Bruins trade Adam McQuaid to Rangers for draft pick, Steven Kampfer

You figured with their glut of defenseman, the Bruins would be looking to deal someone — with Torey Krug being the flashiest of names mentioned — at some point.

With training camp set to begin, the Bruins finally made a deal, as they agreed to send veteran defenseman Adam McQuaid to the Rangers for a fourth-round pick, former Bruins defenseman Steven Kampfer and a conditional seventh-round pick.

"It’s tough to see him go ... 10 years we’ve been together, going back to Providence," said Bruce Cassidy. "Today was a tough morning ... we’ll miss him.”

Said general manager Don Sweeney: "It’s a very difficult day. We want to thank Adam. He was a tremendous Bruin, a tremendous teammate."

The move frees up $2.75 million in cap space for the Bruins.

BSJ Analysis

This is going to be a fairly big blow in the locker room, where McQuaid was extremely popular among his teammates not only because of his personality, but because of his unquestioned toughness and his willingness to do anything for the team.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder has been an integral part of the Bruins’ success. He’s a character guy on the ice and in the room and that’s why his teammates respect the hell out of him. His contributions go unnoticed to many, but not those behind closed doors.

“He’s literally the definition of ultimate teammate,” Krug told BostonSportsJournal.com in October. “It doesn’t matter if things are going wrong for him personally, or things are going right for him personally, he’s going to get in the way of shots, which was evident tonight. All he worries about is the outcome of the game for the team. It doesn’t matter what his role is, if he’s got a bigger role, smaller role, on every given night all he cares about is his teammates.

“Talk about how he sticks up for teammates and blocks shots … he’s literally the ultimate teammate.”

The addition of John Moore to the blue line in the offseason made someone expendable — unless the Bruins were planning on rolling with eight defensemen. Now the Bruins have pairings of Zdeno Chara- Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo-Krug, and Moore likely paired with one of the following -- Matt Grzelcyk, Kevan Miller,  Kampfer or possibly Jakub Zboril.