Haggerty On Toucher & Rich: 'Good Chance' Both Iginla And Thornton Aren't Back With Bruins
BOSTON (CBS) - The Eastern Conference Finals start on Saturday and the Boston Bruins will not be participating.
The hometown team lost in seven games in the conference semifinals to the arch rival Montreal Canadiens, and now that the offseason is upon us we must look to the future and talk about the roster for next year.
Joe Haggerty of Comcast SportsNet New England joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich show Friday morning to do just that.
The Bruins have a handful of unrestricted free agents this summer, with Jarome Iginla and Shawn Thornton at the head of the class. Haggs wouldn't be surprised if they both were not in Boston in 2014-15.
"The Iginla contract is interesting. I think there's an outside chance he's back, maybe, just because of the circumstances it would take for him to come back. It'd have to be a one year deal with bonuses, very similar to the contract he had this year. He scored 30 goals so there's gonna be teams out there to throw more money and more years at him -- he'd be hard pressed to say no to that.
"Shawn Thornton is the other guy that's an unrestricted free agent. It's a tough situation with him because he's been such a great leader. He's such a force of personality in that dressing room. He's a guy that really brings everybody together and he's such a huge part of the fabric of that team. He's been here for a long time and he's been a good soldier, but at the same time he's 36 years old and making $1.1 million last year. I'm sure they can find somebody to do that job for half the money. They want to go with somebody younger and faster on the fourth line.
"I think there's a pretty good chance neither one of them are back. The salary cap is going up a little bit, but they have to sign Reilly Smith and Torey Krug. They have a lot of restricted free agents that need raises. The cap will be a concern for the Bruins going forward."
Listen below for the full discussion, including the injuries of certain players, the David Krejci contract, Matt Bartkowski, revisiting the Alex Edler trade and much more:
Haggerty: 'Good Chance' Both Iginla And Thornton Aren't Back With Bruins
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