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So, Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli wasn't just sending a message to Tyler Seguin after all.

Instead, he sent the 21-year-old forward packing and shipped him to the Dallas Stars, along with forward Rich Peverley and defenseman Ryan Button, in exchange for forward Loui Eriksson and prospects Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser.

The blockbuster deal ends Seguin's subpar three-year career in Boston. He never really lived up to expectations while in a Bruins sweater, and now, his $5.75 million cap hit per season is off the books.

Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick in 2010, struggled to produce offensively on a consistent basis. In 203 regular-season games for the Bruins, he scored 56 goals and added 65 assists for 121 points. In 42 playoff games, he had six goals and 12 assists for 18 points.

He helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011 with a big series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals. This spring, though, he struggled and had only one goal and seven assists in 22 games as the Bruins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the finals.

Seguin had a hard time using his speed to his advantage, and opponents controlled him by keeping him to the perimeter, which made his shot useless.

The Bruins are moving him while he's young and relatively healthy, and Chiarelli was able to get a good deal in return.

Chiarelli criticized Seguin last weekend at the NHL draft, saying the forward needed to become a better pro. Bruins assistant captain Patrice Bergeron had his former linemate's back, but understood what the GM meant.

"I think Tyler's a young guy still and he's got a lot to learn," Bergeron said. "At the same time, he's improved a lot. At that stage, when you're learning like that, that's going to happen, you need to make sure you learn from it and find a way to get better. That's the main thing with him, it's about him finding ways to battle through it, find ways and build some character out of it. He's a terrific player, a terrific person, but sometimes you need to have some lows to get back up and feel better and play better.

"I thought he was really good the way he helped us. He found a way even though he wasn't scoring as much as he would like to. He was still battling hard and doing things, the little details that you don't always see on the score sheet, but it wasn't going unnoticed from us as players and teammates. He's a terrific young player, so he's going to learn."

As for the other players in the deal:

Eriksson, 27, is a solid left winger and posted 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 48 games for the Stars this season.

Smith, 22, can play either wing and posted three goals and six assists for nine points in 37 games.

Morrow, 20, is a solid, puck-moving defenseman and spent this past season at the AHL level.

Fraser, 20, is a left winger and spent the majority of the season in the AHL, but did play in 12 games for Dallas.

At the heart of Thursday’s blockbuster deal between the Dallas Stars and the Boston Bruins is not just patience but the belief in the overarching power of time to transform potential into productivity.

At the end of the day, the Bruins did not believe enough that time was going to transform Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft, into a core member of their team, so they sent the 21-year-old packing to Dallas along with Rich Peverley and prospect Ryan Button in exchange for the undervalued Loui Eriksson and prospects Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser and defenseman Joe Morrow, whom the Stars acquired from Pittsburgh in the Brenden Morrow deal at the trade deadline.

Seguin has showed flashes of the promise that saw him in a neck-and-neck race with Taylor Hall for the first overall selection in 2010. He helped the Bruins win a Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2011 and scored 29 goals in 2011-12 but did not fully become part of the Bruins community. Still a boy, he acted like it at times.

There were questions about his focus and commitment. This spring, Seguin scored only once in 22 postseason games as the Bruins were defeated by Chicago in six games in the Stanley Cup finals.

After failing to trade him before the end of the draft, GM Peter Chiarelli was blunt in saying Seguin needed to focus on being a pro.

Now Seguin will get to focus on that task in Dallas, where he will carry a $5.75 million cap hit through 2018-19. Clearly, new GM Jim Nill believes such a transformation can be accomplished. For a team that has missed the playoffs five straight years, Seguin represents an important piece of the foundation with the expectation he will contribute both immediately and down the road.

While Seguin was part of a deep, veteran group in Boston, he will face significant expectations in Dallas. It's hard to believe that Mark Recchi, who is an adviser for the Stars and has a long relationship with owner Tom Gaglardi, did not vouch for Seguin, with whom he played in Boston when the Bruins were Cup-bound in 2011.

Coach Lindy Ruff will likely return Seguin to his natural position at center, a position at which the Stars have been woefully thin, although it will take a certain leap of faith for Ruff to make such a move and will take some restoration of Seguin’s confidence to make it work to the Stars’ benefit.

