When Tomas Kaberle remained unsigned as the fifth day of free agency began, it seemed the Bruins might be in store for some type of a bargain. They certainly ended up getting their bargain, but it wasn’t with Kaberle.

In a summer in which puzzling signings have been the norm, the Hurricanes showed what they were made of by giving Kaberle $12.75 million over three years, which, if you were following along at home, is more than people figured he’d get even before seemingly hurting his stock with a sub-Kaberle performance in Boston. Though the Eric Gagne comparison is a bit extreme, the 33-year-old didn’t have the impact the B’s hoped he would have when they traded a gaggle of commodities to Toronto in exchange for his services. Turnovers and reduced minutes (13:30 or less in eight of the last 16 playoff games) didn’t end up being a deterrent for the Hurricanes, and as is the case with free agency, all it took was one willing team to make a questionable deal happen. 

Minutes after it became official that the Bruins — and every other team — would not be getting Kaberle at a reduced rate (his $4.25 million cap hit is the same as it was in his last contract), the B's found their replacement, and that’s where they found their bargain. Replacing Kaberle on the power play will be Carolina’s Joe Corvo, who brings similar tools (though not as skilled as Kaberle, he had 191 shots on goal to Kaberle's 130 last year), but for $2.25 million.

If an offseason is to be judged by how the roster compares to what it was a season earlier, consider the 2011-12 Bruins, for lack of a better term, worse. Yet, looking at the big picture, it would be hard to look negatively at the job general manager Peter Chiarelli has done, and what his moves have meant.

In a summer in which he’s only had to make two moves for his NHL roster, Chiarelli technically has downgraded on both occasions. On the opening day of free agency, he bid regular-season ghost/playoff horse Michael Ryder adieu as the third-line winger took a two-year, $7 million deal with the Stars. In a cost-cutting move, Chiarelli replaced Ryder with Canadiens regular-season ghost/eventual playoff healthy scratch Benoit Pouliot for $1.1 million. While the B’s will have hit the lottery if Pouliot suddenly becomes the player he was expected to be when he was chosen fourth overall, one should think twice before betting on that result. 

Corvo won’t need to light up the league to provide what Kaberle gave the Bruins. In fact, simply playing to his abilities and improving the power play where Kaberle couldn’t would make surrendering a fourth-round pick for him a steal.

Combined, Kaberle and Ryder will cost their teams $7.75 million against the cap, and both players are on multi-year deals. Pouliot and Corvo will cost the B’s $3.35 million against the cap, which is less than the cap hit of either former Bruin. Both players are only signed through the coming season.

The unwillingness to join so many other general managers in outrageously spending this summer shows that while other teams are paying, the Stanley Cup champs are prioritizing. The B’s recognize who their building blocks are, and the likes of Ryder and Kaberle, while certainly big names whom they probably would have loved to have back at the right price, are not the ones the B’s are planning their future around. With both David Krejci and Tuukka Rask (and to a lesser extent, Adam McQuaid) set to command raises as restricted following the season and Tyler Seguin figuring to do the same in two seasons, it would be risky to throw big bucks at players in their 30s whose paychecks may outweigh their role on the team. Now, when it comes to talk dollars and cents with Krejci and Rask at the conclusion of the coming season, the B’s will have money to spend without worrying about being handcuffed for future negotiations with Seguin. 

As things currently stand, the B’s have $8.747 million in cap space, with the signing of restricted free agent Brad Marchand the biggest thing on the Bruins’ docket. The B’s should be able to head into the regular season with somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million in cap space, and that’s without knowing if Marc Savard’s $4.007 million could be coming off the books at some point.  

Conservatively speaking, if the Bruins end up with $5 million in cap space going into this season and don’t add any contracts over the course of the season, the players with expiring contracts other than Krejci ($3.75 million) and Rask ($1.25 million) are Chris Kelly ($2.125 million), Rich Peverley ($1.325 million), Gregory Campbell ($1.1 million), Pouliot, Daniel Paille ($1.075 million), Shawn Thornton ($812,500), Corvo, Johnny Boychuk ($1.875 million) and McQuaid ($575,000). Of all the Bruins’ free agents next season, Krejci, Rask, Pouliot and McQuaid are the only restricted ones. It will be a very busy offseason for the Bruins next year, and it seems Chiarelli, who said he was wary of the open market last week, is positioning the Bruins to endure it as best as they can without letting the on-ice product suffer too much.