Boston Bruins acquire Shane Bowers

The Bruins and Avalanche have swapped depth players as Colorado has traded forward Shane Bowers to Boston in exchange for goaltender Keith Kinkaid.  Both teams have announced the move and have confirmed that the players have been sent down to their respective minor league clubs.

Bowers made his NHL debut this season but it was a short-lived one as he was injured in the first period.  The 2017 first-round pick has spent the bulk of the year in the minors, picking up 14 points in 37 games with AHL Colorado.  Bowers is on a one-year, two-way contract that pays $750K in the NHL and just $100K in the minors and he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer.  The subtraction of Kinkaid partially clears up a logjam between the pipes with AHL Providence who are now down to two goalies on the roster plus Michael DiPietro playing at the ECHL level.

As for Kinkaid, the 33-year-old is a veteran of 168 career NHL appearances over parts of 10 seasons.  However, he has just 11 of those over the past three years as he has settled in as a veteran third-stringer.  He has a 3.10 GAA with a .909 SV% in 20 games at the AHL level so far and will give the Avs some extra insurance between the pipes with Pavel Francouz currently out with a lower-body injury.  He’s also on a one-year, two-way deal worth the minimum in the NHL although his AHL pay is considerably higher at $450K.  Kinkaid will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.