Curious Move: Chiarelli And The Bruins Sign Derek Morris For One Year, $3.3 Million

A day after sending Aaron Ward to Carolina for what amounted to a little bit of cap room, Boston GM Peter Chiarelli signed free agent defenseman Derek Morris for a one-year, $3.3 million contract.

Is Morris an upgrade over Ward? That's debatable. Morris definitely has more offensive capabilities, but we're not exactly talking about an elite point-producer here: he had a combined 20 points last season with the Rangers and Coyotes, and scored 25 points each of the previous two seasons.

But Ward's biggest value, in the opinion of many, is that he's a winner, a prototype "glue guy." He's good in the locker room and will do whatever is asked of him. That's not meant as a knock at Morris — who will be 31 season's start, five and a half years younger than Ward — but it seems the Bruins have moved a piece that fit and replaced it with one that is not only an unknown, but at a significantly greater cost, especially when you factor in Patrick Eaves' buyout.

almost 3 years ago Cory Lavalette 13 comments 0 recs |

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I saw this when I got home last night from fan fest and was shocked. The Bruins traded Ward and his 2.5 cap hit for Eaves’ bought out contract which should have a cap hit of about 500k for the next four years saving themselves 2 million against the cap. Then, they sign Morris for 3.3? This from a team already over the cap. How is this going to work? How does a GM of a team over the cap trade a guy with a 2.5 cap hit and one year left and get in return a similar younger guy with the same one year until free agency with a combined cap hit of 3.8 million (3.3 for Morris and .5 for Eaves)? Is Boston’s goal to forfeit every game next year or is it to have Kessel play the entire season down in the AHL so he doesn’t count against the cap?

by C-Leaguer on Jul 25, 2009 11:19 AM EDT reply actions

I think Kessel might be on his way out of town … regardless of what Chiarelli says.

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by Cory Lavalette on Jul 25, 2009 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions

1. Bruins aren’t over the cap.

2. Kessel wouldn’t be playing in the AHL because he is a free agent now, they would need to sign him for that to happened and there is no way that they would sign Kessel to a 2-way deal.

3. Ward and Morris aren’t similar players at all.

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by Stanley Cup of Chowder on Jul 26, 2009 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions

as you guys state, the move makes their cap predicament even worse. weird.

GM of CanesCountry.com

by Bob Wage on Jul 25, 2009 1:04 PM EDT reply actions

Which team did Morris play for last season?

Aside from the cap predicatment, 20-25 goals for a defenseman is pretty good for 3.3 million deal. I don’t know anything about the dude, but he sounds like a solid player from just reading Cory’s blog.

That’s what I love about hockey, the surprises from all the teams at some point and how they play it out. With the cap situation we all know something eye opening in the next coming weeks is going to be happening in Boston. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in Boston…

by c59 on Jul 25, 2009 1:29 PM EDT reply actions

20-25 points, not goals. Babchuk scored more than this guy. Of course, Babchuk scored more than a lot of guys.

GM of CanesCountry.com

by Bob Wage on Jul 25, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Morris

He started the season with the Coyotes, and at the deadline was moved to the Rangers.

by xlwino on Jul 25, 2009 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Points

Points, not goals.

by xlwino on Jul 25, 2009 7:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I made the same mistake about Eaves’ buyout, until someone came along and corrected me. Apparently, the CBA stipulates that the buyout of a player younger than 26 is one-third of the salary rather than the standard two-thirds. So the cap hit on his buyout is only $250k. Additionally, there are some bits that I don’t understand which result in the Bs getting a credit in the 2010-11 season.

Regardless, after the Morris signing, and even when they buy out Patty, they’re very close to the cap. No way they’re gonna re-sign Kessel. No way they’re gonna get Tomas Kaberle.

by redblackhockey on Jul 25, 2009 2:02 PM EDT reply actions

Werid move ??

I thought the Bruins wanted to shed high salary costing players, an yet they go out an sign a free agent whom really isn’t even near as good as A. Ward ? Dumb move but hey it is the Bruins of course ? IMAO !!

by Holty_Panthers_Fan on Jul 26, 2009 1:14 AM EDT reply actions

The big picture

Coming into the offseason, the Bruins had two priorities:
1) Re-sign RFAs
2) Make the blue line faster and more offensive-minded.

is done except for Kessel, who has been in limbo for weeks.

is why Chiarelli moved Ward to obtain Morris. Not to oversimplify a long playoff series, but the single biggest reason for the upset over Boston was that the Canes forecheck kept the Bruins bottled up in their own zone. Morris has his flaws, but he’s good at handling the puck and making breakout passes, and that’s something Ward simply doesn’t do well. With guys like Chara and Stuart on the roster, we could afford to sacrifice Ward’s physicality to get a little more effective with the puck.

The only way I can make sense of the Eaves situation, is that it was a personal favor to Ward to return him to his home in Raleigh. Rutherford took the opportunity to dump Eaves’ contract, which makes the deal seem rather foolish on our side. But Chiarelli said that he wanted Ward going to Carolina and nowhere else, so we can’t blame JR for taking advantage.

by bostonblueline.blogspot.com on Jul 26, 2009 1:03 PM EDT reply actions