[Dion]

Mike Cole of NESN.com was apt to reiterate that aspect this past Wednesday. As he noted, Iginla consumed $1.8 million worth of cap space in 2013-14. But, Cole writes, “Iginla’s impressive season means he hit many of those performance-related bonuses, which count against the 2014-15 cap.”

Per CapGeek.com, the carry-over bonuses could reach a maximum of $4.2 million. As of Monday, Boston’s payroll has just over $9.1 million of spare space with five or six NHL roster spots left to fill.

Iginla co-led Boston with 30 regular-season goals. His center, David Krejci, topped the team leaderboard with 50 assists and 69 points. Fellow first-line winger Milan Lucic was fourth among the Bruins with a 24-35-59 scoring log.

All irreproachable numbers, but ones that went out with the Zamboni snow when the schedule turned to the playoffs.

The postseason was the principal purpose of Iginla linking up with the Bruins, yet he and his colleagues stood out in the team’s failure to fulfill that purpose.

During his season-ending address, club president Cam Neely told reporters of Iginla, “He ended up scoring 30 goals, which is not easy in this league anymore, and we would like to try and see if we can figure something out moving forward with him.”

Four of Iginla’s 30 regular-season goals were empty netters, as was one of his five playoff strikes. Three others—the Game 4 overtime winner against Detroit, his contribution to a vain Game 3 rally against Montreal and Boston’s lone tally in Game 7—were tip-ins.

While every goal equals the same value, the Bruins need more than deflections and empty netters—especially from the top line.

The “deceptive speed” THN alludes to may not be enough for Iginla to retain an upper-echelon caliber for a full campaign. Over the weekend, CSNNE.com beat reporter Joe Haggerty went so far as to propose an outright external replacement by name.

In a TV appearance archived on the station’s website Sunday morning, Haggerty said, “I would love to see a little more speed on that line…I think a guy like Marian Gaborik would be an intriguing possibility.”

There you go.

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