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Murph: Bruins in on Bieksa

Per this Tweet. Kevin Bieksa is, apparently, Boston's latest and greatest attempt to add some talent on the blue line, following failed attempts to get Dan Hamhuis and (apparently) Tomas Kaberle. Bieksa seems like a poor man's Kaberle: he's offensively gifted, but doesn't bring as much to the party as Kaberle, nor is he quite as good in his own end. (If you're wondering: Kaberle is a homeless man's Steve Duchesne.) I think Bieksa has also benefited quite a bit from being paired with Willie Mitchell. Still, he would upgrade the defensive corps, presumably with either Mark Stuart or Johnny Boychuk in the second pair.

Got to say, this deal seems like a bit of a longshot, but what the hell, there's nothing else to talk about right now.

The Canucks, like the Bruins, are pressed against the cap. Murph says that the Canucks had interest in Michael Ryder back when he was a free agent, and I have to think the Bruins would leap at the chance to unload Ryder for Bieksa, but that seems like a pretty light return for the Canucks, not to mention doing nothing whatever to help their salary cap situation (in fact, it would make it marginally worse, since Ryder makes $4M and Bieksa $3.75M). The Bruins have enough organizational depth to send back a prospect as a sweetener in such a deal, or for that matter, they could offer a prospect for Bieksa straight up and bury Ryder in the minors and Marco Sturm on LTIR. Maybe Matt Hunwick and the suddenly buried Zach Hamill for Bieksa? That would get the Canucks under the salary cap, and give them a prospect for their trouble.

And this is surely a pipe dream, but an Andrew Ference for Bieksa swap would give the Canucks a crucial $1.5M in short-term cap relief. Of course, it would come at the expense of their long term cap, and Ference isn't close to being as good as Bieksa. Again, a prospect or draft pick might make that deal palatable, but it's hard to imagine that they couldn't get a better return elsewhere.

All in all, it just doesn't seem like there's a fit here, but who knows, maybe the Canucks will take 50 cents on the dollar to get some cap relief.

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