Boston coach Claude Julien declined to make such a move during the playoffs when injuries necessitated a shuffling of the Bruins’ forward lines. Julien chose for the most part to leave Seguin as a third-line winger as opposed to giving him a shot as a second-line center.

The Stars also will get a useful, versatile player in Peverley, who saw his role change from the Bruins’ Cup-winning team in 2011 to this season, when he played mostly fourth-line minutes, although he did chip in on the Bruins’ second power-play unit.

If there is more risk financially and in terms of fit for the Stars, there is certainly more long-term upside with Seguin given his significant offensive skill set.

The Bruins were clearly OK with that kind of trade-off, and there could hardly be a more Bruins-friendly acquisition than Eriksson. The native of Goteborg, Sweden, and former Olympian doesn’t address the team’s gaping hole on the right side created by the departures of Nathan Horton and Jaromir Jagr to free agency, but Eriksson is all business and should be an instant favorite of Julien.

At 27, Eriksson is a solid two-way player who has a $4.25 million cap hit through 2015-16. He is a four-time 20-goal scorer who had 36 goals in 2008-09, and one wonders if he will make Bruins fans quickly forget Seguin. The question will be whether Stars fans will embrace the young center in a like fashion or end up lamenting Eriksson’s loss.

Now that unrestricted free-agent forward Nathan Horton is testing the market, Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is doing his due diligence in trying to fill the right-wing position on the team’s top line.

With the free-agent period set to begin July 5, Chiarelli has already talked to veteran forwards, including Vincent Lecavalier. Chiarelli met with the 33-year-old forward last Saturday night and since had talked with his agents, but Lecavalier ultimately decided to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers for five years and $22.5 million.

Given the Bruins’ cap constraints, Chiarelli thought it best not to pay that steep a price.

“At the end of the day, it was something I wasn’t prepared to do,” Chiarelli said during a conference call with the media Wednesday morning. “Although I did enjoy meeting with Vinny, but it was just, at that point, I made the decision not to go forward with it.”

Another veteran right winger gaining a lot of attention from the Bruins is Daniel Alfredsson. The long-time Ottawa Senator has a relationship with the Bruins’ GM since the days Chiarelli was assistant GM in Ottawa. Even at the trade deadline this past season, the Bruins were interested in acquiring Alfredsson before eventually trading for Jaromir Jagr.

The 40-year-old Alfredsson is a 17-year veteran, spending each of those seasons with Ottawa. He had 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points this past season. In the playoffs, he had 4 goals and 6 assists in 10 games.

Chiarelli reached out to Alfredsson’s camp on Wednesday morning, a source told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.

“I know I’m allowed to talk to these players, but I don’t know if I can speak publicly as to those players I’m talking to, so I’m going to have to defer comment on that,” Chiarelli said, when asked about his interest in Alfredsson.

When the Bruins held their exit meetings a week ago, Chiarelli informed Jagr the team was not interested in in re-signing the future Hall of Famer. At that time, Chiarelli was under the impression he would have an opportunity to re-sign Horton. Now that he knows Horton is not coming back to Boston, Chiarelli admitted Wednesday there might be a change of heart on Jagr.

“We actually have thought about circling back,” admitted Chiarelli. “We told him we were moving on, so he may have moved on also. It’s something we may re-visit. He’s on a list of a bunch of guys. I’d like to go into this, when I talk about reconstructing the right side, maybe we can get some youth in there, too, in addition to an older guy. When I say ‘older’ it’s relatively speaking.

“I’m open to all options and alternatives. I’ll look at a number of different things. When I say reconstruct the right side, we’ve probably lost Jagr, which I’m OK with too. Jaromir and I had a good exit meeting, and [we’ve lost] Nathan. We’re looking to rebuild that right side.”

If Chiarelli opts to look internally for the right-wing solution, the GM said one-time prospect Jordan Caron, 22, could be in the mix. The team recently qualified the former first-rounder (25th overall in 2009) and Chiarelli believes Caron can still contribute at the NHL level, even though his development hasn’t gone as planned.

