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Kalman: New Contracts Offer Bruins' Hayes, Connolly Slight Measure of Certainty

BOSTON (CBS) - In one fell swoop, Bruins rookie general manager Don Sweeney made sure there would be no lengthy negotiating process with the team's remaining restricted free agents.

Sweeney on Monday announced a three-year contract with newly acquired right wing Jimmy Hayes and a one-year contract with right wing Brett Connolly.

Hayes is scheduled to count against the Bruins' salary cap for $2.3 million, meaning the Bruins saved a little more than $1.1 million by swapping Reilly Smith for Hayes with the Florida Panthers.

Connolly is scheduled to count for a cap-friendly $1.025 million in 2015-16. Although there was little doubt the Bruins were going to re-sign Connolly, it wasn't 100 percent certain he was part of Sweeney's master plan. The Bruins easily could've done to the 2010 sixth-overall pick what they did to Smith, Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic in recent weeks. Every general manager has his own opinion of every player, and there was no guarantee Sweeney agreed about Connolly with former GM Peter Chiarelli, who traded two second-round picks to get the 6-foot-2 forward.

Now Connolly knows he should at least get a chance to prove himself to Sweeney and the coaching staff in training camp.

"It's been, you know, you don't really know what the plan is, but I felt that I had always been in the plans this summer and I'm going to get a good opportunity," the 23-year-old Connolly told a pool reporter Monday. "They believe in me and what I can do, and it's just exciting to get reassurance and sign the deal and hopefully have a good start to the season and get back in the playoffs. It's exciting for everybody."

Jimmy Hayes
Jimmy Hayes (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The two NHL contracts signed with the Bruins on Monday send two different messages to two different players. For Hayes, a Dorchester native coming home to play, a three-year deal should relieve some of the pressure of pleasing the fans and those close to the native son. The 6-foot-6 forward scored 19 goals. He'll be expected to match and improve upon that total when he pulls on a Bruins sweater this winter. The fans are yearning for a hometown guy to bring the hometown team back to prominence. Hayes, more than players from elsewhere, is going to have to deal with on-ice expectations and off-ice commitments to family and friends. You can ask Hal Gill and Kevin Stevens, among others, how difficult it can be to play in front of both some of the toughest fans in the League and also those he grew up with. Gill once recalled that every game he heard from someone in the stands who claimed to be better than the giant defenseman based on how the players fared in high school.

With a three-year contract, Hayes isn't guaranteed to become a cornerstone of the Bruins' reinvention. But he at least doesn't have to add the pressure of playing for a new contract to his plate of obstacles for the coming seasons.

By agreeing to a one-year contract with Connolly, the Bruins said "show me." Connolly's career since he was drafted has gone in fits and starts. Connolly had seasons of 63 and 57 points in the American Hockey League but struggled to earn playing time with Tampa Bay. When he was traded to the Bruins last March, he had 12 goals and 15 points in 50 games playing mostly on the third line. His fresh start with Boston was postponed by a broken finger suffered in practice before he even got into a game.

He had two assists but no goals in five games upon his return. He also amazingly racked up 10 penalty minutes. He got caught up in the Bruins' desperation during their failed run to make the playoffs. He tried to do too much to both impress his new team and extend the streak of consecutive years in the postseason. He failed on both counts.

If he becomes the player he thinks he can be and the scouts thought he would be when he was drafted so high, Connolly will be able to cash in next summer, when he's still a restricted free agent. He'll also be able to be a part of the resurrection of the Bruins' offense, which will lead to more wins if it happens.

Sweeney has avoided the uncertainty and acrimony the Bruins endured in their offseason dealings with Smith and Torey Krug last summer. Those negotiations didn't get resolved until training camp and hurt both the players and the team.

Now it's up to Hayes and Connolly to reward Sweeney's faith and fulfill their respective potentials.

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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