Bruins sign Trent Frederic to $4.6 million deal

UPDATE: The Bruins and Frederic have officially come to terms, with Frederic signing a two year deal worth $2.9 per season.

This news comes courtesty of NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.

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Frederic was seeking $2.9 million on a two year deal, while the Bruins were seeking to pay him just $1.4 million. Suffice it to say that Bruins fans are NOT happy with this development.

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The Bruins now have about $3 million to sign backup goalie Jeremy Swayman and to sign a replacement for retired #1 center Patrice Bergeron. Yeesh...

Read below for our earlier report on Frederic's negotiations with the Bruins.

The Boston Bruins and forward Trent Frederic are officially headed to arbitration with NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reporting that Frederic's salary demands are one year at $2.9 million, while the team is offering two years at $1.4 million per year.

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Uh... nearly $3 million for a depth forward who is mostly replaceable with an AHL call up or minimum salary free agent signing? That seems a bit rich.

While I'm personally a fan of Frederic and think that the Bruins would be wise to keep him in the mix, there are plenty of Bruins fans out there who do not like the makings of this deal.

For the record, I don't know if there are many beer leaguers out there who can put up 30+ points in the NHL. The 25 year old Frederic put up 17 goals and 31 points in 79 games for the B's last season. Not bad at all. He's certainly a valuable player who adds some grit to the Bruins' 3rd and 4th lines. 

I predict that he'll sign a one year deal in the $2 million range. From there it'll be up to him to secure himself a longer team deal next offseason, either in Boston or elsewhere in the NHL. If he can put up another 30+ point campaign, I don't suspect he'll have a problem earning closer to $3 million annually on his next deal. Stay tuned.