“Absolutely, he’s part of the equation,” Chiarelli said. “We qualified him and he certainly plays both sides. He had a strong playoff [with Providence] so he’s part of the equation without question.”

Chiarelli also said he’s looking for the right chemistry to add to the Bruins’ top line alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic.

“We have a lot of things we’re looking at,” Chiarelli said. “We’re going to interview a few guys in the next couple of days, and we’ve got a couple of trades we’re looking at. It’s early on in the process. I’d like to think that we can be creative in filling these holes. We’ve got a really good core and we plan to contend for a Cup again, so I think we could attract some pretty good players.”

Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said Wednesday that he is confident the team and restricted free agent goalie Tuukka Rask will have agreed on a long-term contract by Friday.

“I feel confident that we’ll get a deal done on Rask in short order,” Chiarelli said during a conference call.

If the sides don’t have a deal by the open of the free-agent period on July 5, Chiarelli has a place-holding number set for the goalie’s contract that he can work around in regard to cap planning, he said. If Friday rolls around without a deal in place, other teams can make Rask an offer sheet that the Bruins would have to match in order to retain his services.

Still, Chiarelli thinks it will get done before Friday.

“I would think before, but if it’s after I’m fine with it, too,” Chiarelli said. “I know he would enter free agency but I’m confident, regardless either or.”

Rask, 26, proved to be a No. 1 goalie this season and could be asking for up to $8.5 million per year for a seven- or eight-year contract. No goalie is currently making more than an average of $7 million per season.

Bruins backup goaltender Anton Khudobin, who is a restricted free agent, is expected to go to market.

"I'd prefer to keep that private for now," Chiarelli said. "I've had discussions with his agent, and the discussions were contingent on where we're going to end up on a couple of guys. My guess is he'll probably go to market. Anton has said he wants to stay here but I'm keeping a close eye on it and in constant contact, hoping he can come back. But my guess is he'll go to market, but we can still sign him if he goes to market, it's just a little riskier."

BOSTON -- Speaking for the first time since he was admitted to the hospital after Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals, Boston Bruins assistant captain Patrice Bergeron gave a detailed timeline of the numerous injuries he suffered against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Bergeron suffered torn rib cartilage in Game 4 of the finals, a broken rib on his left side in Game 5 and a separated right shoulder and a punctured left lung in Game 6. The puncture eventually caused the lung to collapse, and Bergeron ended up in the hospital following Game 6, spending three days there.

"I'm feeling a lot better," Bergeron said Tuesday. "The ribs and the shoulder now just need some time to rest but it's a lot better.

"In Game 4, my cartilage torn in the corner against [Michael] Frolik, so that's when it started and it obviously escalated because I kept playing and didn't have time to heal it. In Game 5, it was either the first or second shift, I got hit again right on the ribs and that's when I'm sure it cracked and it got worse. I tried to go back in the second and after the second period, the doctors, because the pain escalated they were worried about the spleen so we had to go to the hospital [in Chicago] and get it checked and everything was fine."

When the Bruins returned to Boston for Game 6, Bergeron said he wasn't sure if he would be able to play. He decided he wanted to play so he and the team decided the nerve-block procedure would allow that.

"In my mind, for sure, I wanted to play," Bergeron said. "I was hoping for the pain to go down but that wasn't the case. After Game 5, I was in a lot of pain. The next day I was just trying to find a way manage the pain, I guess, but it was definitely there. On the day of Game 6 we met with the doctors and they were telling me the only way I could play was to have a nerve block, otherwise the pain would be too high, so I did that in order to play."

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BOSTON -- If everything goes according to plan, there’s a strong possibility the Boston Bruins and forward Patrice Bergeron will soon agree on a contract extension that should allow the assistant captain to play his entire career in a spoked-B sweater.

There’s been talk that the sides are discussing a possible eight-year deal for the 27-year-old forward, whose current deal runs for one more season.

“It would mean a lot,” he said. “That’s the goal. Since the beginning, it’s been a team that’s believed in me when I was 18 and coming up. Now, like I’ve said before, it’s my home and I feel like it is. I love the city. I love the people and definitely love the organization. It would mean a lot to me and hopefully we can work something out.”

