Something's Bruin

Once upon a time there was a fourth major sport in Boston - it was called Hockey. 301 days of negotiations, bickering between the players association and the owners, one arena name change, and a year-long collective yawn from hockey fans have finally culminated in a new hockey deal. Those were the lowlights.

The highlights? This six year deal will finally eliminate the wretched Red Line rule, it raises the minimum salary from $175,000 to $400,000, unrestricted free agency's age will, over time, be lowered to 28 yrs, all players' current salaries will be rolled back 24%, and there will be a Salary Cap of $37-39 million.

For the Fantasy Sports freaks out there, pay particular attention to the new unprecedented Hockey Draft system.

Every team starts with 3 ping pong balls in the draft.

You can have no more 3 and no fewer than 1.

Every 1st round pick in the past 4 years - subtract 1 ball.

Every playoff appearance in the past 3 years - subtract 1 ball.

The picks will occur in a Serpentine format. What the heck is that?

What this means for the Bruins is since we lost to the Montreal Canadians in the first round twice (2001, 2003) and the New Jersey Devils in 2002, the Bruins will only get one ping pong ball in the draft. But considering the draft won't be based on record, we still have a decent shot at hockey phenom Sidney Crosby who would look awful good sporting the black and gold.

The real winners here are Boston's fans. With hockey looking to bring the fans back to the Garden, the real hockey fans will be treated to a much better product on and off the ice. Not only are ticket prices expected to dramatically decrease from their outrageous level, but the North Station bars won't be as empty as they were this winter, losing 41 days of prime business.

Welcome back Bruins!

Joel Oliveria and Matthew Nelson collaborated on this post