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Chiarelli signs multiyear contract extension with Bruins 06.15.09 at 6:19 pm ET
By Joe Haggerty
The Bruins announced a contract extension for B's GM Peter Chiarelli on Monday

The Bruins announced a contract extension for B's GM Peter Chiarelli on Monday

In a move that was expected to transpire at some point before the NHL draft at the end of June, the Bruins announced Monday afternoon that GM Peter Chiarelli has signed a multiyear contract extension with the Black and Gold. Chiarelli was entering into the fourth and final year of a deal that he signed when he took the B’s reigns back in May 2006. The B’s executive had been negotiating with Jeremy and Charlie Jacobs over the course of the last few months, and it was fully expected that Chiarelli would remain with Boston for next year and beyond.

Chiarelli and Charlie Jacobs will hold a press conference in Legends at the TD Banknorth Garden at noon on Tuesday, and it’s also expected that Chiarelli will discuss his own situation as well as provide updates on the upcoming NHL draft and current contract negotiations with restricted free agents like Phil Kessel and Matt Hunwick.

The B’s GM deserved plaudits — and a new pact — for steadily steering the organization back from oblivion over the three years after taking hold of a beleaguered franchise with an expansion team-level roster. Chiarelli and the B’s staff have stocked an NHL roster full of young, improving players — with some as holdovers from Boston’s prior front office regime – and built the foundation around a pair of big-ticket free agents in Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard.

Young skilled players like Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Blake Wheeler and Milan Lucic have all made the jump to the NHL level during Chiarelli’s tenure, and the B’s GM locked down All-Star goaltender Tim Thomas to a four-year deal earlier this spring. Goaltender Tuukka Rask and center Zach Hamill represent another wave of talented youngsters that have performed well at Providence, and stand ready to support the Boston hockey club in the near future.

Chiarelli was named the NHL’s Executive of the Year by the Sporting News for the 2008-09 season, and watched his hockey team improve by 22 points last season en route to capturing the Eastern Conference title. The B’s season ended in a Game 7 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup semifinals, but the organization is clearly on the right track.

Chiarelli has made missteps — signing Dave Lewis as his first coach and trading away prospect Kris Versteeg rank as the two biggest gaffes during his three seasons in charge of hockey operations. But the GM earned a contract extension for his overwhelmingly impressive body of work in Boston.

The GM’s biggest mandate was to come in and make the Bruins a tough, ”hard to play against” unit with equal parts grit and skill, and he’s succeeded in molding a group of players into that classic image of a successful hockey club. Chiarelli’s work remains incomplete as he faces an important summer of negotiations with free agents — and potential trade talks if those contract discussions don’t go as well as expected – amid a shrinking salary cap. With a completed contract extension in hand, Chiarelli is now free to focus on the other tasks calling for his attention.

It’s also expected that Chiarelli will now turn toward a contract extension for head coach Claude Julien and members of his coaching staff — who are all expected to return for the 2009-10 season – after the Jack Adams Award finalist posted 94 wins over the last two seasons behind the Boston bench.

Before joining the B’s in 2006, Chiarelli was under the employ of his hometown Ottawa Senators for seven seasons, five as their director of legal relations and two as assistant GM. Chiarelli played four seasons of college hockey at Harvard, where he served as the team’s captain. He had 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points in 109 collegiate games before earning his degree in economics in 1987.

The elder Jacobs gave plenty of evidence that an agreement was  looming — perhaps to be announced after the Stanley Cup Finals were over — when he spoke with WEEI’s “Dale & Holley” last week.

“I made this observation a few weeks ago. I didn’t hire Peter for four years. I hired him for his career. Peter wants to stay a Bruin. He sees this as a long range career relationship and I see the same. It’s evolving,” said Jeremy Jacobs. “I kind of see him in a long term executive relationship and I think he sees himself in the same spot.”

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  • Josh

    Get used to more 1 and dones, with the way this guy overvalues and overpays guys see Fernandez(trade), Sturm, Wideman, Thomas, etc He will never have enough cap room to put together a legit Stanley Cup team

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    Every GM makes mistakes, Josh…Chiarelli, by and large, has done a very good job during his time in Boston. I think we’ll have a pretty good gauge on Chiarelli and his job performance when we see the team roster that lines up for training camp in September.

