Bruins sign Iginla but lose a few players

PITTSBURGH, PA - JUNE 03: Jarome Iginla #12 of the Pittsburgh Penguins moves the puck against the Boston Bruins in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on June 3, 2013 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images)

Today was the first day of free agency and some teams went a little nuts with big contracts once again. I guess they missed all of the buyouts that happened days earlier. Meanwhile the Bruins didn't go nuts handing out large contracts as they couldn't anyways with their salary cap but they did lose a few players and added one.

The Bruins signed forward Jarome Iginla to a 1-year contract for $6 million (base salary is worth $1,800,000 and carries incentives of $4,200,000, for an annual cap figure of $6 million). Yes, this is true, it's not a joke.

Players moving on
Defenseman Andrew Ference signed with the Edmonton Oilers for 4-years $13M, averaging $3.25M per season, going to his hometown of Edmonton, AB, Canada. Best of luck to Ference and it's nice to see a player return home to play there.

Forward Nathan Horton signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets for 7-years $37.1M. I guess he, or his family, wanted to be somewhere where there wasn't much pressure, and well he picked a good team for that. Best of luck to Horton but you go from a team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals twice in a few years to a team fighting its way to make the playoffs and stay out of the basement, well that speaks a lot for itself and so does the big contract.

Goalie Anton Khudobin signed with the Carolina Hurricanes for 1-year at $800K.

Defenseman Aaron Johnson signed with the New York Rangers for 1-year at $600K.

Minor signings
The Bruins have also signed goalie Chad Johnson to a one-year, one-way contract for $600K; forward Bobby Robins to a two-year, two-way contract, worth $600K at the NHL level and $100K at the AHL level; forward Nick Johnson to a one-year, two-way contract, worth $600K at the NHL level and $200K at the AHL level; and defenseman Mike Moore to a two-way, one-year contract, worth $550K at the NHL level and $150K at the AHL level.

The signing of Chad Johnson could mean that Providence Bruins goalie Niklas Svedberg will be the backup goalie behind Tuukka Rask for the Bruins. Svedberg had a strong season last year in the AHL going 37-8-2 with a 2.17 GAA and a .925 save percentage.