bruins trade aaron ward, sign derek morris

Sometimes the wheeling and dealing behind the scenes of NHL clubs make little sense to outsiders such as you and me.

Yesterday the Bruins traded Aaron Ward back to Carolina (where he won a cup), for Patrick Eaves and a late-round draft pick. The Bruins then put Eaves on unconditional waivers, seemingly with no intention of having him join the club.

All of the above seemed to be an effort to clear some space under the salary cap, and left the blogosphere (read: normal humans who do not work for the Bruins) suspecting this salary dump was to enable GM Chiarelli to re-sign Phil Kessel.

Hang on to your hat: the blogosphere got something wrong.

The Bruins went out this morning (or, late last night if your sleep-patterns match my own) and signed free-agent defender Derek Morris.

Morris, as you may remember, was one of the names being thrown around at last year's trade deadline as a potential pick-up for a team looking to bolster their back line with an offensive-defenseman. He ended up signing with the Rangers, because apparently, at some point every NHL player has to.

Now Morris, the former first-round draft pick (Flames in '96), comes to the Bruins on a one-year deal.

The reality is that Morris has a truly great first pass out of the zone, he's solid on the powerplay, offering a right-handed shot and enough playmaking to play pivot from the blue line with the man advantage. So there are skills there, for sure.

On the other hand, without Aaron Ward, the Bruins are far more suspect defensively. Partnered with Zdeno Chara last season, Ward was responsible for making sure Chara looked Norris-worthy, covering up for defensive gaffs by the Bruins captain.

Ward blocked shots, dished out hits, and played with a nasty streak that inspired a similar attitude in other Bruins. He played injured for nearly two seasons, but unfortunately, that meant that with his salary ($2.5 million) and age, he became a player on the bubble as the Bruins moved forward under salary cap constraints.

Derek Morris is simply not a replacement for Ward's presence in the defensive zone, and frankly none of the remaining Bruins defenders are stay-at-home types who can pick up the slack. This absence will remain an issue for the Bruins as the season approaches, and getting a legitimate defensive-defenseman will become more pressing if the Bruins wish to build on last season's achievements.

...Arguably more pressing than re-signing Phil Kessel.

bruins 2 - senators 1

The Bruins probably should not have had as much trouble as they did, trying to pot goals against the Senators in last night's match, but in the end, they got one more and that's how hockey games are decided.

Alex Auld was very good for the Senators, stopping multiple chances in close as the B's kept the pressure on the Sens for long stretches at a time. On the other side of the rink, Tim Thomas was tested early and often by an Ottawa club with nothing to play for but pride (and the rights to John Tavares).

As has been the case in some Bruins games this year, the B's ended up pinned in their own zone, unable to clear the puck due to arms made of surgical tubing (or something similar - possibly noodles), as Thomas literally dove around inside the crease stopping everything thrown his way. Some players looked great for the B's (Bergeron, Chara, Wheeler, Bitz), while others looked TERRIBLE (Ward, in particular, offered up awful floaters-as-clearing-attempts that kept the heat on his Bruin teammates, and sort of counter-acted that idea of experience bringing veteran leadership).

David Krejci had a good game, which is notable as he's been relatively invisible in recent games, and Michael Ryder was a force every time he was on the ice.

The win brings the Bruins to 50 wins for the season, and puts them one win away from retaining home ice advantage through the entire Eastern portion of the playoffs (should they advance that far).

Last night's game was a nail-biter, for sure, but the win marks the B's 6th in a row. Great stuff!

duthie on ward

Good little piece by TSN host James Duthie on Bruins defender Aaron Ward. Ward provides some great grit and stability on the back-end that is often overlooked because of flashier (or grotesquely larger) players around him. But he deserves some props.

Check it out here.