After locking up free agents Chris Kelly, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille earlier this summer, the Bruins signed coach Claude Julien to a multiyear extension this week. Julien's steady guidance was one of the most important elements of that Cup run, and his continued presence should help the Bruins in their quest to make sure this wait between championships is a lot shorter than the last one.

Do you think hockey season is going to start on time? If not, how much of the season do you think we will miss?

– Billie-jean Chaput via Facebook

Going into the summer, I was optimistic that both sides understood how much damage would be caused with another work stoppage, and that they would find a way to hammer out a new agreement in time. After all, the NHL has been trumpeting its record revenues for each of the last seven years under the current CBA. That includes $3.3 billion this past year, so why would the owners need to demand the players make another huge set of concessions this time around?

Having seen what the owners wanted in that first offer, however, I have a hard time believing the NHL will avoid a third lengthy lockout on Gary Bettman's watch. I do think this will be closer to the 1994-95 lockout than the 2004-05 one that wiped out an entire season. The league resumed play with a new CBA in place in January in 1995 after that first lockout. This year, the pressure will be on the owners to compromise even earlier than that, as they won't want to risk the revenue sure to be raised by packing 100,000-plus into the Big House in Michigan for the Winter Classic on New Year's Day.

Unfortunately, for many teams, shutting down the early stages of the season doesn't present the risk of too much of a loss, as many markets struggle in October and November going up against football and the baseball playoffs. That may embolden the owners to test the players' resolve with another lockout, but it would be a surprise if the stalemate went into the holiday season.

Good news with [Claude] Julien signing an extension, how do you think the stability of the coaching team affects the players?
– Pete, Swansea, U.K.

I think it's definitely a positive for the players, who seem to genuinely enjoy playing for Julien. He's done an excellent job over the past five seasons of balancing the need for discipline with enough latitude to keep things loose. He knows when to crack the whip, but just as importantly he is a strong communicator and relates well to his players. Add in the fact that he's a very good technical coach and that his system has been very successful since he came here, and it's easy to understand why so many players here enjoy playing for him.

After the 2011 Cup run, numerous Bruins told me about how instrumental Julien was to that championship. Some of the tactical things he did were obvious, such as putting Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg together to form a dominant top pairing on defense. But perhaps even more important were the things that went on behind the scenes. Several players talked about how Julien's calm demeanor and reassuring presence was a key to settling the team down and turning the opening-round series with the Canadiens around after the Bruins lost the first two games at home. That steadying presence remained a key factor as the Bruins overcame a tough challenge from Tampa Bay and clawed out of 2-0 and 3-2 holes against the Canucks in the Final despite losing Nathan Horton along the way.

Despite the unwarranted criticism he gets from some, having Julien around for a few more years is certainly a positive for the Bruins, and that stability will definitely help the team remain among the NHL elite.

With Rick Nash going to New York, do the Bruins make any move to get Shane Doan? With what little the Rangers gave up for Nash that should bring down the value for Doan.
– Glen Davis, Peterborough, Ont.

I don't see the Bruins bringing in Doan. They don't have the cap space for the kind of deal he's looking for, which reportedly is in the range of $30 million over four years. That's on an over-35 deal, which as the Bruins know all too well from the Tim Thomas contract means there's no escape from that cap hit even if Doan retires or loses effectiveness as he ages. Even if he manages to defy the aging process and stays at the level he's played at in recent years, it would be hard to justify a $7.5 million cap hit. Over the last three years Doan has averaged exactly 20 goals and 55 points. Yes, he brings more to the table with his leadership, experience and physical play. But he also turns 36 on Oct. 10 and there's legitimate reason to fear his production will decline even further with the wear and tear he's accumulated over 16 seasons in the NHL playing that physical style.

I also disagree about the Nash trade doing anything to reduce Doan's value. It's actually just the opposite. With Nash now off the market, there's one less option for teams looking to add a top-six forward this summer. With Alexander Semin signing with Carolina, Bobby Ryan and Doan are about all that's left. Ryan would require surrendering some serious assets — probably an even bigger package than what Nash drew because Ryan is younger and has a lower cap hit, while providing virtually the same production over the last four years. Doan is a free agent and it will just cost money to sign him if he does indeed decide to leave Phoenix. But it will cost a lot of it. Semin got $7 million despite his declining production and questions about his work ethic. Doan will command a similar rate over more years, and that's something the Bruins simply can't afford.

With Nathan Horton now cleared for contact, what do you think the lines may be next year? Who will be moved out of the lineup?
– Shawn Miller via Facebook

Horton's return won't force anyone out of the lineup, as the Bruins already created some space up front by letting Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston go. Their departures should make the battles for the final spot on the third line and the spare forward role the most spirited competitions in camp.

Line combinations tend to be fluid, but with everyone healthy to start the season, there's a good chance the Bruins will return to their old combinations to start. That would put Horton back with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, and keep Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin on the top two lines. Kelly and Rich Peverley would anchor the third line, with Jordan Caron the favorite to round out that unit, while the fourth line returns intact with Campbell between Paille and Shawn Thornton.

Is Jordan Caron a lock for the last top 9 spot? Who has the best chance to beat him out?
– Bobby Farrell via Facebook

I don't think I would classify it as a lock. Caron clearly has the inside track for that position, but he will have to earn it. If he plays like he did late in the season last year, it will be hard for anyone to overtake him. If he struggles to produce as he did at other times in his first two pro seasons, however, there will be plenty of guys ready to try to steal that spot.

Youngsters Ryan Spooner and Jared Knight have the best chance of beating him out. Spooner is the more skilled of the two 2010 second-round picks, and has a higher offensive upside as both a playmaker and a scorer. Knight can make plays and put the puck in the net too, but he also adds a bit of a physical edge that may make him better suited for a third-line role. Still, Caron still has the advantage in experience and size on both of the rookies, and Spooner and Knight may benefit more from playing more minutes on a scoring line and special teams in Providence in their first pro seasons.

Barring any more late-summer additions, the other options in camp will come from the players trying to move up from the AHL ranks. Lane MacDermid and Carter Camper have the best shots out of the players returning from last year, while Chris Bourque and Christian Hanson are newcomers to the organization with extensive AHL experience and limited NHL time on their resumes who will be in the mix as well. Those players are more likely to be battling for the 13th forward spot than a third-line role though, with the possibility of skating on the fourth line if a guy like Daniel Paille makes a bid to move up to the third unit.

Will Tim Thomas go back to Boston after his year off? If not, how will that affect the Bruins?
– Corbin J Simoneau via Facebook

I really don't see Thomas ever playing another game for the Bruins. I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect him to come back from a year off at his age and play in the NHL for anyone, but if he does return I don't believe it will be in a Bruins uniform after everything that has transpired in the past year.

As to how a possible return to play for another team would affect the Bruins, I don't see it really having an impact. The Bruins have moved on. Tuukka Rask is now the starter. I think he's ready to assume that role and more than capable of performing at the level the Bruins need him to play at. The only way Thomas' situation would have an impact on the Bruins next year is if they don't trade him this year to a team looking to reach the cap floor, and somehow decided to toll his contract. That would keep him as Bruins property, as he would still owe them a year for sitting out this one. But that's extremely unlikely to happen because the Bruins would run the risk of Thomas simply sitting out again and having that $5 million cap hit on their books for another season. One way or another, I think the Bruins and Thomas will part ways before next season. The only question is whether they trade him this year, he signs elsewhere as a free agent next year — if he can find a team interested after a year away from the game — or if he simply retires.

Julien has already spent five seasons in Boston, with one more to go before the extension announced on Tuesday kicks in. He stands third all-time in franchise history with 410 games coached and fourth with 228 wins. If he stays through the duration of the extension, he’ll have a chance to climb all the way to the top in both categories, surpassing the 728 games and 361 wins of the legendary Art Ross.

Julien has already surpassed most of his contemporaries. The coaching profession at hockey’s highest level isn’t known for producing much stability or job security. In the five years since Julien came to Boston in 2007, there have been 84 coaches in charge of the league’s other 29 teams.

Only four current head coaches have been with the same team longer than Julien. Alain Vigneault was hired by Vancouver a year before Julien joined the Bruins, while Mike Babcock‘s tenure in Detroit predates Julien’s stint in Boston by two years. Then there are the ultimate survivors. Barry Trotz is the only coach Nashville has had in its history, stepping behind the Predators bench for their inaugural season in 1998-99 after being hired in 1997. Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff took the helm of the Sabres in 1997 as well, and has remained in charge ever since.