He’s confident an extension will get done.

“Yeah, I am,” Bergeron said. “I am but I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I’m very confident, yeah.”

Changes in store

Since the end of the season, there have already been some changes to the Bruins’ roster. When camp opens in two months, veteran defenseman Andrew Ference and forward Nathan Horton will not return due to salary-cap constraints.

“It’s a first in probably the last five years there will be some changes like that,” Bergeron said. “It’s the business we’re in, the salary-cap world, especially this year with the cap going down. You don’t want it, but it’s something that has to happen, I guess. It’s unfortunate because you want to keep all these guys, especially these two guys because they were a huge part of our team, the leadership group and I wish them all the best. They’re obviously great guys but at the same time you definitely have to trust Peter. He’s done a great job over the years and I’m sure he’s going to do the same thing again.”

Thoughts on Seguin

Last Sunday, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli had some poignant comments about what the organization expects from forward Tyler Seguin moving forward, saying the 21-year-old forward needs to be a “better pro.” The Bruins also entertained possible trade deals before the draft began.

Bergeron, who has been Seguin’s center for a lot of the last three seasons, did not hear or read the GM’s comments but understands it’s still a learning process for Seguin.

“I think Tyler’s a young guy still and he’s got a lot to learn,” Bergeron said. “At the same time, he’s improved a lot. At that stage when you’re learning like that, that’s going to happen, you need to make sure you learn from it and find a way to get better. That’s the main thing with him, it’s about him finding ways to battle through it, find ways and build some character out of it. He’s a terrific player, a terrific person but sometimes you need to have some lows to get back up and feel better and play better.

“I thought he was really good the way he helped us. He found a way even though he wasn’t scoring as much as he would like to. He was still battling hard and doing things, the little details that you don’t always see on the score sheet, but it wasn’t going unnoticed from us as players and teammates. He’s a terrific young player, so he’s going to learn.”

BOSTON -- When Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was informed by Nathan Horton’s agent that the top-line forward would take advantage of his unrestricted free-agent status and hit the open market, it took Chiarelli by surprise.

After the Bruins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals, Chiarelli made it clear to Horton, both behind closed doors and publicly, the Bruins wanted him to re-sign. On the day players cleared out their lockers, Horton admitted he wanted to be back alongside center David Krejci and winger Milan Lucic.

That’s obviously not the case now as he’ll look elsewhere for a major payday. Chiarelli could have done some cap shuffling in order to sign Horton, but the veteran forward appears to be headed elsewhere for what his agent termed a "fresh start."

So what’s Plan B for the Bruins?

Landing the likes of Vincent Lecavalier could work.

The 33-year-old veteran met with the Bruins on Saturday night, and Chiarelli later told reporters the meeting went well.

“With what happened with Nathan, it became a little more ripe,” Chiarelli told reporters at the NHL Draft in New Jersey. “We had a good meeting.”

The veteran centerman spent 15 years with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the team recently used one of its compliance buyouts to get his $7.7 million annual cap hit off the books. According to reports, Lecavalier told the Bruins he would agree to switch to the wing if he signed with Boston.

If that’s the case, the Bruins seemingly could slip him right on to the top line with Krejci and Lucic. Lecavalier, at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, would be a good fit.

But the Bruins won't be his only suitor.

After the Lightning bought out Lecavalier, he quickly gained the attention of a lot of teams. He reportedly met with a half-dozen teams over the weekend.

Chiarelli said if the Bruins can’t land Lecavalier, there would be other available players that could fill that scoring role. Some notable free-agent right wingers include Jarome Iginla, Daniel Alfredsson, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and former Bruin Michael Ryder. Maybe Danny Briere, a center with the Philadelphia Flyers, would, like Lecavalier, consider switching positions to sign with Boston.

Whichever direction Chiarelli decides to go, he'll have some options to consider.

Offseason priority No. 1 for the Boston Bruins -- signing goaltender Tuukka Rask to a long-term contract -- appears to be picking up steam.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli and Rask’s agent, Bill Zito, spoke over the weekend at the NHL draft.

“We had a good conversation,” Zito said. “We are going to continue to talk in the next few days.”

