Bruins Clear Hunwick to Colorado

		2010/2011 NHL Statistics
To Colorado	Position	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Matt Hunwick	Defense	22	1	2	3	1	$1.45 million
--------------------
To Boston	Position	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Colby Cohen	Defense	0	0	0	0	3	$875,000

It appears that preparations for the season debut of Marc Savard have begun, as the Bruins have dealt defenseman Matt Hunwick to the Colorado Avalanche for prospect defenseman Colby Cohen on Monday afternoon.

The Bruins are dealing with some cap concerns before the return of Savard, who currently has an annual cap hit of $4.2 million, so in order to make sure they are compliant with the cap, the Bruins had to open up some space and the team's depth at defense made Hunwick somewhat expendable.

In Hunwick, the Avalanche get a 25-year old puck moving defenseman, who has shown some flashes of good offense, but also does a good job of eating up some solid minutes for his club, which is something the Avalanche can still use with some of their injury problems they've gone through this year.

The Bruins get a 21-year old prospect defenseman in Cohen, who is a bit bigger in size and is just starting to learn the pro game after a full career in NCAA hockey.  The biggest benefit of Cohen for the Bruins right now is that he is on an entry-level deal and his cap hit disappears during his development years in the minors.

Speaking in annual numbers, the Boston Bruins are hugging the salary cap ceiling with all their might and they won't let go any time soon. With two buyouts and a cap overage penalty on top of their roster on the books, the math gets really interesting. Players have already been up and down, Savard has missed out on over $800,000 of cap space worth of action, call-ups, send downs and whatever else, the math should be rather close to good for Boston going forward. They may have to get rather creative with their work.

The Avalanche had plenty of space going into this deal, especially with the injuries that have been sustained to some of their better players.  There should be no concerns about their cap situation, unless you're signing the cheques and you're running on a tight budget.

There hasn't been a great deal of fantasy value coming from Hunwick this season and he can only be found in Box 29 of the selection sheet, unless someone wants to pick him up in the waiver draft this week. With only 3 points in 22 games, I don't think Hunwick is going very far, very fast.