Morris Signs in Boston

As it turns out, the deal that sent Aaron Ward out, Patrick Eaves in & waived to be bought out, was all a plan to get Derek Morris into the fold in Boston. Quite the cunning plan. Morris signed a 1-year deal worth $3.3 million on Friday and he is now a part of a very formidable defending crew.

Last season between the Coyotes and Rangers, Morris played in 75 games, scoring 5 goals and added 15 assists. He's known more as a puck-moving defenseman, but has struggled with offensive production over the past few seasons. He does remain a valuable asset on the blueline and it will be interesting to see how he fits in with the smooth skating Bruins.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Marc Savard	Zdeno Chara	Tim Thomas
David Krejci	Dennis Wideman	Dany Sabourin
Mark Recchi	Matt Hunwick
Michael Ryder	Derek Morris
Blake Wheeler	Mark Stuart
Chuck Kobasew	Andrew Ference
Milan Lucic
Patrice Bergeron
Steve Begin
Marco Sturm
Shawn Thornton

Not including the buyouts that the Bruins have on the books, they are looking at a cap hit of $53.8 million for 19 players, which could suffice for the time being, but they would need a bit more help to start the season.

Without including Eaves' buyout, the Bruins already have $1.9 million on the books from Peter Schaefer and Glen Murray, which doesn't help the team any. I would almost think that keeping Eaves is almost in their best interest, unless they could package him up in a deal somewhere.