Ideally, the Bruins would like to have Rask signed to an extension prior to the free-agent period, which begins on July 5. If not, other teams can make Rask, a restricted free agent, an offer sheet that the Bruins would have to match in order to retain his services.

Rask, 26, proved to be a No. 1 goaltender this season and could be asking for up to $8.5 million per year for a seven- or eight-year contract. No goalie is currently making more than an average of $7 million per season.

At the conclusion of the NHL draft on Sunday, Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli took a not-so-veiled shot across the bow of the HMS Seguin.

Chiarelli made it crystal clear he was not satisfied with 21-year-old Tyler Seguin’s subpar season. Boston’s GM even considered trading Seguin, entertaining offers prior to the draft. No matter whether that was just a message to Seguin or if he was actually considering dealing him, Chiarelli made his point loud and clear.

"He needs to focus all his mind and energy on hockey. He needs to be a better pro," Chiarelli told reporters at the Prudential Center. "He's 21 and I expect big things from him. I wasn't satisfied with his year and he wasn't either. He's a helluva player and he'll be a helluva player. ... He's got to commit to being a professional and focusing on the game."

The second overall pick in the 2010 draft, Seguin has yet to realize his potential three years into his career. . He produced only 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points during the regular season, and had just one goal and seven assists for eight points during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

When he was playing on the second line with center Patrice Bergeron and winger Brad Marchand, the trio was the most consistent line for the Bruins during the regular season. His speed should be a difference-maker when he’s on the ice but he hasn’t demonstrated that. More often than not, he loses the foot race while trying to avoid his opponent instead of taking a straight line to the puck.

Depending how Chiarelli fills the void left by top-line forward Nathan Horton’s decision to test the free-agent market, Seguin could get an opportunity to replace Horton on the first line. Though he would first need to prove he can play with a lot more grit than he showed this past season. Otherwise, he’ll likely return to playing with Bergeron and Marchand.

Either way, the Bruins expect a lot more from the guy to whom they gave a six-year, $34.5 million extension last September.

Ryan Fitzgerald became the second generation of his family drafted into the NHL on Sunday night when he was selected by his hometown Bruins in the fourth round (120th overall).

Following in his father’s footsteps (Tom Fitzgerald was drafted by the New York Islanders in the first round in 1986), the Boston College-bound North Reading native realized a childhood dream, joining the team his father finished his NHL career with in 2006. He also got to share the moment with his dad, who was working the Pittsburgh Penguins’ draft table in his capacity as the team’s assistant general manager.

The family connections don’t stop there. His uncle, Scott, is the Bruins assistant director of amateur scouting, so it truly was a family affair.

Fitzgerald, who skated last year with the Valley Junior Warriors of the Eastern Junior Hockey League, graduated from Malden Catholic and, while skating with the Lancers, was part of back-to-back MIAA Super 8 tournament championship teams in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

We caught up with Fitzgerald Monday morning to get the wrap on his draft night experience:

On waiting to hear his name called: “It’s a long night. I was sitting there with my brother, Casey, and his friend, Andrew Brandano (player at St. John’s Prep). My dad was on pin and needles all night, definitely a little nerve-wracking for him. He stayed on the floor the first round, and then came up to sit with us for the second, third, fourth rounds. When it finally happened, it was a big sigh of relief for him.”

On whether he knew Bruins would be destination: “With my uncle, I’m pretty familiar with organization. It’s a team that I talked to a lot during the process. I thought they might be a team that was interested in me. I met with them at the draft combine and met with a bunch of their local guys. I came out and trained with them one time, so I knew they were interested. My uncle told me they had a close eye on me. It’s really a great honor.”

On the draft day experience: “When you walk into the rink, it’s amazing. You’ve seen it on TV, but it’s completely different in person. It’s just a great atmosphere. You wouldn’t think that it’d be that rowdy at a draft, but the fans show up and they get into it. It’s great.”

On what his brother, Casey (also a BC commit), means to him: “He’s been great. He’s a great brother and he was really supportive through everything. He always is. His draft is coming up soon, so he got to sit back and take it all in. I’ll be there for him when he goes through it, too.”