“Well there’s no doubt right now they’ve got to be my idols,” Julien said of Trotz and Ruff. “I’d love to be able to do the same thing they did. And I say that sincerely. I love it here and my goal is to continue to coach here and I’m going to do the best I can in order to make that happen.”

Julien has already accomplished one thing that’s eluded both Trotz and Ruff. That’s getting his name engraved on the Cup. That honor came in 2011, when Julien’s Bruins kept Vigneault and the Canucks from winning their first championship.

Despite inheriting a team that had finished dead last in the Northeast Division each of the previous two seasons, Julien has reached the postseason in each of his five years in Boston and won three division titles. His five-year stint already equals the longest run for a head coach in Boston in the last 50 years, matching Don Cherry‘s five-year reign from 1974-79. Only Milt Schmidt, with a stint that spanned six-plus seasons from 1954-61, has been behind the Bruins bench for a longer continuous stretch.

Julien’s arrival followed a particularly turbulent period for Bruins bench bosses. Boston ran through six different head coaches in the six seasons before his hiring. Before Julien’s tenure brought an end to the Bruins’ 39-year championship drought, 19 other coaches had run the Bruins’ bench since Tom Johnson guided the club to its last Cup in 1972.

So how has Julien managed to enjoy such longevity while his counterparts are being recycled regularly? It stems largely from his ability to adapt. The game is constantly changing, and a coach must change with it or risk becoming obsolete.

“I really think it’s making sure you evolve with the game,” Julien said. “I think it’s changed over the years, we all know that. And, I look back at a guy like Scotty Bowman who lasted, even though he went through different teams as well, he lasted a long time as a great coach because he was able to adapt with the game. I’m not that narrow-minded that I don’t realize that stuff. And I continue to try and learn every year that I’m out there.”

Still, even with a sound philosophy and a track record of success, the message can get stale. That helps explain the high turnover for coaches in the NHL, but Julien has combated that by varying the delivery of his message.

“The one thing you try to do as a coach is you try and keep things fresh,” Julien said. “Every year you try and attack certain areas that will maybe change just a little bit to give guys a fresher look and that’s how you keep your team interested and intact and hopefully competitive.”

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli, who hired Julien five years ago and signed him to his second extension this week, lauded the coach’s leadership and ability to maintain the respect of his players over his lengthy tenure.

“It’s about commanding respect, and it’s about motivating the players in a respectful way and a professional way,” Chiarelli said. “It’s about the ideas, the formats, the approaches. It’s all professional and it’s all to an end, and there’s a plan. And Claude’s ability to have that persona and to have players respect what he stands for, and to then be able to deliver that message in a way that engages them, that’s what I see as leadership and that’s what Claude has. And part of that leadership — a large part of that leadership — is character.”

Character like that is a rare commodity, almost as rare as an NHL coach staying in one place this long.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Philadelphia has the nucleus of a good team, particularly with a young and talented corps of forwards to build around for years to come. The Flyers even have some enviable depth on defense, with no less than 11 blueliners who have a legitimate chance to crack the lineup and see NHL time this season.

But none of those 11 comes close to being a true No. 1 defenseman, and it's debatable whether any should really be considered a top-pairing guy at all. The Flyers thought they had that covered when they traded for Chris Pronger three years ago and signed him to a seven-year extension. But Pronger hasn't played since last November and isn't expected to play again as he remains sidelined indefinitely with concussion-related issues.

The Flyers also lost his defense partner this summer, with Matt Carle signing with Tampa Bay as a free agent. Suddenly without their entire top pairing, Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren dug deep into his bag of tricks for a tactic rarely used by his GM brethren and signed Shea Weber to an offer sheet.

Weber is arguably the best all-around defenseman in the league today, and his addition would have given the Flyers their No. 1 defenseman, allowed the rest of their blueliners to slot appropriately into roles they're suited for and given enigmatic goalie Ilya Bryzgalov some desperately needed support in front of him. But even though Holmgren frontloaded the 14-year, $110 million deal to make it as unpalatable as possible for the cash-strapped Predators, Nashville opted to match the offer and retained Weber's services on Tuesday.

So where does that leave the Flyers, other than right back at square one in their efforts to solidify their defense? That's a question that's more important for the Flyers than most considering they are competing in the Atlantic Division against the high-powered attack of cross-state rival Pittsburgh and a Rangers squad that upgraded its offense with the addition of Rick Nash.

The Flyers need to add some offensive punch from their blue line as well as shoring up the unit defensively to try to shut down the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and now Nash. The 11 defensemen currently vying for spots on the Philadelphia defense combined for just 28 goals last season, led by Andrej Meszaros' seven. Weber had 19 goals by himself last year.

The options for the Flyers are limited though. They can stand pat and hope that their depth will be enough to overcome the lack of a true No. 1 defenseman. Kimmo Timonen would assume that role by default and is coming off a 43-point campaign, but he's also 37 and his best days are behind him so it's not exactly the best time to ask him to take on an even bigger role.

Braydon Coburn is already a workhorse (22:02 ice time last year) and may not be capable of giving much more than he already has. Meszaros and Nicklas Grossman are solid second- or third-pairing guys,  and Luke Schenn should add some needed thump (270 hits last year with Toronto) but his development stalled with the Leafs the last couple years. Veterans Bruno Gervais and Andreas Lilja are fringe players at best and Matt Walker may not even be that as injuries have taken their toll on the rugged blueliner whose $1.7 million cap hit has been buried in the AHL most of the past two seasons. Youngsters Marc-Andre Bourdon, Erik Gustafsson and Brandon Manning have promise, but defense isn't a position to rush a player into too much responsibility.

If the internal options don't quite fit the bill, the Flyers could further explore external solutions. The unrestricted free agent market, which was thin to begin with, offers little help at this point of the summer. The Flyers were one of many teams that pursued Ryan Suter earlier this month, but he chose to accompany Zach Parise to Minnesota. There's no one still unsigned who would be better than the current collection of second- and third-pairing options Philadelphia already has.

The trade market isn't exactly booming either. Perhaps the Flyers could pry Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary now that the Flames have committed $26.25 million to Dennis Wideman over the next five years. Despite an onerous $6.68 million cap hit of his own, Bouwmeester would still cost the Flyers plenty if the Flames were even to make him available. And he may not be the answer to the Flyers' needs anyway. Bouwmeester has struggled in Calgary, managing just 3, 4 and 5 goals in his three seasons with the Flames after back-to-back 15-goal campaigns in his final two years in Florida.

Philadelphia's other option is to go back to the offer sheet well once more. Montreal's P.K. Subban and Washington's John Carlson are the most attractive restricted free agents still unsigned. But as Philadelphia found out with Weber, there's no guarantee of actually getting either even if Holmgren really wants to risk the wrath of his fellow GMs by issuing another offer sheet. 

The Flyers would probably be best served not to panic now and overspend in either cap space or assets for any of the questionable options available at this point. Their wisest course of action may just be sticking with what they have, hoping the quantity of solid if unspectacular defensemen they have in place will overcome the lack of top-end quality and possibly upgrading later when the trade market expands during the season.

It's not as exciting as seeing Weber pull on an orange and black jersey, but it's the best the Flyers can do at this point.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

For that reason, signing Julien to the multiyear extension formally announced on Tuesday stands as one of the easiest, and wisest, moves the club has made in an otherwise relatively quiet offseason.

Bringing him to Boston in the first place was a bit of a gamble. Despite apparent success, he had been fired from his previous two NHL posts. Julien was let go in Montreal in 2006 even though the Canadiens had a winning record at the time and he had engineered an upset of the second-seeded Bruins in the previous postseason. He was dismissed again in New Jersey in 2007 in the final week of the regular season despite guiding the Devils to first place in their division.

But if there were any doubts about his ability to run a bench, manage a locker room or lead a team to postseason success, Julien has erased them in his first five seasons in Boston. Those five seasons have included five straight playoff appearances, three division titles and the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 39 years. Julien will now have a few more years to add to his impressive legacy in Boston, and he intends to do just that.

"I think the one thing that I said when I first came here was my goal was to try and win a Stanley Cup here in Boston," Julien said Tuesday at the Garden. "We've accomplished that. Now my goal is to win another Cup for this Boston franchise. I remain hungry. I think I remain committed and dedicated to understanding that the expectations here in Boston are always very high and I love that kind of standard because that's what makes you a better coach. That's what makes you a better team."

What has made Julien a better coach in his third chance behind an NHL bench has been his ability to adapt and change as his team's personnel and the very game itself has changed. It's an evolution that's made him into one of the game's premier coaches, a fact evidenced by the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL's coach of year he won in 2008-09 and reinforced with the engraving of his name on the Cup two years later.

