Prospective Look at Boston

In Boston, they have got a deep pocket that is currently being exercised on a frequent basis. The team is being built without a penny to spare, it seems. GM Peter Chiarelli has got to be pleased with the ownership group and their commitment to bringing a winning team to Beantown.

Last season, they spent money right up to the ceiling allowed by the league and will likely be a player to fill up their cap space this summer as well. The team is filled with some reasonable long-term contracts and have invested their money quite well in character players. Unfortunately for the team, they did run into some injury problems through last season, which may have hindered the team's true potential for winning more games or getting through the first round of the playoffs. On the bright side, if luck is with them next season, they should have a very competitive team in the Eastern Conference, especially if they are to add some of their own prospects, as well as a free agent or two.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Marc Savard	Zdeno Chara	Tim Thomas
Marco Sturm	Andrew Ference	Manny Fernandez
Phil Kessel	Shane Hnidy
Glen Murray
P.J. Axelsson
Milan Lucic
David Krejci
Peter Schaefer
Shawn Thornton
Patrice Bergeron
Vladimir Sobotka
Jeremy Reich

Above is what the team already has to work with and it isn't necessarily what they'll go with come October. On the list, there are 17 players at a cost of $42.1 million and high on the priority list is to sign some of their key restricted free agents and possibly add a top 4 defenseman.

Key free agents to look after will be Mark Stuart (restricted, arbitration), Chuck Kobasew (restricted, arbitration), Petteri Nokelainen (restricted) and Dennis Wideman (restricted, arbitration). The salary ceiling should give them another $12 million to work with before it's all said and done, so these four players should be good to go for next season. Aaron Ward (unrestricted) will also be up for negotiations this summer, but his $2.75 million salary may need to be cut a little bit for the team to fill the gaps in the line-up a little more efficiently.

The Bruins will also give a look towards Brad Marchand and Zach Hamill to fill some of their open forward positions. The two World Junior Championship graduates from Team Canada will each bring some speed to the equation, something that will fit in well with some of the forwards they already have stocked. Tukka Rask will also get a long look to see if he can dethrone Tim Thomas from the number one spot in the Bruins' crease.

The Bruins scouting staff haven't been doing a bad job picking up new talent on Draft Day. This June, the Bruins will start picking from the 16th spot. The last time the Bruins had the 16th pick in an Entry Draft (1992), they picked Russian veteran, Dimitri Kvartlanov, who was playing in the IHL at the time. Kvartlanov did play 112 games with the Bruins over two seasons, notching 91 points. Stay tuned to the blog in June, when the Sherpa will perform his own mock draft. The Bruins will likely go after the best player available on Draft Day, so see who the Sherpa prognosticates to being a new Bruin.