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Make it a long, bizarre weekend for Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney.
With the Dougie Hamilton trade official, the Adam McQuaid extension on the books, and Milan Lucic set for a flight to Los Angeles, Sweeney made another deal on Monday, sending a 2017 third-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Zac Rinaldo.
The 25-year-old Rinaldo has spent his entire NHL career with the Flyers, recording eight goals, 24 points, and 572 minutes in penalties in 223 games over four seasons. Rinaldo has also skated in 14 postseason contests in his career, recording zero points and 64 minutes in penalties.
He comes to Boston with two years left on a contract featuring an $850,000 cap-hit.
This is, well, weird.
There’s no denying the fact that the 5-foot-11 Rinaldo is a monster. He has the ability to absolutely plaster guys with a strong checking game (Rinaldo finished last season with a Flyer-high 216 hits in just 58 games played), and is absolutely no stranger to dropping the gloves (he’s been involved in 32 fights at the National Hockey League level in his career, and 31 down in the American Hockey League).
But there’s also a long list of worries that come with Rinaldo, too. And they begin with his suspension history. Three times now, the 5-foot-11 forward has been suspended. The rap sheet began in 2012, too, with Rinaldo picking up a two-game ban for a cheapshot to Jonathan Ericsson, while he also picked up fines for a slewfoot and a late hit. Then came a four-game suspension for a hit to Buffalo Sabres defender Chad Ruhwedel in 2014. And the latest, and most egregious, was an eight-game ban Rinaldo received for a disgraceful hit from behind on Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang.
So, for as much ‘energy’ and ‘grit’ as Rinaldo can and will bring to the Bruins with each shift, there’s a litany of concerns and potential minuses that come with his arrival. And it’s not hard to dub this one a bad match from the start, either, especially with Claude Julien’s quick leash for players that take bad penalties. (And yeah, in case you missed his tenure with the Flyers, he’ll take a lot of them.)
This trade gives the Black and Gold their Shawn Thornton replacement, and while that’s not the worst thing for a front office that clearly wanted to see more fight and passion from their squad last year, it’s tough to comprehend this team moving a Top-90 pick for a player of Rinaldo’s caliber. It becomes even more confusing when you realize that the Bruins still have Anthony Camara, a former third-round pick and a player with many of Rinaldo’s attributes, in their system.
What’s next? Well, at this point, do you really wanna know?
On a bottom-six related note, a source has indicated to HockeyBuzz.com that Max Talbot might want out of Boston. Talbot, acquired from Colorado at the trade deadline this past season, had three assists in 18 games for the Bruins. The 31-year-old was a healthy scratch for the B's at points late in the season, and is on the hook for $875,000 this upcoming season.
(UPDATE: Talbot has since chimed in on his personal Twitter account, shooting down that rumor. If that's the case, apologies to Max for running with some bad intel without checking it out with others first. That's obviously on me, and I take ownership for that. Never a good look.)
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com