"Over his tenure here he's shown the ability to adapt," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said. "He has a very, very disciplined team, and that's again a testament to his coaching. Yet at the same time his team is a very tough team, and that's a very difficult balance to maintain and he's been able to do that with success. Technically he's one of the best, if not the best, coaches in the league."

Chiarelli cited how Julien adjusted the way the club transitioned from offense to defense, improving team speed during the Bruins' championship season, as an example of his ability to adapt to changing needs and conditions.

"Sometimes it's hard to just go out and get team speed as a manager and he changed his neutral zone breakout and we had more team speed and that helped us jump start us into winning the Cup," Chiarelli recalled.

Julien came to Boston with a reputation as a rigid, defensive-minded coach. But while the Bruins have been among the stingiest defensive teams in the NHL throughout his tenure, they've also ranked among the highest scoring teams the majority of the time with three top five finishes in goals per game in Julien's five seasons in Boston.

Despite lengthy injury absences to the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Marc Savard and Nathan Horton, and the departure of players like Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder, Julien has found a way to keep the offense productive without sacrificing sound defensive play.

He's done that by continually evolving as a coach and showing a willingness to change and try new things without abandoning his core philosophy.

"I think you evolve every year you coach and I'm one of those guys that always said that the minute you feel that you know it all, that is when you've got to retire," Julien said. "Most of the guys that know it all are retired, right? But I keep trying to improve every year.

"I think I've had that opportunity with being here five years to grow immensely as a coach," Julien added. "My philosophy, or my approach to the game, hasn't changed, although I've tweaked certain areas to make ourselves better. But you go in with a certain personality and a certain belief and you stick with that. And having said that, it doesn't mean you don't change things but you stick with your philosophy. And I believe that a well-balanced team is a good team."

It also helps that while Julien has faced far more than his fair share of critics outside of the team throughout his tenure in Boston, his players have never wavered in their belief in his system and trust in his leadership.

"To have players respect what he stands for, and to then be able to deliver that message in a way that engages them, that's what I see as leadership and that's what Claude has," Chiarelli said. "And part of that leadership – a large part of that leadership – is character."

Character has been a central ingredient in the Bruins' success in recent years. That character was reflected in the camaraderie and chemistry that keyed their Cup run. And it's that character and leadership that Chiarelli has tried to maintain by keeping the core of that team together with the re-signing of veterans like Chris Kelly, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton.

Julien is the latest of those core figures to be locked up with an extension, and one of the most important.

"We're keeping this core together," Chiarelli said. "I feel strongly in this core. I feel strongly in Claude. We will continue to improve, and we will continue to look at all facets of our game to improve. That's our mandate, and that's my mandate and we will continue to do that and we're happy to have Claude along for the ride."

Julien has been more than along for the ride. He's been one of the driving forces, guiding the club through all of its trials and triumphs over the past five years. And the Bruins can take comfort in knowing that steady hand will remain on the helm in the years to come. 

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

But there is one key member of that Cup-winning squad who won't be around any longer. That was of his own choosing, not the Bruins' decision. But regardless of the reasons for Tim Thomas' bizarre decision to sit out the upcoming season, the fact remains that Boston will be without the two-time Vezina and 2011 Conn Smythe winner for the 2012-13 season.

The Bruins aren't too worried though. They've overcome losses before, and they happen to have a pretty good replacement ready to take over in Tuukka Rask.

"Well, you know, we lost a guy by the name of Marc Savard who led our team in scoring every year and we were able to adapt," Julien said after his extension was formally announced Tuesday at the Garden. "I see that as a same kind of a challenge."

While still deep at center with the likes of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Chris Kelly, not to mention the ability of Tyler Seguin to move back to his natural spot in the middle, the Bruins never did truly replace Savard. Their ongoing struggles on the power play offer proof of that.

But in goal that should be less of an issue, as Rask has already shown himself to be more than capable of holding his own between the pipes. Rask was a starter once already, supplanting Thomas in 2009-10 and finishing first in the NHL in both goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931). Last year, his numbers were better than Thomas as well, posting a 2.05 GAA to Thomas' 2.36 and a .929 save percentage to Thomas' .920.

Julien doesn't discount what Thomas has meant to the Bruins in the past, particularly in their 2011 Cup run, but those performances by Rask give the veteran coach plenty of confidence in his netminding even with Thomas refusing to play.

"There's no doubt, nobody's going to deny what Tim's done here for our hockey club over the years but we've mentioned that Tuukka is a very capable goaltender," Julien said. "He's got his opportunity to showcase that this year and I think when I saw [Anton] Khudobin play, whether it was training camp or whether it was when he was with us that game in Ottawa or in practice, you can see a goaltender who has not only improved but has matured."

Khudobin is a bit more of a wild card with just seven games of NHL experience. But he does have a 5-1-0 record, 1.32 GAA and .961 save percentage in those brief appearances, including a 44-save effort in a 3-1 win in Ottawa in his lone appearance with the Bruins last year. Khudobin will take over as the backup in Boston, while the Bruins also replenished the position throughout their system this offseason by drafting Malcolm Subban in the first round and signing Swedish import Niklas Svedberg.

"I honestly have a lot of confidence in our goaltending," Julien said. "Obviously we drafted and we've signed a few goaltenders as well. I think our depth is there. I don't really see that as an issue. And that's because I have the confidence in what I have in front of me right now."

The Bruins have kept the core of the team together over the past couple years, but they've also made sure they were ready for the loss of a key piece or two. Having a goalie like Rask to plug into the net while Thomas sits at home will give a coach that kind of peace of mind.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

But the Bruins could be in line to lose more than most, as even a brief lockout could keep talented defense prospect Dougie Hamilton out of the NHL for an extra year.

Hamilton, the ninth overall pick of the 2011 draft, is expected to make the leap to the big club in Boston this season and play in the Bruins' top six on the blue line. After dominating the Ontario Hockey League last year en route to earning honors as both the OHL and the Canadian Hockey League defenseman of the year, there's not much left to be gained for Hamilton with another year in the junior ranks.

But it would be better for him to play in Niagara than not play at all, so Hamilton would probably be sent back to the OHL if the NHL season does not begin on time. Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli admitted on Tuesday that he wasn't certain what would happen with Hamilton in such a scenario, but stated it is likely that the young defenseman would return to junior.

"What I can tell you from a previous work stoppage is that those players that are under 20 and have been in the Canadian Hockey League generally go back," Chiarelli said.

Hamilton, 19, is not eligible to be sent to the Bruins' American Hockey League affiliate in Providence and under the terms of the agreement the NHL has with the CHL, players cannot be recalled from their junior club during the season once they have been assigned there. That would leave Hamilton in Niagara until the IceDogs season is completed, even if the NHL resumes play after a short lockout.

There is a possibility that exceptions to that rule could be made in the event of a lockout that wiped out just a portion of the NHL schedule, but Chiarelli was uncertain if any such changes would be enacted even temporarily under such extraordinary circumstances. 

"If there's a work stoppage, all that stuff will get sorted out, but I don't have any more clarity on that other than what I've known in the past," Chiarelli said.

Chiarelli does know that ideally the labor talks will be settled without a stoppage and Hamilton will make his NHL debut in October as expected. Chiarelli is confident in both Hamilton's ability to earn a job in Boston this season and in coach Claude Julien's ability to ease the youngster's transition into the NHL and develop him into the kind of defenseman the Bruins expect Hamilton to become.

"One of the things that we've accomplished, that Claude has accomplished, is we've brought youth into our lineup and allowed them to develop and succeed rather than throw them into the fire right away," Chiarelli said. "Dougie Hamilton is a player that we would hope that he would get into our lineup and fall into that category."

Now if only everyone could be as confident in the owners not locking out the players and jeopardizing another season — and Hamilton's timely arrival in Boston.

 Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Dougie Hamilton

Just one year removed from winning the Stanley Cup and the wild celebrations that followed, Boston has focused on retaining the core of that championship team rather than shaking up the roster with any major trades or free-agent signings.

But the Bruins recognize not all teams have adopted that approach, and they have kept a close eye on the moves their Eastern Conference rivals have been making. That includes the Rangers' blockbuster deal to acquire forward Rick Nash from Columbus and the $110 million offer sheet the Flyers signed defenseman Shea Weber to in the past week.

While Nashville announced late Tuesday afternoon that it would match Philadelphia's offer and retain Weber, Nash's addition to an already formidable New York squad could change the landscape in the Eastern Conference. Still, the Bruins aren't going to panic and overreact to the arms race in the Atlantic Division.

"He's a real good player, good goal scorer, a big, strong player," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said of Nash. "The fact that the Rangers got him, I think it's going to help their team and they're obviously in our conference. We play them more than we would play a team in the Western Conference."

