June 29, 2015
Two of the busiest teams in the NHL over the past week are continuing to make moves, as the Flyers and Boston Bruins came to an agreement involving 25-year-old center Zac Rinaldo. He’s headed to Boston in exchange for a 2017 third-round pick.
A fan favorite due to his, um, interesting style of play, Rinaldo will probably best be remembered for big hits and the penalties and suspensions that often followed them. For that reason, score one for those in favor of a #CultureChange. Also for that reason, Ron Hextall’s ability to get a third-round pick in exchange for someone who largely hasn’t been an effective hockey player has many scratching their heads.
Bruins trade a third-round pick in 2017 for Zac Rinaldo. What is going on?
— Scott Cullen (@tsnscottcullen) June 29, 2015
With the trade, Hextall has kept up with what have been a busy couple of days. First, they made a couple of selections (Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny) in the first round of NHL draft. Later, they were able to find a taker for Nicklas Grossmann and shed Chris Pronger’s confusing and somehow legal contract in the process. Now, they received something of value in return for someone who didn’t figure into the team’s long-term plans.
I thought the Flyers were going to find it hard trying to rebuild through the middle. We obviously still need to see how everything plays out, but Ron Hextall’s last few days look very good on paper.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
