The Boston Bruins signed forward Chuck Kobasew to a multiyear contract extension on Tuesday after his highest scoring season in five years in the NHL.

The team did not disclose contract details.

Kobasew had career highs of 22 goals, 17 assists and 39 points in 73 games this past season. He finished second on the team in goals to Marco Sturm , who had 27.

Kobasew missed the playoffs with a fractured left leg. The Bruins were eliminated in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games. He was drafted with the 14th overall pick in 2001 by Calgary, which traded him to Boston on Feb. 10, 2007.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

It’s stupid to say that the Bruins are interested in Pittsburgh Penguin’s superstar, Marian Hossa. That’s a given, the entire league is interested in the upcoming free agent. As the rest of the league watches Hossa play along side Sidney Crosby, GM’s around the league cant help but drool over the possibility of the Slovakian star wearing their team’s sweater.

Financially the Bruins can give Hossa what he wants. Word is that Hossa could get as much as $8 million per season for a five-year deal, or more. With the $4.1 million salary of ex-Bruin Alexei Zhamnov ending, and the NHL salary cap expected to rise $4 million to $5 million, the B’s would have nearly $10 million available to spend. The Bruins have almost $39 million committed for the 2008-09 season and the NHL’s salary cap is expecting to rise to approximately $53 million.  Boston could free up even more money if they dumped Glen Murray and his $4.15 million cap hit.

Speculation that Hossa could become an unrestricted free agent this summer was risen by a report claiming the Penguins won’t try very hard to re-sign him. This is not shocking considering that Pittsburgh is loaded with home grown youthful super stars who will be taking the Hossa dollars away from Pittsburgh. It’s believed Penguins management will put more priority into retaining young stars Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal.

B’s Send five To Worlds

Despite a game seven loss to the Canadiens some of the Bruins are not finished playing hockey for the season. Boston sent five of its members to the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Although not playing, the championship game will be played in Patrice Bergeron’s home town of Quebec City. Representing USA, are Phil Kessel, Mark Stuart, and Tim Thomas while David Krejci skates for Czech Republic and Marco Sturm for Germany.

It may be over in Boston but there is still plenty of reasons to watch the remainder of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The great match-ups that will translate into great hockey. Every game will be exciting and Bruins fans still have some connections to each series. Best of all you don’t have to listen to Jack Edwards make the call. So here are the second round match-ups.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche

This heated rivalry is renewed. Reliving the battles of the late 90’s and 2000’s, this will be a sight to see. The Avs brought back some of their key contributors to the rivalry in Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg, while things welcomed Darren McCarty back to Motown.  Lots of old faces back in the mix but don’t expected the same blood bath that your custom to seeing between these two in the playoffs. Detroit is a great puck possession team loaded with skill. While the Avs do have some agitators, the series will be less physical and more strategic than a normal AvsWings match-up. The Red Wings come in with a highly skilled and deep team, while the Avalanche do have many big names on their team, Detroit’s depth will be hard to handle.

Bruins captain has been named one of three finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defensman. The other two are Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames and Nicklas Lindstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Stats- goals (17), assists (34) and points (51), plus-minus (+14)

Big Z has been everything the Bruins paid for this season. He has had his best statistical year as a pro. Ranked third among NHL players in average ice time per game (26:50) He led the Bruins and ranked eighth in the League with 223 hits . A major asset to Boston’s amazing turn around.

Prediction- Its hard to go against the season the Chara has had. Its been a great turn around from a season ago. Unfortunately, Lindstrom has been a bit better. Chara will receive a major look, due to the fact that Lindstrom has won the award and Boston’s brief success in the playoffs. I see a second place finish.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings

Stats- goals (10), assists (60) and points (70), plus-minus (+40)

The Boston Bruins fell in game seven to the Montreal Canadiens 5-0. Most will see this as an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the rival Habs. That, the Bruins once again let fans down in game seven. The casual fan will now look to the Celtics to roll through the playoffs, the Red Sox to continue to out slug everyone, and the Patriots to get even better with the seventh pick in the draft. The B’s had their shot in the lime light and came up empty. Its unfortunate that it turns out this way but when you’re competing with the best team in the respective league, its a reality.

For an instant the Bruins were the toast of the town. They were headlining sport talk shows. There was chatter all over New England when they forced a game seven. There was more hype surrounding the Bruins than there had been in quite some time. A team that was down and out  was about to pull off a Red Sox sized comeback.  It was a young likable team with a ticker the size of the ice they played on. An irrelevant team was relevant again. It was fun to be a Bruins’ fan for the moment. The streets outside the the Garden were filled with black and gold. The Garden itself was electric. City bars were at capacity with puck heads. But like all good things it came to an end.

