Back in 2004, the St. Louis Blues drafted Carl Soderberg in the second round of the NHL Entry Draft. He was the forty-ninth overall pick. The Bruins organization saw the potential in the young Swede and made acquired him in a trade that moved Hannu Toivonen to the Blues.
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The Boston Bruins signed Carl Soderberg in April 2013 for a three-year deal. The contract had a one million dollar cap hit. At the time, the Bruins were trying to get another Stanley Cup, and it was an extremely cap friendly contract. Over the next three seasons, Soderberg played in 175 games in the Black and Gold Sweater. He put up 100 points (thirty goals) in regular season and playoff games.
At the end of last season, the Bruins knew they were in cap hell. Soderberg had earned a pay raise, and the Bruins just weren’t going to have the cap space to keep him. Last week, Don Sweeney had said the odds of signing Soderberg weren’t good. The Bruins were going to have no choice but to let him go to free agency.
Earlier today, the Bruins organization announced that they had traded the rights to Carl Soderberg to the Colorado Avalanche. In exchange, the Bruins would receive Colorado’s sixth round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. That draft pick initially belonged to the Bruins, and had been initially traded to Colorado (along with Jordan Caron) for Max Talbot and Paul Carey.
Puck Prose
A lot of people took to social media to express their disappointment over the trade.
The Boston Bruins made out on this deal. In six days, Soderberg would have been available to any team in the league. The Colorado Avalanche gave back the draft pick (and I’m a little surprised they didn’t try to give back Caron) just so they could get the first shot at landing the 29-year old forward.
Don Sweeney saw an opportunity to get back a draft pick, and he could get it back for nothing. He took it, and it might be an amazing deal down the road. Granted, this certainly isn’t a blockbuster trade that will make Bruins Nation cheer with delight. It was a shrewd move made by Sweeney in order to make the most of a bad situation.
If this is the start of the Sweeney era in Boston, then the Bruins are heading back on the proper path to the Stanley Cup.