Chiarelli did confirm that he kicked the tires on a potential deal for Nash himself, but added, "I won't go into details about our negotiations with Columbus."

Instead, Chiarelli sought to combat the perception that the Bruins were simply standing idly by and letting their conference rivals pass them with bolder moves.

"We're going to continue to improve," Chiarelli said. "I don't want it to be misconstrued that just by keeping the core intact that we're standing pat here. When rivals make moves like that, when Philly has the offer sheet on Weber, I don't lose sight of that stuff. These are good teams that are getting better."

But Chiarelli is confident the Bruins are just as good, and getting better with the internal development of the young players already in place in the system. The Bruins GM also wouldn't rule out making moves at a later date if help is indeed needed.

"Our foundation of our team right now is quite good," Chiarelli said. "We've got some things that we may do at a later point. We may wait until into the season, but we're not standing still. The Weber thing, the Nash thing, those are things that we don't ignore. We don't react right away, but we certainly don't ignore them."

Chiarelli was speaking at a news conference to formally announce an extension for coach Claude Julien. The veteran coach is also well aware of the new challenges he'll face in the conference, but isn't convinced that rivals like the Rangers will automatically be better simply by adding some new big names.

"Well, at the end of the day, when you look at it, it's about team," Julien said. "And whether certain players come in your lineup, it doesn't mean that it's always going to work. I think you've seen teams in the past that have loaded up with extremely skilled players and yet nothing was accomplished that they had hoped for."

Julien pointed to how his first team in Boston in 2007-08 overachieved by playing as a team, getting the Bruins back in the playoffs after back-to-back last-place finishes and pushing top-seeded Montreal to seven games. There was more talent in place in 2011, but it was again that team concept and camaraderie that drove the Bruins to their first championship in 39 years.

Julien is not sure the Rangers or Flyers — who did add Luke Schenn to their blue line even if their attempt to land Weber failed — will mesh so quickly with their new parts, but he is confident that the Bruins' chemistry remains strong with the core of that championship squad remaining intact.

"So they can do that, and there's no doubt they improve," Julien said of the Rangers and Flyers moves. "But they still have to show it, and my confidence right now is that this team is capable of playing against any team in this league and still is with this lineup that we have right now. And if there's improvements to be made, I have full confidence that Peter and his group have always gone out and made the appropriate changes that needed to be made for us to keep staying competitive."

Just don't expect those changes to come this summer. Chiarelli is prepared to go into the season with the lineup he has already put together. That decision stems from both his confidence in the current group and the uncertainty about how things could change league-wide once a new collective bargaining agreement is put into place.

"I think there's a good chance that this will be our roster going into camp," Chiarelli said. "There's a lot of the summer left, there's a lot of stuff that has to happen on a macro basis too. So, I really, if anything right now, in my mind there's more uncertainty as far as the global landscape and us in the global landscape. I guess what I'm saying is, I think anything can happen depending on how things unfold, but there's a good chance that this will be our roster going into the training camp."

Whether that lineup is still good enough to beat the clubs that have been more active in their pursuit of upgrades this summer will be decided once the team get back on the ice, whenever that may be.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

There was also positive news to report for the players Julien will have at his disposal in the coming season, with general manager Peter Chiarelli offering optimistic updates on all of the Bruins recovering from injuries suffered last season.

The biggest of those is top-line forward Nathan Horton, who suffered his second concussion in less than a year on a hit from Philadelphia's Tom Sestito on Jan. 22. Horton did not play again last season, but Chiarelli confirmed that the rugged winger should be ready to go when the Bruins get back on the ice.

"Nathan Horton has been cleared for contact," Chiarelli said. "And by all accounts from our medical staff will be ready to play when it's time to play."

Horton's first season in Boston ended in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final when he suffered a concussion on Aaron Rome's late hit. After a slow start, he had returned strong from that injury with 17-15-32 totals in just 46 games last year, putting him on a 30-goal pace before suffering his second concussion in Philadelphia.

Horton's absence had a ripple effect throughout the lineup and contributed to Boston's struggles to score at times, most notably in the first-round loss to Washington in the playoffs. His return to the lineup, and his return to his pre-injury form, will be a key for the Bruins in the upcoming season.

The Bruins will also benefit from the return of defenseman Adam McQuaid, who has been "completely cleared" to return from his season-ending concussion, according to Chiarelli.

The Bruins GM also noted that the oblique injury that hampered center Patrice Bergeron in the postseason will not be an issue going forward. "That's completely healed," Chiarelli said.

There should also be no issues for forward Tyler Seguin (hand surgery) and backup goalie Anton Khudobin (wrist) in the coming season.

"Seguin is on his road to recovery in his original timeframe and may be sooner than that," Chiarelli said. "And the same applies for Khudobin."

The Bruins didn't make any major moves this offseason, but are confident that with their core group back and healthy they have more than enough talent and depth to be a Cup contender once again.

 Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The Flyers will find out in the coming days if their $110 million offer was enough to pry the top all-around defenseman away from the Predators, as Nashville decides whether it will match Philadelphia's offer to Shea Weber.

Oh, and Pittsburgh still has that Sidney Crosby guy, who was locked up for 12 more years with a $104.4 million deal of his own this summer, not to mention the reigning Hart Trophy winner in Evgeni Malkin.

Yes, things should be very interesting in the Atlantic Division for the foreseeable future, especially when one considers the fact that it was actually New Jersey that made it the furthest in last year's playoffs. The Devils knocked off both the Flyers and Rangers en route to the Cup Final.

They took a big hit when their captain, Zach Parise, signed his own megadeal along with Ryan Suter in Minnesota, but Martin Brodeur is back, Ilya Kovalchuk won't be going anywhere for a few decades yet with his mammoth contract and Lou Lamoriello is still calling the shots. So New Jersey can't be ignored either.

The Islanders? Well, they're still the Islanders. They still can't find a decent place to play and their biggest acquisition, defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, has now filed a grievance to try to void his trade from Anaheim a month after being dealt to New York at the draft.

Visnovsky might not be the only one looking to escape that Atlantic Division murderers' row. That division has clearly become the top grouping in the NHL. While last year the Central Division may have given them a run for their money, this summer the money — and the talent — has flowed into the Atlantic.

While Detroit hasn't been able to land a replacement for the retired Niklas Lidstrom, Nashville has already lost Suter and may also part ways with Weber and Chicago and St. Louis have largely stood pat, the Rangers and Flyers have been among the boldest players on the offseason stage.

The Rangers were able to acquire Nash without surrendering any of the key young pieces Columbus initially sought, with Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan all remaining in New York. The Rangers may still have to pay eventually as those players and other key guys like Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik come up for new deals in the near future and Nash's $7.8 million cap hit could cause complications, but for now they are a stronger team.

And they may get even stronger yet with plenty of cap space remaining for the upcoming season and keen interest in adding free agent Shane Doan to further strengthen their forward corps. The Flyers and Penguins are among the other teams pursuing Doan, and with the way this offseason has gone, if he does in fact leave Phoenix it wouldn't be a surprise to see him end up in the Atlantic.

Those teams may beat up on each other throughout the season, which wouldn't exactly be anything new, but surviving the gauntlet of their intradivisional schedule could prepare them better than anything for the intensity of the playoffs to follow.

The Bruins may be the one team in the conference capable of standing toe-to-toe with the bigger and better Atlantic powers. The Bruins didn't add significantly to their roster this summer, but they did make sure to keep the core of their 2011 Cup squad intact. If Nathan Horton can return to form and stay healthy after concussions ended each of his last two seasons early, and Tuukka Rask lives up to his potential as the new No. 1 in net, the Bruins have the depth, toughness and playoff experience to match any of those teams, but those are a couple of significant questions for Boston to answer.

There are also plenty of recent examples of teams that have loaded up in the offseason and entered the year looking unstoppable on paper, only to quickly fall by the wayside once the actual games begin. Which way the revamped Rangers and Flyers will go won't be determined until the season actually gets under way, whenever that may be, but one thing is for sure. The moves this summer have put the spotlight back on Broadway and Broad Street, and those Atlantic Division games will once again be true marquee matchups not to be missed.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

After months of pursuit through the trade deadline and draft weekend, New York finally landed the high-scoring forward in a trade with the Blue Jackets on Monday. And the Rangers did so without having to surrender any of the key young players Columbus had coveted. Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan will all now become teammates of Nash rather than trade chips needed to acquire him.