    Let’s who is thrown overboard because of cap woes before we say that the Bruins will never have a legit Stanley Cup team under him.

    I have no problem with the money that Wideman is getting, and the Sturm contract was done when things were a lot better economy-wise. What did they give up for Man-Fern? Nothing significant. Thomas might drag them down eventually, but only time will tell on that one.

    –Haggs

  • Josh

    Wideman is getting almost 4 million a year. He was great the latter part of last season and very good for the first 20-25 games of this season and then his play went down significantly for the rest of the season, No way he played like a 4 million dollar Dman

    I’m not saying Chiarelli is a awful GM by any means, Mike O’Connell got the Bruins a few ‘coveted’ division banners and then flamed out in the playoffs, are people calling him a great GM?

    Why people are anointing PC as the savior is beyond me. For each good move he has made there is a costly gaffe in its place. I hope he does well believe me but I dont see why he is being rewarded (before his deal is up) for doing next to nothing in the playoffs going into his 4th year and on the verge of losing a key member of the team. (Kessel,Savard,Ryder, Bergeron)

  • Miranda

    Haggs,
    Understanding that GM’s make mistakes, I kind of agree with Josh on this one who put it perfectly: “for each good move he has made there is a costly gaffe in its place”.

    The Thomas signing completely baffles the mind and I believe will become a burden for the club as he ages.

    Now, what about Kessel?

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    Wideman had 50 points, was a +32 and averaged almost 25 minutes on the ice every night. He’s easily a Top 4 defenseman, and the best puck-moving D on the Bruins. “Almost $4 million” is the going rate for a player like that in the NHL. He’s not a bad signing.

    Mike O’Connell left the Bruins in a shambles because the organization misread the landscape coming out of the lockout. That’s why nobody is calling him a great GM.

    I’m not going to make a final judgement on Chiarelli until we have another 2 years to see what he does with this team. You don’t make a final judgement of thumbs up or down on a movie midway through, do you? Let’s see what he does in the middle of a salary crap crunch this summer, and then start making judgements.

    Miranda, everything I hear makes me think that Kessel is going to get traded, but that’s just an educated guess right now. Hard to believe he’ll agree to less than $4 million a year with the Bruins.

    –Haggs

  • Brian

    Doesn’t Thomas’ contract get cheaper as he ages? I thought his $ was heavy in the beginning and more cap friendly at the end? If so, could be a great signing in a year or 2. In 2 years, you could see Rask as the # 1, Thomas (a starting goal tender and a top one at that) could be trade bait for that “missing piece” or insurance if Rask gets hurt or his play drops off. If Rask doesn’t pan out, then the Bruins have a starting goaltender with a small cap hit which should allow the B’s some cap flexibility. I think Chiarelli’s thinking was a year or 2 from now when Savard, Chara, etc are up.

    The B’s have some decisions to make, but if Kessel is traded, it is not necessarily a bad move. The Bruins played almost the entire year without Sturm who in my opinion is a more complete player than Kessel and every bit as fast. Sturm has a hard shot, some touch around the net and poise with the puck, can kill penalties and can play with some grit (doesn’t get bumped off the puck or shy away from contact). He’s a different player, but can be as effective when considering his play in all 3 zones. He’ll certainly eat some of the goals that are lost by Kessel leaving (if he does go).

    PC has some hard decisions to make, but if it comes down to Krejci or Kessel, I think most would have signed Krejci 1st and Kessel 2nd. Kessel is a good player, but the reality of a cap makes it difficult to keep everyone. Kessel deserves and earned the paycheck that someone will give him. Can’t fault Chiarelli for Kessel’s production. I don’t think that the Bruins think guys like Kobasew, Ryder, Savard, Sturm or Bergeron are bad players, but if PC thinks Kessel is a must sign, the reality is that one of those players probably has to go. As with all young players, it is a gamble and while Kessel scored 36, I am not sold that it is a risk worth taking. He is a one dimensional player at this point in his career.

