The Bruins made a trade ahead of Monday’s deadline when they acquired Ondrej Kase in exchange for David Backes, Axel Andersson and a first-round draft pick.
Kase has been dealing with a head injury and hasn’t played since Feb. 7. Boston also revealed he’s been battling flu-like symptoms the last few days. General manager Don Sweeney noted in a conference call the newly acquired winger would not join the team during its road trip in Canada, but will be present during Monday’s practice.
Sweeney also shed some light on what the 24-year-old adds to the Black and Gold.
“The Boston Bruins are really excited to be adding Ondrej Kase to our current team,” he said, via a team-provided transcript. “Ondrej is a young, solid player, been a significant producer while 5-on-5, has shown versatility to be able to adapt his game and complement different lines, shot volume has increased over his years. For us, I think it addresses a need. The obvious question that people are going to ask is Ondrej’s health, and he’s been back on the ice. He will join the team back here in Boston and not in Vancouver or Calgary. We’ll move forward from there, but we have an understanding of where Ondrej’s health is at and we look forward to having him on our team.
“For us, I’d like to pay attention to Ondrej and the potential he brings to our hockey club,” Sweeney added. “As I said before, we did see his scoring abilities, his versatility, his own game, ability to probably play either with (David) Krejci or (Charlie) Coyle on that right side, he’s a right shot. Adds to the speed and offensive ability to our hockey club. For us, we’ve addressed what we think we need and also doesn’t take away from any of the players we have on our current roster and the players that have been pushing from down below from a depth perspective to continue to have our club hopefully staying healthy throughout our last twenty games and into the playoffs.”
Sounds like a win-win on all fronts.
Bruins fans probably will be eager to see Kase in action during Monday’s practice and what he’ll be able to bring to the team, as it makes a push for another lengthy playoff run.