The Rangers are now loaded up front with Nash joining the likes of Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik, Ryan Callahan, Kreider and Stepan in a formidable top six. Add in some solid role players like Brian Boyle, Carl Hagelin, Arrom Asham, Mike Rupp, Jeff Halpern and Taylor Pyatt for the bottom six, a defense led by McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi and Michael Del Zotto and reigning Vezina winner Henrik Lundqvist in goal and New York has the makings of a tough team to get past in the East. For this year anyway.

The Rangers even have more than $13 million left in cap space for the upcoming season, with only restricted free agent defensemen Del Zotto and Anton Stralman left unsigned. That could give them the chance to add even more this offseason. They remain in contention to sign free agent forward Shane Doan, who recently visited with the team and would really upgrade the size, skill and experience up front in conjunction with Nash.

But this year isn’t the issue. It’s New York’s long-term prospects that could tip this trade from a huge win for the Rangers to a more complicated result. Despite their ample cap space at the moment, Nash’s $7.8 million cap hit through 2017-18 could cause some complications as the Rangers’ other key players come due for new deals in the coming years.

Those key assets they kept out of the trade will still cost the Rangers, with McDonagh and Stepan scheduled to become restricted free agents after this upcoming season and Kreider’s entry-level deal up after next year. That summer of 2014 will also see Lundqvist, Gaborik, Callahan and Girardi become unrestricted free agents, while Staal is a UFA in 2015.

That’s a lot of big contracts to hand out in the next couple years, especially if changes in the new collective bargaining agreement currently being negotiated end up lowering the cap or eliminating the ability to store bad contracts in the minors to escape the cap hit. That latter issue could be particularly troublesome for the Rangers, who have kept Wade Redden and his $6.5 million cap hit in the AHL the last two years. That contract runs through 2013-14, so it could come back to haunt them in the near future if such loopholes are closed.

Nash’s team-high $7.8 million cap hit could become an albatross as well, especially if his production declines as he gets into his 30s. Nash, 28, has already shown some signs of that, with his numbers declining slightly in each of the last three seasons. He’s dropped from 40 goals and a career-best 79 points in 2008-09 to just 30 goals and 59 points this past season. Some of that decline could be the result of his dissatisfaction with his situation in Columbus and the lack of talent around him, but it’s also possible that the wear and tear of nine seasons in the NHL as a power forward is taking its toll as well and that trend could continue even playing for a contender in New York.

That $7.8 million a year price tag won’t be too appealing if Nash’s goal totals slip down into the 20s and that cap hit keeps the Rangers from being able to retain all of its rising young talent.

That’s a problem for tomorrow though. Today, the Rangers stand to be a better team with the addition of Nash without the loss of any of their key foundation pieces. And if Nash can push the Rangers over the top, they’ll gladly deal with the long-term consequences if and when they come.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

On Monday, he locked up one of the most important, if often woefully underappreciated, pieces by signing head coach Claude Julien to a multi-year extension.

Julien, 52, had been set to enter the final year of his current deal, but now will not face the prospect of a lame duck season. Nor should he, with the Bruins just one year removed from that championship, which ended a 39-year Cup drought for the franchise.

Julien played a vital role in that championship run, pushing all the right buttons on and off the ice as he juggled line combinations and defense pairs and kept the team focused and upbeat despite falling behind 2-0 in both the first-round series against Montreal and the Cup Final against the Canucks. The Bruins won three Game 7s that spring, including the clinching 4-0 win in Vancouver.

The Bruins have made the playoffs in each of Julien's five seasons behind the Boston bench. That tenure began in 2007 when he took over a team that had finished dead last in the Northeast Division in each of the previous two seasons under Mike Sullivan and Dave Lewis.

Last-place finishes quickly became a thing of the past for the Bruins under Julien, who has guided Boston to three division titles — including the first back-to-back Northeast crowns since that division was introduced in 1993-94 — and three 100-point campaigns.

Julien won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL coach of the year in 2008-09 after the Bruins finished first in the Eastern Conference with 116 points. He ranks third in franchise history with 410 games coached and is fourth in wins with a 228-132-50 record, good for a .617 winning percentage. He should move into second in Bruins history in the upcoming season, as he is within range of Don Cherry (231 wins) and Milt Schmidt (245), and could eventually challenge Art Ross (361) for the top spot in team history.

Julien already holds the franchise record for playoff wins with 36. He led the Bruins out of the opening round for the time in a decade with a sweep of the Canadiens in 2009 and also reached the conference semifinals in 2010 before breaking through with the 2011 Cup run.

Chiarelli and Julien will meet with the media to discuss the extension in a news conference at the Garden on Tuesday.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Scott Howson

The Blue Jackets finally parted ways with Nash, sending the star forward to the New York Rangers for forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, defense prospect Tim Erixon and a first round pick. The Blue Jackets will also send a conditional third round pick and minor league defenseman Steve Delisle to New York.

It's a decent package for the Blue Jackets, but pales in comparison to the kind of players Howson had reportedly sought in exchange for Nash, who has put up at least 30 goals in each of the past five seasons. Howson was spurned in his pursuit of young stars like San Jose's Logan Couture and Carolina's Jeff Skinner, and came up empty in his quest for any of the young marquee names he sought from the Rangers with Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan all remaining in New York.

In many ways, it's a deal that bears a bit of resemblance to the Bruins' controversial trade of Joe Thornton in 2005. Then Boston GM Mike O'Connell was roundly criticized for that deal, which brought back a trio of solid players but no true difference makers in Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau. Thornton went on to win the league scoring title and Hart Trophy that same season, while the Bruins finished last in their division for two straight years.

The main difference between those deals is that O'Connell acted swiftly, and arguably rashly, by quickly consummating the deal with the Sharks rather than shopping Thornton around the league to see if he could get a better return. Howson did the opposite, refusing to part with Nash at the trade deadline and draft when no one would meet his excessive demands. Finally, after more than five months with Nash on the trade block, Howson finally blinked and accepted a far lesser package.

Howson can take some solace in that he technically came away with some of what he was demanding by getting two NHL forwards in Dubinsky and Anisimov, but they are hardly the kind of impact players the Blue Jackets boss had been seeking.

That pair are both serviceable players who are young enough to develop further, and they will almost certainly plug into Columbus' top six. That's more a reflection of the Blue Jackets' lack of top-end talent than anything Dubinsky and Anisimov have done to warrant such prominent roles.

Dubinsky does have a pair of 20-goal campaigns on his resume, but slumped to just 10-24-34 totals in 77 games last year. He also managed just 0-2-2 totals in nine playoff games. Dubinsky is just 26 though, so there's still time for him to bounce back and develop into more of an offensive threat while playing a more prominent role in Columbus.

Dubinsky also brings some size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) and a willingness to use it, racking up 110 penalty minutes and 207 hits last season. He's a solid defensive player and can play in all situations, seeing time on the power play (1:46 a game) and penalty kill (1:15) as part of the 16:16 of ice time he averaged last year.

Anisimov also has size (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) and at 24 might possess more offensive potential. He put up 16-20-36 totals last season, down slightly from the 18-26-44 he posted in 2010-11, but those numbers could increase with a bigger role in Columbus.

Erixon, meanwhile, was the Rangers' top defense prospect, though New York could afford to part with him as the Rangers have a young nucleus in place on the blue line with McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Michael Del Zotto already up with the big club. That depth helped keep Erixon, 21, in the AHL for most of his first season in North America, but he did get in 18 games with the Rangers.

Unlike the Bruins in the Thornton trade, Columbus also got back a first-round pick, though that will likely be a very late selection in the round with the Rangers now adding Nash to a club that finished first in the East last season.

Columbus finished dead last in all of the NHL last year. Now that they've moved the biggest star in franchise history for a collection of solid but far from spectacular parts after months of promises of a blockbuster return, climbing out of the basement could be an even more challenging task for the Blue Jackets. 

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement are still in their nascent stages, so it's too early to panic about part or all of another season being lost. But any optimism for a quick resolution did take a hit last week when the owners unveiled their first proposal, which included a call for several inflammatory changes that sent shockwaves through the hockey world.

That was just the start of talk between the league and the NHL Players Association, not the end. The sides have plenty of complicated issues to hash out before wrapping up negotiations and returning to action on the ice without delays this fall.

To help sort through the many points of contention between the owners and players, we've taken a look at some of the biggest issues of the offseason talks.

Click here to see the Top 10 issues the NHL and players association are working through>>

That's how much he signed for with a seven-year deal with the Rangers back in 2007, but despite carrying the NHL's 12th-highest current cap hit at $7.357 million, he managed just two goals last year for Montreal.

But while Gomez has struggled mightily to score on the ice of late, he does just fine on the links. On Thursday, Gomez even notched a hole-in-one to win a $50,000 SUV in a tournament to benefit his own charitable foundation.

