CBC-Sports

Kobasew trade could mean many things for Bruins

October 20, 2009 10:30 AM | Posted by   Cassie Campbell  

When I heard the news that Chuck Kobasew was traded I was perplexed. Not a major trade, but still one that surprised me. He has struggled this season, like his team so far, but has been a big piece on the third line along with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi.

OK, so here are my thoughts on why Chuck Kobasew was traded.

1) His salary is $2.33 million/year until the end of the 2010-2011 season. The Boston Bruins have just under $3 million in cap space. This trade gives them more flexibility in that regard.

2) Brad Marchand. Marchand is a young player drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round in 2006. He showed the Bruins during training camp that he is ready for the NHL. Last year in the AHL in Providence, his first full pro season, he amassed 59 pts in games. His salary is significantly lower than Kobasew’s yet he has the potential to fill that hole on the third line with Recchi and Bergeron and can add some grit as well.

3) The second round pick that Boston received in the Kobasew trade may be a sign that GM Peter Chiarelli is piling up draft picks to make a restricted free agent offer. There are some ‘name’ players that could potentially be RFA’s at the end of the season. They include Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Alex Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Wojtek Wolski, James Neal, Darren Helm, Braydon Coburn, Peter Mueller, Devin Setoguchi, David Perron, Erik Johnson and Mason Raymond just to name a few.

4) According to my CBC colleague Jeff Marek and his research on twitter and blog sites, there was instant knee-jerk speculation that the Boston Bruins are interested in acquiring Ilya Kovalchuk. Atlanta Thrashers GM Don Waddell has extended his negotiation deadline with Kovalchuk, but has also stated that he will not allow these negotiations to be a distraction to his team and will not let the negotiations go deep into the season.

5) Marc Savard is in his final year of his contract and Peter Chiarelli may be making cap space to sign him. After losing Phil Kessel’s scoring ability losing Marc Savard may not be an option for the B’s. He currently makes $5 million per season and will be seeking a raise I am sure.

Whatever the reasoning, Boston has to be considered to be in a “must win” year as they have six unrestricted free agents and four restricted free agents on their roster.

PS: Good on the Thrashers

GM Don Waddell asked the league to schedule the Thrashers near Ontario at this point in the season so they could attend the opening of the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Woolwich Township, Ontario (about 90 minutes outside of Toronto). In fact they practiced this past Sunday in the new rink. The rink honours former Thrashers player Dan Snyder who passed away in a car crash in October of 2003. The rink also honours local heroes Jim Macleod and Dawn Farr. Macleod was the former trainer of the Elmira Sugar Kings and of the Canadian National Sledge Hockey Team who lost a battle to cancer. Dawn Farr was a local hero who did so much in the community and passed from a car accident.

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