With the limited Cap space the bruins have, and many of the players, taking up that cap have no-trade clauses.

While trading Tim Thomas does sound like a good Idea, he has a no-trade clause, and a no-minors clause effective until July of 2012, so he's staying, no matter what. Hopefully, providing his hip heals up good, he and Rask will be able to split the time again, and run a nice tandem in net.

We need at least one, cheap, but good pickup from free-agency this year. There are a few options:

Alex Tanguay who didn't have that great of a season down in Tampa, but that means we could get him for, potentially, cheaper than the 2.5M he was paid in Tampa.

Tomas Plekanec who had a pretty good year up in Montreal, getting 70 points, 18 more than anyone else on the Bruins. However, his good year could come at a price. He was paid 2.75M in MTL this year, meaning he probably will want more than that.

Vaclav Prospal who didn't have that a big year in New York, but still netted over 50 points, and as I'm sure you know, he can put the puck in the back of the net. Even better, he was only paid 1.15M on the NYR's this year, meaning he could be a really cheap pickup.

Maxim Afinogenov had a resurgence in Atlanta this year, getting 61 points, and probably the best part about it, he was only paid 800K so he could be a really cheap pickup!

Saku Koivu I know the thought of the Bruins signing the former Captain of the Montreal Canadiens makes some of our skin crawl, but lets face it, he produces. He hasn't had a year with less than 50 points since 2000-2001 (except for 01-02 when he was injured and played only 3 games) However, he is the most expensive on this list, making 3.25M last year in ANA. It's doubtful he would take a pay cut, so he is probably an unrealistic choice.

Keep in mind, we will also be paying for Hall/Seguin, so with just 4.3M cap space free right now, and we still have Recchi, Begin, Satan, and Boychuck as Unrestricted free agents, and Wheeler, Stuart, Paille, Lehtonen, Sobotka and McQuaid as Restricted free agents. 

As for players to trade for some cap space, Ryder is taking up 4M and does not have a NTC. As much as I hate to say it, Lucic is taking up 4.08M, which in my opinion is not worth the amount of offense he provides. He is a crowd favorite and an energy player, but to me he doesn't provide enough to justify anything over 3M in my opinion. Zach Hamill is taking up 1.3M, and he has yet to see more than 3 games in the NHL, in his career. Wideman is taking up almost 4M and I think we can all agree, despite his Playoff performance, he is not worth all that money.

What do you guys think of these picks?