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Kalman: Smith, Krug Now In The Business Of Making Bruins Pay For Performances

BOSTON (CBS) -- Welcome to the business of professional sports, Torey Krug and Reilly Smith.

You probably heard about it as you moved up the ranks and then you were told to use that term in your dealings with the media anytime someone asked you about a trade or another team transaction.

But you probably never felt it until this summer and then took the last jabs from it upside your head when you finally agreed to one-year contracts worth a cap charge of $1.4 million in 2014-15. Those long-term, richer deals you wanted went down for the count under the Bruins' current salary-cap structure.

The situation certainly made life uncomfortable for Smith.

"Days are really long. I'll tell you that for sure," the 23-year-old winger said after joining the Bruins for practice at TD Garden on Monday. "It seemed like every 20 minutes I was looking at my phone, and every time I was getting off the ice I was checking to see if there were any new messages and anything going forward in negotiations. It was tough. Long days, pretty anxious for most of it, so I'm just glad all of it's behind me now."

If there's better proof that pro sports are a cold hard business than Krug and Smith's brand of restricted free agency, I'd be shocked. Both had their contracts expire over the summer, but they had no rights to speak with other teams or force arbitration. They truly had to take whatever the Bruins could offer or were willing to offer, or find alternate opportunities to play. While the idea of Smith or Krug taking their talents to Magnitogorsk or Mannheim amused us all with thoughts of their potential "Mr. Baseball" existence, it probably wasn't on the two North American-born players' bucket lists.

No, these one-year deal were going to happen one way or another. Either they were going to do what they did and sign before camp, or they were going to sit out and then possibly get traded. Maybe they'd have gone somewhere with enough cap space to meet their needs. Most teams with that type of room under the cap ceiling, however, typically don't play beyond April. A trade to another championship-caliber team would've meant the same type of cap restraints.

It seems like it was just two years ago (because it was) that Krug seemed to have the world by the tail, as he negotiated his way onto the NHL roster straight out of Michigan State as an unrestricted free agent. Oh, how the worm turned.

"It changes things, for sure. The first time was a blast, something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I had a lot of fun with it and my family had a lot of fun with it as well," Krug said. "This year, it's a good learning experience for me. You understand this is not only a game that you love, but it's a job and it's a business, so you learn the business side of things early and hopefully I can take that down the road with me."

Now both Smith and Krug have a chance to make the business work in their favor again. They will have arbitration rights as restricted free agents if they don't sign extensions. General manager Peter Chiarelli has expressed a desire to sign both players long-term as soon as he can. On the one hand they have to live up to the hype. Smith scored 20 goals last season, but was inconsistent. Krug showed he can be an offensive dynamo, but there are still shortcomings in his defensive game. If he wants to get paid like a top-four defenseman, he has to play like one. If they prove themselves worth it, contract No. 3 for both guys will put them on Easy Street.

Both players are relishing the challenge.

"Right now I'm just happy to be back and get through this season and make sure I do my job," Krug said. "I've never had an issue with having to prove myself again and I'll try to do it again. We'll see where it takes me."

Smith said: "I think if you're on a one-year deal, you're always pushing, you're battling for the next year and you're never really sitting back. I think that's a good feeling to have, and it pushes you more and more as a young player. It's something I love to have and it forces you to come to the rink every day with a bright attitude."

Krug and Smith seemed to have come out of negotiations unscathed. They showed no outer signs of bitterness about the organization or the team and even explained how their decision to get into camp with more than a week to go before the start of the season was part of the Bruins' team-first culture. They didn't want to be the rotten apples that didn't show up, or only reported after someone else was traded to make cap space.

Chiarelli wasn't crying over a potential horror show next summer. In addition to Smith and Krug, Dougie Hamilton is scheduled to be an RFA. Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, Danielle Paille and Gregory Campbell can become unrestricted free agents. Chiarelli understands that he might have to pay a little more down the road, but that's how he goes about keeping a winning team together.

So ring the bell for the next round of the battle of Krug and Smith against the business of hockey. While they're duking it out, though, the Bruins should reap major benefits.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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