If it weren’t for the Bruins having won the Stanley Cup just over a month ago, perhaps hockey fans around these parts would treat these weeks of the offseason differently than they are now. Instead of rushing out to get their picture taken with the Cup or pick up the team’s DVD, they might concern themselves with finding something to worry about, as any true Boston sports fan would. 

At this point of the offseason, the Bruins’ to-do list really contains only one thing, and though it still remains a matter of when, and not if, it happens, one may have expected “when” to have come by now.

Of course, the task referred to here is the signing of Brad Marchand. A restricted free agent, Marchand impressed in his rookie season to the tune of 21 goals, and his playoff performance (and subsequent celebrations) helped make him a household name in hockey homes across New England. 

For one reason or another, and for no reason that either party has felt the need to make public, a deal has yet to be reached to keep Marchand in the fold, though it’s obviously just a matter of time before the aforementioned deal is struck. 

Prolonged negotiations with restricted free agents aren’t anything new for the Peter Chiarelli regime. They’ve happened before (Phil Kessel), and there’s a good chance they could happen once again a year from now. 

At the end of next season, the Bruins will have oodles of unrestricted free agents. Two-thirds of the third line – Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly – as well as the entire fourth line in Shawn Thornton, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille set to become unrestricted. Additionally, the blue line will see Joe Corvo and Johnny Boychuk get a crack at the open market. While the Bruins will be busy trying to either retain or replace one of their seven unrestricted free agents summer, they will also have their hands full with two of their top young players becoming restricted free agents. 

Assuming a new CBA (the current one expires next September) doesn’t change things, David Krejci, who served as the team’s first-line center for the vast majority of the team’s Cup-winning campaign last season, and goaltender Tuukka Rask will find themselves in a similar situation to Marchand’s current one. Much like Marchand this year, they, as restricted free agents, could play more of a leading role in the postseason than their unrestricted teammates. As significant as the B’s third-liners and energy players were to the Bruins’ run to the Cup, Krejci and Rask are likely considered two massive parts of the Bruins’ long-term future. 

The B’s were able to get a head start on re-upping their players set to become restricted in 2012 when they inked Adam McQuaid to a three-year extension last week. Yet Chiarelli noted upon re-upping McQuaid that the signing was not an indication that the B’s were going to be able to extend the others before they enter the final year of their deals. 

“We don't always go out early and try to sign guys before they're deals are done,” Chiarelli said last week. ”We look at it case by case, and when it makes sense we go ahead and do it. … We're not just going out today and trying to sign everybody to extensions.”

As far as Marchand’s situation goes, Chiarelli has declined to discuss any sort of progress in negotiations when addressing the media. Meanwhile, the forward has expressed optimism that a deal will be done in the coming weeks, pointing to the front office’s turns with the Cup as a reason as to why nothing’s been signed. Of course, the front office has pulled off other signings and worked a trade in that time, but the forward hasn’t let the lack of progress on his own deal put a damper on a memorable offseason. 

While Marchand figures to eventually get a deal with a cap hit somewhere in the high $2 million to low $3 million for the next few years, the B’s could find themselves in a tougher negotiation next year when trying to square things away with Krejci. At the time of his current deal’s expiration, he’ll be 26 years of age and seeking a raise from his current $3.75 million cap hit. And, unless Tyler Seguin races through his development, Krejci will once again be the team’s first-line center. While Krejci rack up the most points throughout the postseason with 23, he's yet to get back to the 73 points he had in 2008-09. The B’s will have money to spare with so many other contracts expiring, but they’ll have to stow away a pretty penny if they want to secure Krejci long-term, and that isn’t even factoring what they’ll have to pay Seguin the following year when he’s restricted. 

While Krejci figures to be the priciest of the potential contracts next summer for the Bruins, much of what Rask will get will depend on what type of opportunity he gets and what type of performance he turns in next season. Like Krejci, Rask should be arbitration eligible, but that, like their status, could differ depending on what happens with the CBA. Given Rask’s undeniable status as the team’s goalie of the future, the B’s could potentially lock the 24-year-old (he’ll be 25 next summer) in at a relatively low cap figure based on the fact that he’s split time in the NHL thus far, but if he emerges as the team’s No. 1 netminder next season, the Bruins will have to either bust out the check book for a richer, longer deal or fork over what the arbitrator deems fair. 

So to those fretting over the lack of a signed Marchand, the B’s could have plenty more where that comes from next summer. They can only hope that next summer they have the same distraction (the Cup) that they’ve had this time around.