Three-way trade lands Boston defenseman McLaren in San Jose.
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks, just one point out of the Western Conference cellar, shook up the lockerroom Thursday when a three-team trade netted defenseman Kyle McLaren from the Boston Bruins.
To obtain the 25-year-old veteran of 417 NHL games, the Sharks sent winger Niklas Sundstrom, cash considerations and a 2004 third-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for former Sharks goaltender Jeff Hackett. San Jose packaged Hackett and 1999 first-round pick Jeff Jillson to Boston in exchange for McLaren and Boston’s fourth-round pick in the 2004 Entry Draft.
“This is a player we’ve coveted for a while,” said Sharks General Manager Dean Lombardi said. Lombardi sought McLaren at last year’s Entry Draft, then at the start of this season, before pulling off the trade Thursday after working out the details of the three-team deal.
“This was a ‘big-picture’ deal,” Lombardi said. “With our core of young defensemen, the one element we needed was someone with that Derian Hatcher-Adam Foote edge. This is the exact type player we were looking for.”
McLaren will arrive in San Jose today while Lombardi and agent Neil Abbott work out a long-term contract. San Jose plays the Minnesota Wild Saturday at HP Pavilion.
Sundstrom, acquired on Aug. 4, 1999 from Tampa Bay, scored 12 points in 46 games this season. He finished his career with San Jose with 137 points in 281 games. He has 300 points in his 596-game career.
“We gave up a good player, an incredibly smart player,” Lombardi said of moving Sundstrom to the Canadiens.
Jillson, drafted at the Fleet Center in Boston in June of 1999, played in 74 games for the Sharks over the past two seasons, netting five goals and 19 assists. He was playing with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland at the time of the trade.
“Boston got a very good young player,” Lombardi said of Jillson. “He brings different things than what Kyle brings.”
Lombardi expects McLaren in the line-up “when he’s ready.” Several injuries have slowed McLaren’s career, limiting the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder to play in more than 58 games just once since his 1995-6 rookie season (74 games, 17 points and a career-high 73 penalty minutes).
