Hockey-heavy

First of all, here's video of the part of the Pops concert that I mentioned yesterday, of Officer Dick Donohue conducting I'm Shipping Up to Boston (and here's the original version, if you're curious).

If you're not from around here, I suppose you might not know the Dropkick Murphys; I know of them because not only are they a Boston band, they're seriously big Bruins fans, so their music is often heard at the Garden (I don't even know how big they are outside MA). It was a nicely Boston moment last night, anyway. Which segues nicely into what's on my mind tonight, which is hockey and more hockey.

I know, it's the off-season, you'd think there wouldn't be much to talk about, hockey-wise. But such a crazy off-season this is being, you know? As I said on Facebook, half as long and twice as crazy as usual. Let me count the ways.

• Eleven days ago the playoffs ended.
• Nine days ago the team cleaned out their lockers for the summer (and for some, longer than that, since the team told a few players they would not be signed to new contracts, including Ference and Jagr), and Bergeron got out of the hospital.
• Six days ago, Nathan Horton announced that he did not plan to re-sign with the Bruins, but would test free agency instead. This after the Bruins said signing him was a priority second only to Tuukka! Well, really.
• Five days ago was the draft. No big Bruins news there, but rumblings from Chiarelli about Seguin needing to grow up, which sounded like the writing was on the wall.
• Yesterday, the Bruins announced they'd sent Seguin, Peverley, and a minor-leaguer to Dallas for Loui Eriksson and three prospects. Well! I have mixed feelings. I think it's one of those trades that only time will tell who got the better deal. Hopefully Eriksson will fit into the Bruins' system better, anyway.
• Today at noon, free agent hunting officially began, and I need to give that more than one bullet. 
• As expected, the early news was Boston-light and Boston-negative: they lost Ference (well, since they'd said they wouldn't re-sign him, "lost" is probably the wrong word) to Edmonton. He'd been a Bruin for a long time, and was sorry to be let go, but he's from Edmonton originally, and was he happy to sign there? This is what he sent out after it was announced:

I think he's happy. Good for him; he's always come across as a super-nice guy, and I just hope the Bruins don't miss him too much.

• Next, Horton to Columbus. Seven years and $37 million, wow! Particularly for a guy with his injury history, who's off for shoulder surgery now and hopes to be playing again by December...
• Back-up goalie Anton Khudobin signed elsewhere. Bruins sign goalie Chad Johnson. Neither deal stunningly exciting.
• Then nothing much positive and Boston-related, just didn't-get-him stories (Alfredsson, Michael Ryder), until in the twist of the night, Iginla is now a Bruin. For real, this time! They say. (Back at the trade deadline, the Bruins announced that they had traded for him, and the next morning it turned out he went to Pittsburgh instead. Oops!) Now that could be a big deal! And should be the last, I expect, since they're running out of cap space.

Am I forgetting anything? Seriously nuts, and it's still going on; unlike the draft, free agency has no structure and follows no clock. So far Jagr hasn't signed anywhere, Boston or otherwise (the Bruins told him they wouldn't re-sign him, but that was before Horton's little bombshell, so who knows). Tim Thomas has come out of his bunker in Colorado and said through his agent that he wants to play, but so far no one is biting. The big names may be gone, but there are still players in the wind.

As far as I'm concerned, I want the Bruins to get Tuukka signed already, because he's crucial. Once that's done, it would make me very happy if they would sign Bergeron to an extension: he's a free agent next summer, but tie him up now and make him a Bruin-for-life, please!

Keep calm and keep Bergeron!

(By the way, this isn't the end of the hockey in summer, either: next Wednesday the Bruins' development camp starts.)