Bruins Acquire Nick Holden From Rangers
The Boston Bruins have just traded for defenseman Nick Holden from the New York Rangers. The Bruins will be sending Rob O’Gara and a third round pick to the Rangers.
Holden is a left defenseman and will likely slot into the third pairing for the Bruins. Holden is having a decent year with 3 goals and 9 assists but he’s certainly nothing special. Last season Holden had a great year reaching career highs in every category. Holden is an experienced player and has a career 356 games under his belt. The Bruins will be losing a future blueliner in O’Gara but his path to the NHL was blocked by many young defenseman in the Bruins system. O’Gara had seen some NHL play but was never outstanding enough to become a mainstay for the Bruins. Now the Rangers start their rebuild acquiring a young defenseman and gaining another pick at this years draft.
Well the NHL’s trade deadline is just around the corner and the Bruins are jumping into it by going after….a third pairing defenseman? I’m very confused by this move seeing as how the Bruins already have a good third pairing defense and Holden isn’t much of an upgrade if any. Now adding Holden to the mix the Bruins have Grzelcyk, McQuaid, Miller and Postma all competing for that third pair. So the Bruins are going to sit Grzelcyk for Holden? Holden isn’t a better skater than Grzelcyk and at best has the same puck moving ability. Holden is certainly better than McQuiad and Postma but Kevan Miller is coming back soon from injury and this season he has proven his worth and achieved great chemistry with Grzelcyk so why mess that up? Holden will likely join the team for their game Saturday night against the Leafs and then we will find out where he fits in the lineup.
Something is telling me that a bigger move is coming and that the Bruins will be parting ways with a defenseman soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Carlo moved before the deadline. Not much to do except trust Don Sweeney has a bigger move coming in the future and hopefully it’s a winger not named Patrick Maroon.
– Written By Tyler Smith (@TylerSmith4386)