TORONTO (AP) – Boston Bruins captain Joe Thornton was awarded a near-record $6.75 million in arbitration Tuesday for the 2004-2005 season.

New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer won his arbritration case last week with a record-tying $7 million one-year deal. Philadelphia forward John LeClair was awarded $7 million in his case four years ago.

Thornton, one of the league’s top power forwards, earned $5.5 million last season and scored 23 goals and assisted on 50 for 73 points. The previous season, the No. 1 pick in the 1997 entry draft had 36 goals and career-high 101 points – third-best in the NHL.

In 509 career games, Thornton has 160 goals and 261 assists for 421 points, and 611 penalty minutes.

Bruins general manager Mike O’Connell said in a statement the club will accept the decision.

“We feel that the arbitrator came up with a fair award for both sides and we never considered exercising our walk-away option with Joe,” O’Connell said. “As I’ve said before, Joe is a cornerstone of this franchise. He has developed into one of the top all-around players in the league today and I believe that Joe’s best is still to come.”

The league also announced two other arbitration decisions on Tuesday: Washington Capitals defenseman Brendan Witt got $2.2 million, up from $1.75 million last season; and New York Islanders center Oleg Kvasha got $1.55 million, up from $800,000.

AP-ES-08-17-04 2003EDT