Tomas Kaberle closed the book on his frustrating tenure in Boston when he signed a three-year, $12.75-million deal with Carolina. But with the Hurricanes now having a surplus of defensemen, the Bruins swung a deal with them to acquire Joe Corvo for a fourth-round pick to fill the void left by Kaberle's departure.
"They are connected to a certain degree," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said in a conference call. "We had some talks with myself with Tomas and with his agent. And you know I think one of the stumbling blocks was terms and I can completely respect why Tomas would want some form of term. We weren't able to reach common ground in that respect.
"And this opportunity had been, I had been nibbling at this opportunity for a bit to acquire Joe and it just came," Chiarelli added. "You know it came down to maybe now Carolina was going to sign Tomas so here's a chance to be able to acquire Joe. So we seized the opportunity."
Corvo gives the Bruins some much-needed offensive punch from the blue line, having scored double-digit goals four times in the last six seasons. That includes an 11-29-40 campaign last year with the Hurricanes. Of the Bruins' defensemen, only Kaberle (4-43-47 including his time with Toronto) and Zdeno Chara (14-30-44) had more points, and Chara was the only Boston blueliner with more goals than Corvo.
"Joe's a player that has a lot of experience in this league," Chiarelli said. "He's a strong player, very good skater, very good shot, can log a lot of minutes, can play power play, be very strong on the power play, and has extensive postseason experience."
Kaberle was acquired at the trade deadline in large part to help Boston's stagnant power play, but the Bruins struggled even more on the man advantage with him in the lineup. The Bruins were just 7 for 66 on the power play (10.6 percent) in 24 games in the regular season with Kaberle, then 10 for 88 (11.4 percent) in the postseason. By comparison, Florida was last in the league in the regular season, and even the Panthers managed to convert 13.1 percent of their chances.
Corvo had 5-18-23 totals on the power play last season. The Bruins defense managed just 10 power-play goals combined, and eight of those came off Chara's stick. Chara also led Boston blueliners with 15 power-play points, though Kaberle did have 25 (all assists) including his time in Toronto.
Corvo is similar to Kaberle in many ways. Corvo is 34 and stands 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, while Kaberle is 33 and weighs in at 6-foot-1, 214 pounds. Despite their size, neither is known for their physical play, nor are either exceptionally strong in their own end.
But the Bruins have more than enough size and toughness on the blue line with Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid all being physical players. They needed someone with mobility and offensive ability to round out their top six, and Corvo fits the bill there.
He also fits much better into their salary structure, which may be the key difference between Corvo and Kaberle. While their production has been similar in recent seasons, Corvo has a cap hit $2 million less than Kaberle, who managed to sign with Carolina for the same annual salary he had on his previous deal despite his struggles in Boston.
The Bruins may have been willing to keep him at that price if it was only for a year or two, but they couldn't afford to tie up that much space with the other players they need to re-sign in the coming years. Restricted free agent Brad Marchand is the only remaining Bruin unsigned this offseason, but after the 2011-12 campaign David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, McQuaid and Benoit Pouliot will be RFAs and Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley, Gregory Campbell, Shawn Thornton, Daniel Paille and Boychuk will be unrestricted free agents. The following year, Milan Lucic, Tyler Seguin, Steven Kampfer and Jordan Caron will be RFAs and Nathan Horton, Tim Thomas and Ference are scheduled to become UFAs.
Instead of tying up $4.25 million a year over the next three seasons with Kaberle, the Bruins assume just a $2.25-million cap hit ($2.5 million in actual salary) for one season with Corvo.
Corvo, meanwhile, gets a chance to come to a contender and chase his first Cup with the reigning champs.
"This came as a surprise to me and a very pleasant surprise," Corvo said of the trade in a conference call. "I'm very happy to be with a team that's coming off such an outstanding season and really hasn't made many changes at all. So I just think at this point in my career this is just an excellent opportunity to win, and to have the chance to win. And you know I couldn't be any happier."
