Saturday night, Savard was a hot topic on "Satellite Hot Stove," Hockey Night in Canada's popular news and rumor segment.
"The Bruins do not want to trade this guy. Quite the opposite," ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun told a panel made up of NESN's own Mike Milbury, Scott Morrison and host Ron MacLean of the CBC. "They've started contract talks and they want to extend him as he's [an unrestricted free agent] at the end of the year."
But according to Morrison, the talks with the Bruins have not gone well thus far. Furthermore, the Maple Leafs acquired his former linemate, Phil Kessel, from the Bruins last month and Savard's family now makes its home in Toronto. Those details may eventually have rumors running rampant that the Leafs are planning to offer the playmaking center a contract.
It's "an interesting sidebar for the conspiracy theorists," Morrison went on to say. He also suggested that Savard "may just decide to shut [the talks with the Bruins] down and wait until July 1 [the first day of free agency] and wait to see what happens at that point."
The number of $6.25 million a season was thrown out there while Milbury was questioning Savard's value.
"How much is he worth?" Milbury asked to the panel. "I mean he's making $5 million now. Is he worth a lot more than that now? Given the fact that he's a suspect defensive player, I mean, plus-minus not withstanding?"
Members of the panel then argued how Savard is a "top-five point producer every year" and that he has become a better defensive player under Julien. Milbury, however, continued to question his worth and pointed out that the Bruins haven't won that much with him in the lineup.
"They're in big trouble now, but how far have they gone with him?" Milbury asked.
It may only be late October, but this promises to be a hot-button issue for the Bruins all season. They will need to continue to deflect the attention from Savard's contract status in a fashion similar to the manner in which they handled the Kessel stalemate.
The Boston Herald also reported two weeks ago that $6.25 million was the number that the Savard camp was throwing around, so there may be legs to this. If so, the cap-strapped Bruins surely cannot afford such a financial hit.
They also need to address restricted free agents to be Blake Wheeler, Vladimir Sobotka, Daniel Paille, Mark Stuart, Johnny Boychuk and Tuukka Rask. Mark Recchi, Steve Begin, Shawn Thornton and Derek Morris will also be unrestricted free agents after this season.
Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has on more than one occasion alluded to this future dilemma and has expressed interest in keeping his RFA core intact while also bringing back Savard. But if the $6.25 million starting point is correct, Chiarelli and his staff may need to make some tough decisions toward the end of this season and by July 1.
