NHL free agents: Jarome Iginla (finally) joins the Boston Bruins

Jarome Iginla is coming off of an underwhelming stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

Apparently there were no hard feelings.

After spurning them at the trade deadline for a chance to play with Pittsburgh, Jarome Iginla has agreed on a one-year, $6 million deal with the Boston Bruins.

There are strings attached to the cash, however. According to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, he'll earn $1.8 million in base salary with $3.7 million available as a games-played bonus as well as $500,000 as a goal scoring/team playoff performance bonus.

The construction of the deal is clever, but isn't without risk. The low base salary leaves Boston GM Peter Chiarelli plenty of room to get a deal done with restricted free agent goalie Tuukka Rask, and possibly add one more player up front. But it might also prevent the team from putting injured center Marc Savard on long term injured reserve because it could expose the team to bonus overages in 2014-15, which would be heavily penalized.

Still, the deal potentially salvages what was shaping up to be a lousy day for both parties. The Bruins had been in the running for several wingers, including Daniel Alfredsson and Michael Ryder, only to be rejected at the last minute. And Iginla, whose hopes of being a top-level free agent this summer were dashed by an indifferent performance in the playoffs, finally found someone willing to give him a chance to prove he still has something to contribute at 36.

Even after that sluggish effort, a one-year, bonus-laden contract had to be a bitter pill for Iginla to swallow...unless he felt he owed the Bruins something.