Two things have happened since I woke up to go to work today. First, the Boston Bruins traded Aaron Ward to Carolina for Pat Eaves. The Bruins then released Eaves afterward. Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe made the point that there were multiple reasons for this to happen:
By trading Ward the Bruins clear his $2.5 million salary, but weaken themselves on defense. So this is the first move, with the second being one of several possibilities:
1. Signing a UFA defenseman (Mathieu Schneider and Sergei Zubov are still available) to provide a puck-moving element.
2. Extending Phil Kessel with part of the money saved by trading Ward.
3. Trading Kessel for an impact defenseman.
My thought is going with option #2. Re-signing Phil Kessel in order to preserve the first line and make another run at the playoffs next season.
Make Way For Adam
After arriving at work, the Boston Globe Newsletter alerted me that the Boston Red Sox placed Mark Kotsay on waivers in order to make room for newly acquired Adam LaRoche. Kotsay hasn't produced much for the Sox this year other than helping out when needed on the defensive side of the field. I'm still excited to see what LaRoche can do for us, or if we're even going to keep him beyond the trade deadline.
Thanks to rubyswoon for the photo of Phil Kessel and Zdeno Chara.