"The guy wins a car at his own tournament. Can you believe it?" Continental Motors owner Marten Martensen told the Anchorage Daily News.

Martensen's company will be supplying the car, an Acura MDX, which Gomez won by acing the 225-yard par-3 sixth hole at Eagleglen Golf Course in his native Alaska. That was where Gomez was hosting the sixth annual tournament to raise money for The Scott Gomez Foundation, which supports youth hockey programs in Alaska.

It's a bit awkward when the host wins the big prize, but Gomez promised that his charity would be the real winner. "The Foundation will get it in some form," Gomez told the Anchorage Daily News of his plans for the SUV.

Despite his hefty salary, Gomez could actually use the car himself. He's been using his sister's mid-90s Nissan to get around at home in the summer. So Gomez may keep the new SUV to use himself and donate the cost of the vehicle to his foundation.

Either way, Gomez at least finally has something to celebrate. He went more than a calendar year between goals for Montreal. After scoring against the Rangers on Feb. 5, 2011, Gomez did not score again until getting a goal against the Islanders on Feb. 9, 2012, a span of 61 regular-season and playoff games without a goal.

Things got so bad that one fan even set up a web site to track the length of the drought with a running clock calculating the time between tallies. And yes, it has been updated to celebrate Gomez's triumph on the links.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Veteran defensemen Aaron Johnson and Garnet Exelby were added to the mix for the battle for the seventh spot on defense and Christian Hanson joined the list of players vying for one of the precious few openings up front.

There still could be more moves made, and those possibilities, as well as what we should expect from the pieces of the roster already in place, were among the subjects addressed in the latest edition of the Bruins Mailbag. As always, I'd like to thank all the readers who sent in questions and apologize in advance if I wasn't able to get to yours. Please keep submitting your questions and I'll answer as many of them as I can throughout the offseason, which hopefully will not last any longer than scheduled.

Do you think Shane Doan or Rick Nash would be a good fit for the Bruins?

– Donald Kelley, Woburn, Mass.

As players, I think both would fit in very well. Although I think Nash is a bit overrated for what the Blue Jackets are looking to get for him in a trade, there's no denying that he's still a very good offensive player who could help the Bruins. Doan also would be a perfect fit with the kind of leadership, experience and secondary scoring he could provide.

Unfortunately, where I don't see the fit is with what it would take to get either of those players in a Bruins uniform. The asking price for Nash has been astronomical and Columbus has shown no willingness to budge. Any package that's going to include Tyler Seguin or Dougie Hamilton is a complete non-starter. I also wouldn't want to see the Bruins make Milan Lucic the centerpiece of a trade for Nash, as the two have put up almost identical numbers the past two seasons (Lucic has 56-67-123 totals in 160 games, Nash has 62-63-125 totals in 157 games), but Lucic adds a lot more intangible value with his physical play. Nash has good size and will take the body, but can't intimidate an opponent or change the momentum of a game the way Lucic can with his hits and fights, although admittedly he has been more inconsistent with his use of those attributes the last couple years.

Add in the fact that Columbus will also be looking for additional players, prospects and high picks in a package for Nash, and that the Bruins will likely have to part with other key players in the coming years because of Nash's $7.8 million cap hit for the next six seasons and such a trade just is not worth it.

Doan is a free agent and would only cost the Bruins money, but quite a bit of it. It's been reported that he's already gotten a four-year, $30 million deal from an Eastern Conference team. That's a $7.5 million cap hit for a player who turns 36 on Oct. 10 and has averaged exactly 20 goals the past three seasons. It would also be an over-35 contract, so any team signing him will carry his cap hit over the full length of the contract, even if he retires or loses effectiveness and they want to cut ties with him. And that is assuming Doan even is truly available, as his preference remains staying in Phoenix as long as the Coyotes are going to stay there, and that, for better or worse, is looking more and more likely.

In short, I like both players and I think they each would fit in well in the Bruins system and locker room, but I don't think what they would add to the Bruins would justify the cost of acquiring either of them.

Hey @douglasflynn, any thoughts on the Bruins possibly trading for Bobby Ryan by moving [David] Krejci? I'd love to see a [Rich] Peverley-[Tyler] Seguin-Ryan line.

– Andrew Bucci via Twitter (‏@ABucci33)

Ryan is a more reasonable trade target than Nash. I actually like his upside more as he is three years younger than Nash, has put up similar numbers with 30-plus goals in each of his first four full seasons in the NHL and has a much more manageable cap hit ($5.1 million for the next three years). I do think some fans are seriously underrating Krejci's skills and contributions to the team, most notably in their Cup run in 2011 when he led the entire league in postseason scoring, but that is a deal I would probably do just because of Boston's depth down the middle and lack of pure finishers like Ryan.

I'm not sure Anaheim would make that deal though. While the value of Krejci and Ryan is pretty close, and a draft pick or prospect added by the Bruins would make it more than fair, part of the reason the Ducks are considering dealing Ryan is to free up money to keep Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, as they are both scheduled to hit free agency after the upcoming season. Krejci is about to begin his new deal with a cap hit of $5.25 million for the next three years, so Anaheim would actually be taking on money in this deal.

If the money issues could be worked out and a deal centered around Krejci and Ryan ever was consummated, I don't think I'd go with that lineup, however. Peverley is a valuable player for his versatility and ability to fill in on a scoring line, but I wouldn't put him on the top line if everyone is healthy. I think having Milan Lucic on a line with Seguin and Ryan would be more likely, or use Ryan on the left side with Nathan Horton flanking Seguin on the right.

So with the signing of [Aaron] Johnson, is this their seventh d-man or do you see them maybe getting someone like a [Steve] Staios or [Sean] O'Donnell maybe?

– Wes LeJan

I think the Bruins are probably done with adding veterans for that seventh defenseman role now that they've signed Johnson. He'll have to earn that spot and will have to fend off fellow veteran free agent addition Garnet Exelby and youngsters like Torey Krug and Matt Bartkowski to do it, but Johnson would appear to have the inside track.

Johnson has 281 games of NHL experience, including 56 last year with Columbus where he put up 3-13-16 totals with 99 hits and 70 blocked shots. He's not necessarily a guy you'd want to depend on logging big minutes every night on a contending team, but he's well suited to the seventh defenseman role. At 29, he's beyond the point where his development could be hampered by sitting out the majority of games the way it could be for Krug or Bartkowski, while also being capable of filling in when called upon if injuries strike.

Staios and O'Donnell could have been good options as well and may have provided more leadership and a bit of a physical presence, but I think Johnson should be fine for the limited role he'll be asked to play in Boston.

Why do people insist that the Bruins can do anything with [Tuukka] Rask in goal?

– Tj Thibeault via Facebook

Maybe because Rask happens to be an excellent goalie who has already played very well in the past three seasons in the NHL. He's been a starter before, supplanting Tim Thomas in 2009-10 and did just fine. Actually, he did a heck of a lot better than fine as he led the NHL in both goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931).

There's also the fact that he outplayed Thomas again last year. Thomas played the bulk of the games, but Rask had the better GAA (2.05 to 2.36) and save percentage (.929 to .920) before a groin/abdominal injury cut Rask's season short in March. Rask will be asked to take on a bigger role than he's had at this level before, but he's far from an unknown. He has played 102 games in the NHL and put up a solid 47-35-1 record with a 2.20 GAA, .926 save percentage and 11 shutouts.

His playoff experience is less extensive, going 7-6 with a 2.61 GAA and a .912 save percentage in 2010 when he was outstanding against Buffalo but ran out of steam like the rest of the club when Boston blew a 3-0 lead against the Flyers. Those numbers are a little worse than his regular season stats, but you know what they look an awful lot like? Thomas' first NHL postseason, when he went 3-4 with a 2.65 GAA and .914 save percentage in 2008. He did just fine in the postseasons that followed and I'm confident Rask will do fine next spring as well. Even more important, his teammates are confident in Rask's ability to do the job and that he has the full support of everyone in that locker room.

I've heard very recently that PJ Axelsson is interested in an NHL comeback. Do you think he could land on the Bruins?

– Sam Robinson via Facebook

Axelsson is indeed looking to return to the NHL after playing the last three years for Frolunda in his native Sweden. He still has one year remaining on the four-year deal he signed after leaving the Bruins in 2009, but presumably has an out clause to return to the NHL.

I'm not sure how realistic that return is. He is now 37 and three years removed from his last NHL shift, but Axelsson always kept himself in great shape and his hockey sense and ability to anticipate plays as they developed was always top notch. That might enable him to make up for any loss of speed he may have suffered over the years.

