sobotka's number has been reassigned (Zane Gothberg, whose self-admitted guilty pleasure music is techno and Miley Cyrus...what a good kid), and chemistry has been formed and re-formed, on and off the ice.

The Seguin madness felt in Wilmington this week is overshadowing a lot of aspects of the Bruins' prospects' camp, and truly, the madness really is just that. Ristuccia was packed to the gills, fuller than it ever is even for weekend in-season practices, with fans who repeatedly chanted "SE-GUIN! SE-GUIN!" and cheered whenever the kid scored on one of the young goalies. Freshly-drafted Gothberg, who will play for the USHL's Fargo Force next season, admitted that although it's nice to make saves on the flashy, talked-up guys like Seguin and now Colborne and Caron, it moreso throws him off a little to let in goals and hear the crowd react that way.

If you dig a little deeper past the #2 draft pick and likely Bruins star, though, you'll find a general attitude around the locker room that's startlingly loose. College rivalries are shoved aside for the moment, old playoff series are forgotten, and everything is focused on the here and now.

Joe Colborne.

There's no denying that a leader is emerging, as well. Joe Colborne, the easygoing University of Denver standout who played in several P-Bruins games at the end of last season, is in his third season of development camp, having made great strides to increase his body mass between camps via Denver's rigorous practice schedule. He's also a guy the other rookies look up to - literally and figuratively. Colborne has expressed confidence in his ability to lead by example, and spent the majority of on-ice time demonstrating drills, chatting with the other players, and leading stretches, or choosing someone else to lead them.

Despite that he's a natural center, Colborne is also able to play wing, which he demonstrated following an injury to his wrist while playing in Colorado. However, it's not likely he'll see time in Boston this season, but 2011-2012 looks promising. For now he'll probably take his leadership abilities to the AHL.

"Everyone on the team was awesome to me, they're a great bunch of guys. I'm really excited to get back to training camp this year to see everyone," he said of the Providence squad. He spoke highly of the currently-injured Max Sauve, with whom he played on a line in Providence, saying that "they complimented each other really well."

------

The lines at development camp today were

Florek-Colborne-Fallstrom
Knight-Seguin-Caron
Sexton-Tremblay-Randell
Cunningham-Brenner-Spooner

Of note in the scrimmages and 2-on-2/3-on-3 drills that happened were the fact that many of these players have no fear of crashing the net - and each other. Steve Kampfer and Ryan Spooner managed to accomplish both at once, taking each other out and slding right into Zane Gothberg.

Cunningham takes out Big Joe C.

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David Krejci also put in an appearance today at Ristuccia, doing some rehabilitation work on his wrist. He spoke on spending his second summer in a row rehabbing in Boston, his excitement about visiting Prague in the beginning of the season, and the current heat wave.

"They told me three months, and it's two months...I've been doing rehab for the past month, and...it's on schedule," he said. Krejci spoke about the injury, saying that after he was injured in the Flyers game, he had to sit in a trainer's room that had no TV, so he didn't even see the end of the game. He had to wait for the surgeon to leave when the game was over, and then apparently they hit traffic on the way to the hospital...he's looking forward to forgetting about it and starting the new season. He plans to be back for training camp.

Krejci is also excited to travel to Prague, saying "I haven't been home that much lately, so I'll go back in August, and then it's exciting to spend the first part of the season there." Despite being unable to spend much time in Czech this summer, Krejci is making the best of it, finding time to travel to Cape Cod and Lake Winnapasaukee, as well as taking in some Red Sox games with his parents and a friend from home, who are currently visiting him here.

"Home is home and I'd really love to be home a lot this summer, but...I like [Boston], it's awesome and the weather's been great," he added.

This weather? Great? Krejci thinks so, despite the moaning and groaning of the rest of New England.

"It's beautiful out!" he exclaimed when asked about this week's weather. "It's summer, how can you complain?"

The Bruins signed brother-of-Peter Schaefer today, Nolan Schaefer, a solid AHL goalie to start in Providence. Providence, everyone, not Boston, so you can all calm down on the trade Thomas rumors right now. Schaefer's played in seven NHL games and spent last season in the KHL. According to Houston Aeros fan @msconduct10 on twitter, he's a solid player who should be a good influence on the Bruins' other young goalies, Courchaine, Dalton, and Hutchinson. Let the epic battle for the #2 spot in the Prov begin...

Manitoba Moose fans the world over are mourning the loss of a community favorite, Nathan McIver, who also signed with the Bruins today. According to those fans, McIver is a good stay at home defenseman who's very community oriented. He should give Adam McQuaid a run for his money in the Nice Guys Who Aren't Afraid To Drop Their Gloves category. In fact, they're both from PEI, too. Not that McQuaid needs a mentor, as he's nearly good enough to play in the NHL himself, but maybe they'll be buddies or something. Apparently Cam Neely likes the name Nathan. We may refer to him from here on in as Other Nathan, or Not Nathan Horton.

McIver fighting Travis Moen. (via the Vancouver Sun)

So Bruins news since July 1: The signing of Other Nathan and Brother of Schaefer, the epic return of Jeremy Reich (which many Bruins fans are complaining about, which makes NO sense, why would you NOT want Reicher waiting down in Providence to help out in case of injuries, he's a solid AHL player and fantastic leader), Dany Sabourin peaces out of Providence and signs with the Capitals, and Tyler Seguin's going to wear #19 and force a billion Jumbo Joe comparisons (taking the heat quite nicely off Joe Colborne, I might add).

Blake Wheeler filed for arbitration today as well. If you recall, Matt Hunwick did the same thing last year and ended up settling before his hearing; hopefully Wheeler will do the same for a reasonable price, as Hunwick did. After coming off a less-than-stellar season (although to be fair, his production dropped less than Krejci's or Ryder's), it's hard to believe he won't. According to Joe Haggerty, Wheeler's agent has fielded several calls from other teams, but it's doubtful he'll see any offer sheets. He's fleeced teams before, though, so don't completely rule out the possibility. Mark Stuart skipped arbitration but has yet to sign a contract - those two signings should be the next two big pieces of news out of the Bruins camp.

Unless they sign Drew Larman for Providence, in which case, expect a celebratory post here.

R.I.P Bob Probert.

I'll be updating this throughout the day with signings/news, so here we go.

Noon: bell goes off. Currently drinking: Magic Hat Blind Faith IPA. Seems appropriate.

12:15: Dan Paille re-signed for two years, 2.5 Million. I'm clearly in the minority of not liking this deal at all. It's not the question of money but the question of WHY; true he's a good PKer, and we lost Begin so Campbell is technically his replacement, but...I'm reserving judgement on this one until the season gets under way. I refuse to sing the praises of a guy whose hands are as stone as Paille's, and I want Joe Colborne centering the fourth line. That's just my opinion.

12:20: GONCHAR TO OTTAWA. Ottawa just paid a lot to get much more dangerous. Not looking forward to that.

12:33: Savard to Calgary for Regehr has been milling around for a few minutes. Both have NTCs and haven't been asked to waive them, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie. I might kick a kitten if Savvy ends up in Calgary.

12:45: Beer #2. Magic Hat #9. Solid.