According to a pair of tweets from TSN's Bob McKenzie, the Bruins are close to locking up centers Chris Kelly and Gregory Campbell.
McKenzie tweeted the following on Saturday:
They are not done yet, but Chris Kelly and Gregory Campbell are closing in on new multi-year deals with BOS. Both are UFA on July 1.
Point is, unless there is some unexpected last-minute hitch in final stages of negotiations, both will be back in BOS next season.
Kelly, 31, scored a career-high 20 goals and added 19 assists for a career-best 39 points. His plus-33 rating was also a personal best and was tied for Zdeno Chara for third in the NHL. He was named an alternate captain (sharing the A with Andrew Ference) prior to last season, his first full campaign with the Bruins. Last season was the final year of a four year, $8.5 million contract that carried an annual cap hit of $2.125 million.
The B's acquired Kelly prior to last season's trade deadline in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2011 draft.
The Bruins got Campbell from the Panthers in the June 2010 trade that landed Nathan Horton in Boston in exchange for Dennis Wideman and the 15th overall pick in that month's draft. The 28-year-old has served as the team's fourth-line center and is coming off a two-year, $2.2 million deal. He totaled 29 points and 16 points in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively.
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