I don't know that Boston would be a good fit for him right now though. While it would be a nice story to see him come back to complete his NHL career with the same club he started with, the Bruins already have an abundance of bottom six forwards. Assuming Nathan Horton is good to go at the start of the season as expected, that leaves Rich Peverley on the third line with Chris Kelly and likely Jordan Caron, with the fourth line of Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton all returning. Add in guys like Chris Bourque, Lane MacDermid and Christian Hanson looking to move up from the AHL and prospects like Ryan Spooner and Jared Knight ready to challenge for NHL spots and I don't think Axelsson really fills a need for the Bruins at this point.

If they add anyone, it would have to be more of a true scorer to upgrade the offense and address the power-play struggles the club has had in the last couple years. That's never been Axelsson's forte, and judging from the 4-10-14 and 2-12-14 totals he's put up the last two years in Sweden, those limitations don't appear to have changed since he departed Boston.

Will Jordan Caron make a substantial contribution to the offense this year?

– Rick Smith

That will depend on how you define a "substantial contribution." Caron will likely open the season on the third line with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley, though that spot won't be handed to him with plenty of competition in camp looking to battle for what might be the only spot in the top 12 forwards that's really up for grabs. Kelly and Peverley are certainly capable of contributing offensively, with Kelly coming off his first 20-goal campaign and Peverley frequently filling in on the top two lines when needed. Playing with them will lead to offensive chances for Caron, but that line will be more of a checking line with its defensive responsibilities taking priority.

Even in such a role, Caron still has the ability to chip in some timely offensive production, especially if he plays as he did down the stretch last year. After managing just five points in his first 30 games (and seven points in 23 games in his first season in 2010-11), Caron had 10 points in his final 18 games. That's a 46-point pace over a full 82-game slate. That may be asking a bit much considering he had eight of those points in a six-game hot streak in early March, but that spurt does show that Caron is capable of such stretches and could be very productive if he can find some more consistency.

His success on the way to the NHL shows that as well. The 2009 first-round pick had 36-31-67 totals in 56 games and 26-27-53 totals in 43 games in his last two junior campaigns, along with 33 points in 33 QMJHL playoff games. He also had 13 points in 17 games in Providence last year and 28 points in 47 games in the AHL in his first pro season. The skill is there to contribute more offensively and he will be given the chance to play a bigger role this season. Now it's just up to him to apply that ability when given the opportunity.

Have questions for Douglas Flynn’s mailbag? Leave them in the comments section below, send them to him via Twitter @douglasflynn or send them here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week. Be sure to check back to see if your question was answered.

It was the first offer sheet signed in the league in two years and just the seventh in eight offseasons under the current collective bargaining agreement. Five of the previous six offer sheets were matched, keeping the players with their previous teams. That could well happen with Weber as well, though the Flyers made the contract as unpalatable as possible for the Predators with $80 million of the $110 million offer due in the first six years of the 14-year deal.

Whether or not the Flyers end up with Weber, there's no denying that Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren has shaken things up in a major way. He's even managed to overshadow the ongoing CBA talks as the top hockey story of the day, though this contract offer could have serious implications there as well. After all, it's mighty hard to take the owners' demands seriously when they're the ones handing out $110 million contracts in the midst of the negotiations.

But within the league, Holmgren risked backlash from his fellow GMs by venturing into territory most have steered clear of. And Holmgren did so in spectacular fashion. His offer to Weber is worth more than the previous six offer sheets signed combined, with those totaling just $97.1 million. Edmonton's attempt to poach Thomas Vanek from Buffalo with a seven-year, $50-million offer in 2007 was the previous high, and that was less than half of what Holmgren has put on the table for Weber.

Part of the reason GMs have shied away from using offer sheets is the fear of retaliation. Once that door is open, other GMs will be less hesitant about going after that club's restricted free agents. That's the theory anyway. In reality, none of the teams that have attempted to use offer sheets during this CBA have faced any serious reprisals.

Well, at least not in the form of other offer sheets in response. Edmonton's Kevin Lowe did get challenged to a fight in barn by then-Anaheim GM Brian Burke after the Ducks chose not to match the Oilers' five-year, $21.5-million offer to Dustin Penner. That was the lone offer not matched in the salary cap era, and Penner's struggles during his stay in Edmonton didn't exactly make a strong case for other teams to go that route.

Still, despite the consternation that Lowe caused both Anaheim and Buffalo that summer of 2007, neither team responded with an offer sheet on any Oilers. The only time teams have made offer sheets against each other was in 2008, when Vancouver signed Blues forward David Backes to an offer sheet and St. Louis later tried to land Canucks forward Steve Bernier. Both offers were matched with no outward signs of enmity from either camp.

Holmgren's raid on Nashville is a bit more pronounced though, and it's possible the boldness of the move could invite some retribution. Not that it would bother Holmgren too much if adding Weber helps the Flyers finally win another Cup.

There's not too much immediate risk though. Philadelphia's only unsigned RFAs this summer are forwards Jakub Voracek, Harry Zolnierczyk and Tom Sestito and defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon. Of those, only Voracek is a significant contributor, and even he does not come close to offering the impact of losing or adding Weber.

Things could get a little trickier for Philadelphia if Nashville decides that revenge is indeed a dish best served cold. The Flyers have Wayne Simmonds, who broke out with a 28-goal campaign while providing a needed physical presence up front last season, due to reach RFA status next summer, with star forward Claude Giroux and emerging young stars Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier all due to be RFAs in 2014. Nashville was reportedly asking for Schenn and Couturier in trade talks involving Weber, so the Flyers may be well-advised to lock up those youngsters before they can reach the market.

While Philadelphia's biggest concerns on the RFA front may be a couple years down the road, other teams may have more immediate worries. If Holmgren's audacious move takes a bit of the taboo off utilizing offer sheets, it's possible other GMs could follow his lead this summer.

That could be bad news for teams looking to lock up other coveted RFAs like Evander Kane in Winnipeg, Ryan O'Reilly in Colorado, P.K. Subban in Montreal, John Carlson in Washington and Jamie Benn in Dallas. More likely though, Holmgren's bold play to land Weber will prove to be an outlier and not the start of any trend toward greater use of offer sheets.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/Shea Weber#6

That's how long the Predators have to decide whether or not to match Philadelphia's 14-year, $110-million offer sheet to the star defenseman. The Flyers made it as painful as possible by front-loading the deal with $68 million in signing bonuses and $80 million due over the first six years of the contract, but Nashville will still have a hard time letting its captain go.

While it's clear that losing Weber on the heels of having fellow standout blueliner Ryan Suter sign with Minnesota earlier this month would seriously damage Nashville's chances to compete, what would gaining Weber do for the Flyers and the balance of power in the East?

Philadelphia has been knocking on the door in recent years, reaching the conference final in 2008 and the Cup Final in 2010, but the Flyers haven't been able to snap a championship drought that dates back to 1975.

Bringing Weber to Broad Street could go a long way toward changing that. He's the best all-around defenseman in the league already and is just coming into his prime. Adding Chris Pronger on the back end of his career helped push the Flyers to the Final in 2010. Pronger turned 35 at the start of his first season in Philadelphia and was on the downside of his career at that point even before concussion-related issues left his playing future in doubt.

Weber, on the other hand, is just 26. His best years should be ahead of him. And that's a scary thought for a guy who's been a Norris finalist the past two seasons and should have won both times. Weber is a force on both ends of the ice, with the 6-foot-4, 232-pounder providing a physical presence with his size (177 hits last season), solid play in his own zone (plus-21, 140 blocked shots), offensive contributions (19-30-49 in 78 games) and leadership.

There probably shouldn't be anyone getting $110 million to play hockey or any other sport, but if you're going to break the bank, Weber is the kind of guy you do it for. That's especially true for the Flyers, who still have questions in goal after Ilya Bryzgalov's shaky first season in Philadelphia that ended with some serious struggles in the playoffs (3.46 GAA, .887 save percentage). With Pronger not expected back anytime soon, the Flyers need a true defensive stalwart to help settle things down in front of Bryzgalov.

The Flyers have all the other pieces in place. Up front their loaded with emerging superstar Claude Giroux (28-65-93 last season), veterans Scott Hartnell (37-30-67), Danny Briere (16-33-49) and Max Talbot (19-15-34), young players who have already begun to establish themselves in Wayne Simmonds (28-21-49), Jakub Voracek (18-31-49) and Matt Read (24-23-47) and the next wave just starting to show what they can do in Sean Couturier (13-14-27) and Brayden Schenn (12-6-18, plus 9 points in 11 playoff games).

