Bruins, Seguin agree to six-year extension

BOSTON (AP) — The Bruins continued their pre-lockout signing strategy Tuesday, agreeing with forward Tyler Seguin on a six-year, $34 million contract extension.

Seguin, 20, led Boston with 29 goals and 67 points last season, and posted a plus-34 rating. In and out of the lineup as a rookie in 2010-11, when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, Seguin cemented his place on the team last year, and played in the 2012 All-Star game in Ottawa.

Seguin was the No. 2 overall pick by Boston in 2010, and had 22 points in his rookie season as Boston defeated Vancouver in seven games to win the Stanley Cup.

On Friday, the Bruins locked up forward Brad Marchand to a new, four-year deal. The feisty Marchand, 24, a key cog in the Bruins' run to the 2011 Cup, will make $4.5 million per season, starting in 2013-14. He is scheduled to make $3 million in the coming season, the last of his two-year contract.

"We've tried to be relatively proactive in extending contracts for guys prior to the start of the season and we're trying to keep our core together," Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said Friday. "It's part and parcel of that in what we're trying to do."

Most Bruins have gathered in and around Boston this week, in time for a training camp that likely won't happen. But the team still held its golf outing on Monday, where the lockout was an obvious hot topic.

"You work for the owners and you work with the players," Boston coach Claude Julien said Monday. "It's just a matter of staying out of it and respecting both sides."

The Bruins rookies were scheduled to report on Friday, with the veterans starting training camp on Sept. 21. The NHL season is scheduled to start on Oct. 11. But goaltender Tuukka Rask, understandably, doesn't sound optimistic.

"I hear November, December and New Year's," he said Monday. "But no one really knows."

Copyright Associated Press, Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.