On which team he was rooting for in Eastern Conference final: “You’re always a Bruins fan, growing up here, but you’re a part of the Pittsburgh family with my dad working for them. But when they played the Bruins, it was a stressful time in the Fitzgerald house. After the Bruins won, it was tough, but we wanted the Bruins to win [the Cup] because of my uncle. We were rooting for the team and for him to win it.”

Prior to the 2013 NHL draft in Newark, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli acknowledged that he had entertained some trade offers for forward Tyler Seguin.

On Saturday night, Chiarelli sounded like he's leaning toward keeping Seguin, who was the second overall pick of the 2010 draft. However, Chiarelli did make it clear that Seguin needs to pick up his game after a disappointing postseason in which he had only one goal and seven assists.

"He needs to focus all his mind and energy on hockey. He needs to be a better pro," Chiarelli said to the media at the Prudential Center. "He's 21 and I expect big things from him. I wasn't satisfied with his year and he wasn't either. He's a helluva player and he'll be a helluva player. ... He's got to commit to being a professional and focusing on the game."

Chiarelli also said he will wait on any transactions until later this week or perhaps free agency, which begins on July 5.

The Boston Bruins selected Swedish defenseman Linus Arnesson with the 60th overall pick in the second round Sunday.

"Versatile defenseman, good skater, not necessarily a banger but a solid, two-way defenseman," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said of the 6-foot-2, 187-pound rearguard.

The Bruins did not make a first-round selection. In exchange for Jaromir Jagr, the Bruins traded a conditional pick to the Dallas Stars, who would have gotten Boston's second-rounder rather than the 29th overall selection if the Bruins hadn't reached the Eastern Conference finals.

In the third round Sunday, the Bruins took Slovakian forward Peter Cehlarik at 90th overall.

In the fourth round with the 120th overall pick, they chose North Reading native Ryan Fitzgerald, who's set to skate at Boston College next season. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound center and former Malden Catholic standout skated with the Valley Junior Warriors of the Eastern Junior Hockey League last year. At Malden Catholic, he won back-to-back Super 8 championships with the Lancers while being named a first-team selection to the ESPN Boston All-State team. Fitzgerald is the son of former Bruin and current Pittsburgh Penguins assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald and nephew of Bruins assistant director of amateur scouting, Scott Fitzgerald.

In the fifth round with the 150th pick, the Bruins drafted defenseman Wiley Sherman, a 6-foot-6, 190-pounder out of Greenwich, Conn., who played at Hotchkiss. He has committed to play at Harvard in the fall.

In the sixth round, the Bruins selected forward Anton Blidh of Sweden at No. 180 overall.

In the seventh and final round, the Bruins chose winger Mitchell Dempsey with the 210th pick. He played in the OHL for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

When Milan Lucic was signed to a three-year contract extension worth $18 million last September, many critics questioned the signing, wondering if that was too much money to give the then 24-year-old rugged winger.

Entering this season, Lucic was coming off consecutive 20-goal seasons (26 in 2011-12 and 30 in 2010-11). But both successful regular seasons were followed by inconsistent and frustrating playoff performances. Some wondered if he really deserved that pay raise after not performing when it counted most.

But after a 2013 regular season that resembled his past playoff outings, with just seven goals and 20 assists in 46 games, Lucic finally delivered in the postseason. In terms of production he was much more consistent, with seven goals and 19 points. But what was even more impressive was the leadership he showed and how his hard work inspired his teammates.

That was probably best exemplified when he played a major role in the Bruins' improbable comeback against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. He and his teammates erased a late 4-1 deficit to force overtime and then extend their season on Patrice Bergeron's overtime winner. Lucic had a goal and an assist in the comeback, cutting Toronto's lead to 4-3 with just 1:22 left in regulation before Bergeron tied it with 51 seconds left.

Last week Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli lauded the leadership Lucic showed in that game as the comeback started.

"I just go back to that Toronto game," Chiarelli said. "He passed it to [Nathan Horton and then he came behind the bench and the way he said it, delivered his message to the bench: 'There's one, boys. Got a couple more to go.' That, to me, that speaks to the leadership. I've been on the bench before with stuff like that said. I think it just raises the level. He was a man among boys that game. He had a real good playoff."