  • Shaun

    I totally disagree with Josh and Miranda. How can you say the “over priced players” he brought in don’t amount to a Stanley Cup product?? Are you forgetting that they led the East for almost the entire season. Don’t get me wrong, losing to the Canes in round 2 was a huge dissapointment but the team is a force and should be for years to come. How can you say Wideman is a dissapointment for 4 million a year?? I’m with Hag’s on this one..25 mins/game, 50 points, and +32. The numbers don’t lie Josh and for a top 3 D-man, 4 million is nothing. As for Thomas, the only issue I have is the length of the contract. If you really want Rask to be the guy, why sign Thomas for so long…That being said, your talking about a goalie that could and should win the Vezina in a couple days, led the league in Save % and GAA almost the entire season, and picked the B’s up when they were down. He’s still not going to be a top 5 paid goalie and yet he was the best goalie in the NHL this year (arguably). The bottom line is this…the CAP is affecting every team in the NHL and I’d say any team who is 2nd in the NHL in Goals and 1st in GAA and brings back basically the same team a year later, has cup potential. I think your way out of bounds with your presumptions. Good for the Bruins for locking up the Sporting News Executive of the Year.

  • bob

    the signing of chiarelli is a good thing , just having continuity and the addition of don sweeny, cam neely , and jim benning to the orginization for scouting and tutoring has helped this team become one of the better young teams in the nhl with a good future pending the cap. If it were up to me you keep the young (kessel) and sacifice one of two of the 30 somethings. kessel would have been a senior at u of minn. this season , how many 36 goal scorers at 21 are in the nhl. he also played with a bum sholder from march on . wideman is still young enough to be better and how many teams would take him at 4 mil.? plenty , he is an able puck mover and a right shot which is in demand . KEEP THE YOUNG CORE OF THE TEAM .

  • Dan

    Wow. 3 Years. 2 Coaches. 1 Playoff Round win. I’m suprised he wasn’t offered an ownership stake in the team. He is clearly Jacobs kind of guy.

  • Shaun

    You guys are ridiculous. Dan, he clearly made a mistake with Lewis but Julien has turned this team into an Elite one from the bottom feeder status it was in under the Lewis regime.

    Year 1 – 35-41-6 76pts 13th in Conference
    Year 2 – 41-29-12 94pts 8th in Conference
    Year 3 – 53-19-10 116pts 1st in Conference

    Your telling me that a turn around like that in 3 years isn’t an achievment. Give me a break man. They are an Elite team who is going to contend for a Cup next year.

  • Josh

    How are they an “Elite team” They lost on home ice to a 6 seed in the second round!

    Detroit is an elite team, Pittsburgh is an elite team. The Bruins were great regular season team… Big difference.

    Chiarelli and Charas Ottawa Senators were great regular season teams to, would you consider them elite?

    2001-02 94 Points
    2002-03 113 Points
    2003-04 102 Points
    2005-06 113 Points

  • Shaun

    You bring up a good point and I would consider them an elite team for those 4 years. They did also go to a Stanley Cup during that run. In fact, you actually contradict yourself and bolster my argument because is it not the GM’s job to put a product on the ice that can produce. He’s not responsible when a team bows out to a 6 seed in the second round. You look at his track record since 2001 and he has put a playoff team on the ice 6 of 7 years. Correct me if I’m wrong but they have been a top of the conference team 3 of those year. He’s also brought in experienced guys like Ward, Thornton, Ference, Kobasew, Recchi, Yelle who have all been through Cup runs. In my opinion, it’s not his fault and he’s done an excellent job. Let’s see how he works w/ the tight cap restraints.

  • Josh

    Ahh Shaun, Ottawa went to the Cup finals after Chara and Chiarelli came to Boston…

  • Josh

    “He’s not responsible when a team bows out to a 6 seed in the second round”

    He’s not? You don’t think if he pulled the trigger to get a puck moving Defenseman in at the trade deadline that would have made all the difference? Give me a break, that was the Bruins biggest flaw vs Carolina, that and the fact they rolled over like dogs for Games 2,3 & 4. I would say Chiarelli is very much responsible for that.

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