What kind of birthday present is this?

The Canes have traded Patrick Eaves and a 4th round pick to the Bruins for Aaron Ward.

Again, Rutherford has gotten someone who had been with the team previously. (See: Josef Vasicek, Matt Cullen, Paul Maurice). Honestly, I wish he would stop doing that. I do actually like to see new faces in a Canes jersey, not just re-hashes of '02 and '06.

Although, I'm not sure that this is an entirely bad idea. Eaves, although he seemed to have a lot of potential, just didn't click for whatever reason in Carolina. Ward is a defensive defenseman, and at times can be very effective. At other times he can be a slow moving lump that doesn't really do much. But, nevertheless, the Canes need a defensive defenseman, and Ward will certainly fill that part of the equation.

Also in Ward's favor, mainly from a nostalgic standpoint, don't forget that he was the first one to score a goal in Game 7 against the Oilers.

And, to make things even more interesting, remember the Scott Walker sucker punch in the Bruins series? I wonder how their first meeting will turn out. (My prediction? Probably uneventful, but enough of a story line for the TV crew to talk about it for a while).

The more I think about this trade the more I think I will have to wait and see how it plays out in the season. I'm not ecstatic about it - but at least we didn't give up more than Patrick Eaves and a draft pick.