"Glen Murray’s days with the Bruins appear to be over.

With the team avoiding arbitration and coming to terms with defenseman Dennis Wideman on a four-year, $15.75 million deal that sent the B’s over the NHL salary cap number of $56.7 million, Murray was placed on waivers yesterday, which is the first step toward buying out the remainder of the right winger’s contract.

If Murray clears waivers today, starting tomorrow the Bruins will have 48 hours to complete the buyout. The move would save the B’s approximately $2.7 million of the 35-year-old’s $4.15 million salary against the cap. The club would also carry a third of the single-season number, just under $1.4 million, on the 2009-10 payroll.

While Murray was a candidate to be bought out after struggling down the stretch and then going goal-less in the B’s seven-game loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs, it seemed like a done deal once the B’s dished out a three-year, $12 million contract to free agent Michael Ryder on July 1 with the business of Wideman’s signing still outstanding.

If no one claims Murray and the B’s exercise the buyout option, their salary cap number will be under the league limit, at approximately $55 million. Peter Chiarelli can live with the number, even if the Murray move was not an easy one for the genera manager to make.

“It was really, really difficult,” Chiarelli said. “Muzz is a very good person, he meant a lot to the room. You have to make hard decisions in this new system and that was one of the hard decisions. To put him on waivers, you’re effectively saying, ‘If you get taken by someone else, we’re prepared to accept that.’ It’s not a very good thing to hear, especially for someone who has served the time he has with us. Again, it’s a hard decision and it’s not written in stone that he will be bought out, but it is a step toward that. It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of the game.”

Anton Thun, Murray’s agent, said his client took the news in stride.

“He’s fine,” Thun said. “If he had his druthers, he’d want to remain with the Boston Bruins. But he’s a big boy and he understands the rules of the game and understands the potential for something like this happening, and he’ll move on.”

Originally a first-round pick of the B’s (18th overall) in 1991, Murray spent parts of four years with the B’s before being traded after the 1994-95 season. He spent time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings before the Bruins reaquired him early on in the 2001-02 season.

Wideman, meanwhile, will make $3.25 million this season, $4 million next year and in 2010-11 and $4.5 million in ’11-12. A no-trade clause was not included."