The defense can provide Weber with a strong supporting cast with Kimmo Timonen, Andrez Meszaros, Braydon Coburn, Nicklas Grossman, Luke Schenn and Bruno Gervais all on board. And coach Peter Laviolette has proven he can lead a team to the promised land, guiding Carolina to the Cup in 2006 and the Flyers to the Final in 2010.

Even with Weber, it won't be an easy road for the Flyers, who will face stiff challenges from the Penguins and Rangers within their own division and the Bruins and perhaps Capitals, Panthers and Sabres elsewhere in the conference. Some of those teams may even feel some pressure to make a countermove, upping the ante in the pursuit of trade targets like Rick Nash and Bobby Ryan.

Nothing is guaranteed, not even for $110 million. But a Flyers team with Weber on the blue line is certainly a reason for the rest of the East to worry. And maybe even whoever emerges out of the West next spring would have some cause for concern as well.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Until a new collective bargaining agreement is sorted out, though, the fate of the upcoming hockey season is in jeopardy. While fans are concerned that the season might be delayed or — heaven forbid — cancelled entirely, they also have plenty of questions about what to expect on the ice if the season does go ahead as scheduled.

NESN.com Bruins reporter Douglas Flynn took to Twitter on Thursday to answer all your questions about how Dougie Hamilton will fit in with the Boston defense, who's going to be the Bruins' toughest competition this year and if the NHL is heading towards another lockout.

Fans were able to join in the chat using the hashtag #NESNLive. Check out the conversation below. 

[View the story "Bruins Have Bright Future, Tough Competition Ahead" on Storify]

Losing Shea Weber as well as Suter in the same summer could KO the Predators, both on and off the ice. That's why at first glance the decision to match Philadelphia's offer sheet would appear to be a no-brainer.

And if the on-ice impact was the only consideration, Predators general manager David Poile would waste no time doing exactly that. Even at the hefty price of $110 million over 14 years, Weber is too valuable to let go. He's arguably the best all-around defenseman in the league and just entering his prime at age 26.

But this is a business decision as much as a hockey decision, and business isn't exactly booming in Nashville. Forbes valued the Predators franchise at just $163 million last November, ranking it 25th out of the 30 teams in the league.

"The Predators are losing money and trying to find investors to pump in about $25 million to shore up the team's finances," the Forbes report noted. "The Predators have a lot of debt and have been in the bottom-third of the league in attendance for six consecutive seasons."

The Flyers were certainly trying to take advantage of those shaky finances with the way they structured the offer. Weber is scheduled to make $68 million in signing bonuses alone, with $80 million of the total deal due in the first six years. The first four seasons call for a $13 million signing bonus each year along with a salary of just $1 million, with the fifth and six years featuring $8 million signing bonuses and $4 million salaries.

Does Nashville have the ability to come up with that kind of cash? The Predators went into the summer ready to break open the checkbook, as they were in the bidding on Suter right to the end and also made a play for Zach Parise. Suter and Parise ended up with identical 13-year, $98 million deals to join forces in Minnesota. But there's a difference between looking to make a long-term investment in a player and having the resources to cough up the kind of down payment this Weber deal demands.

The Predators may have already been preparing for life without Weber as Nashville was reportedly in talks with several teams about potentially trading the star blueliner. According to TSN's Darren Dreger, who broke the news of the offer sheet late Wednesday night, it was the Flyers' frustration at delays in those talks that led to Philadelphia deciding to go the offer sheet route .

That offer sheet limits Nashville's options considerably. It's one thing to trade Weber for a package of players, prospects and picks that could possibly help fill the void on the roster immediately and set up the Predators for a potential rebuilding project. It's something else entirely to have to part with him only for the offer-sheet compensation, which would be four first-round draft picks. Considering the Flyers first-round pick hasn't been lower than 20th in the last five drafts and they would be even stronger with Weber in the lineup, that's not much of a return.

Nashville also has to worry about the optics of letting Weber go. Playing in a non-traditional market, the Predators already face a challenge in generating interest and support for the club. Take away the two star attractions in one summer without getting back any immediate help in return would make growing the fan base or even retaining the core they have difficult. The message not matching sends is that the team either does not have the resources to truly compete or is unwilling to spend what is necessary to do so.

Nashville faces other issues if they don't match. The Predators are sitting at roughly $40.9 million in cap commitments right now, leaving them over $13 million short of the cap floor. Without Weber, they'll struggle to reach the floor, though that could be a moot point if there are changes in the new CBA.

There's also the not-so-insignificant fact that the Nashville defense is extremely thin already, even without losing Weber. In addition to Suter's departure, the Predators also lost Francis Bouillon and Jack Hillen in free agency to Montreal and Washington, respectively. They are left with Hal Gill, Ryan Ellis, Kevin Klein, Roman Josi and restricted free agent Jonathan Blum on defense, with few attractive options remaining in free agency.

All those considerations will make this a difficult decision for Poile and the Predators. Poile has stated throughout the summer that he would match any offer sheet submitted to Weber. That may have simply been an attempt to dissuade rival GMs from attempting to go that route. Now faced with the reality of the kind of financial commitment his club would have to make to fulfill that promise, it's obvious it is not quite that simple.

Poile acknowledged as much on Wednesday with a statement citing his previous promises to match any offer but noting that the Predators will use the seven days allowed to make a decision to weigh the options.

"Due to the complexity of the offer sheet, we will take the appropriate time to review and evaluate it and all of its ramifications in order to make the best decision for the Predators in both the short and long-term," Poile said.

The problem will be reconciling those two interests. In the long term, the Predators can't afford the hit they'll take on and off the ice by losing Weber. But in the short term, they may simply not be able to afford the up-front costs in Philadelphia's offer.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Far more restraint than many expected — and frankly, more restraint than was probably warranted — when the NHL Players’ Association resumed talks with the NHL in New York on Wednesday, meeting for the first time since the owners threw down the gauntlet last Friday with list of draconian demands that sent shockwaves throughout the hockey world.

After the owners proposed dropping of the players’ share of league revenues from 57 percent to 46 percent, eliminating signing bonuses, limiting contracts to five years, pushing back unrestricted free agency until after 10 years of service in the league and extending entry-level contracts from three years to five, there was more than a little apprehension about how the NHLPA would respond.

The players didn’t return to the bargaining table with an equally absurd list of their own demands. They didn’t even summarily dismiss the owners’ initial proposal, even though no one objectively looking at that demeaning offer would have blamed them a bit had they responded that way.

Instead, the NHLPA took the high road. The players recognized that they have public sentiment on their side at this point after the owners went so over the top in their initial proposal, and they wisely remained calm and measured in their response. With a large contingent of 15 players joining NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr in the session, the players showed their resolve and unity. But they also stressed that the players, like the fans, want more than anything to make sure that no more games are lost to another lockout just seven years after an entire season was wiped out when the owners shut down the league to install the salary cap system those same owners now want to change so radically.

“I think everybody’s expecting us to say how upset and disappointed we were in there, but it’s a negotiation,” New York Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky told the Sporting News after Wednesday’s meeting. “That was their starting point.

“We just wanna find a way to make this right, between the players and the league, and I’m confident that we’ll do that,” Dubinsky added. “There hasn’t been any hostility or anger or anything like that in the meetings that we’ve had. It’s all been cordial and informational and just about the two sides taking the information from one another, and trying to work toward one common goal. And that’s making a deal that we don’t lose any hockey.”

Instead of righteous indignation that may have been justifiable but not productive, the players sought more information to try to understand exactly what message the owners were trying to send with their extreme initial proposal.

“It’s going to take some time to get in depth and understand those,” Canucks center Manny Malhotra told NHL.com. “It’s a long process, so instead of getting wrapped up emotionally and flying off the handle, it makes far more sense to be educated in what they’re trying to propose and understanding it in great detail to make sure we know what to counter with.”

After the owners gave fans a reason to fear another extended work stoppage, the players’ restraint in response may be enough to walk some back in off the ledge.

There’s still a long way to go however, and still plenty of reason for concern. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman didn’t do much to allay those fears on Wednesday, as he stood by that controversial initial offer as the basis for any further discussion.

“They’re proposals that we believe need serious consideration for us to move forward,” Bettman told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting.

Bettman probably had to stand by those proposals publicly, at least initially. That’s part of the process in negotiations like these. But he has to also know most of those changes proposed on Friday are complete non-starters. For real progress to be made in these talks and to save the upcoming season, far more reasonable proposals will have to be offered.

The players have shown they can stay calm and reasonable even in the face of extreme provocation. Now it’s time for the owners to show the same consideration for the players, for the fans, and for the game.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.