That level of play and that leadership never stopped until the final horn of Game 6 against the Blackhawks. Lucic nearly propelled his team to a Game 7 by giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 7:49 left in regulation. Although the Blackhawks erased that lead in 17 seconds and went on to win the Stanley Cup, Lucic's impact will not be forgotten by his teammates. Lucic may have had a slow start to the season and battled fatigue at times after not playing during the lockout, but he showed up when his teammates truly needed him.

"He didn't play during the lockout so it wasn't easy," linemate David Krejci said. "Almost all of us played so he kind of just jumped in the middle of a moving train. It was kind of tough but he got going pretty quickly. We had a good start as a line and then maybe it caught up to him a little bit that he wasn't playing. He was in a little bit of a slump. He stuck with it. He was still a great teammate. Then in the playoffs, he was one of our best players."

As he packed his gear up for the summer Wednesday, Lucic acknowledged that it wasn't just the lack of game action he had during the lockout but also the new contract he signed that was weighing on him.

"I think once I stopped thinking about it is when I started playing well this year," Lucic said. "I stopped worrying about living up to the expectation of the paycheck, and my game started being where it wanted to be. Obviously when you make as much as you do it's always going to weigh on you. But I think for myself what I learned the most was once I stopped thinking about that and once I stopped worrying about living up to some unrealistic expectation that I put on myself, and just focused on playing hockey that's when I was playing at my best."

That focus on hockey is reassuring to the critics and Bruins fans alike. More importantly, Lucic proved he can be a prime playoff player and leader with his size and skill set.

"It felt like you had something to prove, especially with what happened in the season and all that type of stuff," Lucic said. "You just try to get your game back, and try to have fun with it again. I saw it as an opportunity to get my game back to where I wanted it to be, and show that I am still able to be a big-game, big type of player. Thankfully I was able to peak and play my best at the right time, and hopefully I can carry that into next year."

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun reports that the Bruins are very active as the league prepares for tomorrow's draft. In addition to learning that Nathan Horton plans to sign elsewhere, LeBrun checks in on what else is brewing with GM Peter Chiarelli.

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Boston Bruins appeared ready to shake things up Saturday on the eve of the NHL draft.

All confirmed by sources:

* Nathan Horton's camp informed Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli on Saturday afternoon that the UFA winger was leaving the organization.

“Nathan Horton has informed the Bruins that he is going to explore his options via unrestricted free agency," agent Paul Krepelka reiterated to ESPN.com, a statement that he first gave to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

* Tyler Seguin’s name was making the rounds in trade chatter, the Bruins willing to listen.

* The Bruins would like to move up in the draft.

* And add Boston to the long list of teams that have inquired about UFA center Vincent Lecavalier.

The Bruins have a lot of balls in the air, a rival team executive told ESPN.com, and they are talking to a lot of teams about a lot of things. Chiarelli was spotted at one point Saturday chatting closely with Lightning GM Steve Yzerman. Could it have been about Seguin? Hard to say. Or maybe Chiarelli was getting a scouting report on Lecavalier. Or maybe they were making a dinner date.

To read LeBrun's full entry from his Cross Checks blog, CLICK HERE.

Bruins forward Nathan Horton has informed general manager Peter Chiarelli that he plans on testing unrestricted free agency and won't be signing a contract with Boston. Free agency opens July 5.

"It wasn't about numbers or money," Horton's agent Paul Krepelka told ESPN The Magazine, adding that he sees this as a chance for a fresh start.

Horton is coming off a pedestrian regular season in which he registered 22 points in 43 games but found his game in the postseason, where he had seven goals and 12 assists in 22 games during the Bruins' run to the Stanley Cup finals. He was also a plus-20, which led the NHL playoffs. In 43 career playoff games, Horton has 15 goals and 21 assists, including six game-winning goals.

The 6-foot-2 winger's last contract was a six-year deal that averaged $4 million per season and he should earn at least that much on the open market.

With the heads-up of his departure, the Bruins' could trade the negotiating rights to Horton rather than let him leave without getting anything in return.