The Bruins skated past the Canadiens with a 5-1 victory in Montreal last night. The win saves the B’s season and brings this relentless bunch back to Boston to try and tie the best-of-seven series at three games apiece. Boston, who had only score a total of five goals in the previous four games, lit the lamp up for five in Thursday’s playoff battle.

A major component to the Bruins success was the return of Phil Kessel, who scored the Bruins’ first goal and tied the game at one. Kessel had been a healthy scratch for the last three games of this series. Call it being unfairly singled out for the lack-luster play of the Bruins in game one. But it was a coaches decision for the benching. It seemed that Claude Julien wanted to get a tougher bunch against the Habs. It wasn’t only Kessel that seemed outmatched in that opening game. The entire Bruins team looked terrible. However, with hardly any playoff experience the B’s sub-par play was somewhat expected. I liked the move of changing things up and getting Vladimir Sobotka in the line up but Julien took out the wrong guy in my opinion. Sobotka deserves to play, but not at the expense of Kessel. Julien should have sat out Jeremy Riech or Shawn Thornton in those three games. Both guys are exactly the same type of players. If these two are playing a lot, your team is not scoring. The two players are grinders at best. You need offense and whether it shows up on the score sheet or not, Kessel’s speed and creatability opens the ice for Boston’s offence, especially with no red line.

Although Montreal has the commanding lead, Boston deserves its due, especially amongst the locals. There is no way in hell that anyone watching at home should hear the Montreal “BOOs” when Zdeno Chara touches the puck in the Garden. And there definitely shouldn’t be any Oh-laay Oh-lay Oh-lay Oh-laay ringing throughout the hub. Kudos to the B’s fans who went out to support the team and did their best to drown out the red shirts.

I understand that Habs fans travel well and hockey is all they got up there but are we that spoiled in Boston where we can’t come out and support hockey’s most surprising team, who happens to be in the playoffs. Yes their run into the playoffs was next to impossible, and beating the Canadiens seemed impossible. Even still, this over achieving bunch of no names deserved our home support and we couldn’t deliver. To have that many Habs fans in our home arena was embarrassing. You wouldn’t have a sea of pinstripes at Fenway or a J-E-T-S chant at Gillette, so why would you let it happen to the B’s.

Game three at the Garden saw the Bruins snap the Canadiens unbeaten streak against them. Marc Savard’s overtime goal gave the B’s a 2-1 victory. That goal was Savard’s first career playoff goal. What a way to get your first. This game could be a huge momentum swing for the B’s. It now gives the young Bruins confidence to beat the Habs. Which is something that hasn’t happened all year.

The Bruins haven’t won a playoff series since 1999, losing three straight. Two of those three times they lost to Montreal. Losing all eight regular-season match ups to the Habs, Boston didn’t have the lead in a single game, for a single second.  Up until Milan Lucic’s first period goal, Boston has either trailed or have been tied with Montreal in every moment of every game in the 2007-2008 season, including playoffs.

This win changes the whole complexion of the series. Montreal still leads two games to one, but it could easily be the Bruins with the series lead or Montreal with a commanding 3-0 lead. After being dominated by the Habs in the first game, Boston has outplayed Montreal in the last two. If it wasn’t for some questionable calls in Montreal late in game two, the B’s would be looking for a  3-1 when the series resumes on Tuesday.

For the first time in four years the Stanley Cup playoffs come back to Boston. Being picked by many to finish dead last in the NHL, Boston was supposed to be the door mat of the league. Now they are in the playoffs. That alone makes the B’s relevant in Boston again, never mind that they face off against their hated rivals, the Canadiens. What is better than a Boston vs. Montreal playoff battle? The B’s head into the series as the heavy underdogs. What else is new?They have been the underdogs all season long. B’s Habs, wouldn’t want it any other way.

2007-2008 Regular season match up

The Habs owned the season series, sweeping Boston in all eight games. To go back further, Montreal has won 11 straight against the B’s. The last time Boston beat the Canadiens was on March 3, 2007 in a 3-1 home victory.

2007-2008 Winner Scores

Canadiens 6-1
Canadiens 2-1
Canadiens 7-4
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 5-2
Canadiens 8-2
Canadiens 4-2
Canadiens 3-2