On Monday, the Bruins traded defenseman Matt Hunwick to the Avalanche in exchange for former Boston University defenseman Colby Cohen.

Hunwick, 25, was in his fourth season with the B's. He had three points and a plus-4 rating through 22 games. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said the deal had been in the works for some time, and the trigger was pulled on Monday.

The move was most definitely tied to the return of Marc Savard. The Bruins currently have both Savard's $4.007 million cap hit and Marco Sturm's $3.5 million on long-term injured reserve, and big moves needed to be made in order to eventually get the two back on the books without going over the league's $59.4 million salary cap. Of course, since the players are coming off LTIR one at a time, not all of the moves needed to be made at once. But they still needed to be made. 

"This was one of the steps that we had to take as an organization to take care of the cap situation in order to get a player or two back," Chiarelli said. "I do this recognizing it's a reality and it had to be done."

With Savard getting better with each passing day, the vague target return time of "December" could mean Savard could be back in the lineup within the next few games. He said on Monday that he definitely won't be back Wednesday, but when he does come back, the Bruins can now take on his cap hit. 

"This will be enough to activate Marc Savard when he's ready to play," Chiarelli said, while also confirming that the team will have to make another move before Sturm's return.

Though the trade of Hunwick was definitely done in order to prepare for Savard's season debut, Chiarelli still didn't give a precise date of when he'll be back.

"We monitored how he practiced today and we'll see how his conditioning is and we'll make a determination at some point, but nothing definitive at this time," he said.  

THE REAL SWAP INVOLVES ADAM MCQUAID 

As in, the Bruins have simply swapped out Hunwick for McQuaid, exchanging a puck-moving but risk-taking defenseman for a slower, safer and tougher blueliner. 

"With respect to Adam, he plays a solid game," Chiarelli said. "He doesn't bring to the table what Matt does, but he plays a solid game, he's still young, and he's a guy that we look to to play in our six."

McQuaid first got his chance at playing when Johnny Boychuk was sidelined with a fractured forearm after taking a bad slash on Oct. 23 against the Rangers. Claude Julien didn't seem concerned with throwing McQuaid into the fire after six games as a healthy scratch, praising the 6-foot-5 blueliner for a style of play that wouldn't cost the team. 

In his time in the lineup, McQuaid didn't cost the Bruins, posting an even rating (he was a minus-1 in just one game) in a modest 12:11 of ice time per night through 10 games. 

"I hope [I can keep playing], but it's out of my control," McQuaid said on Nov. 15 as Boychuk neared his return. "We'll see what happens, but i just hope that they have the confidence in me, that if we are all healthy and they need to mix things up, that they can throw me in there."

Since Boychuk's return, McQuaid has been recognized primarily for his time spent after practice doing battle drills with Savard, but he can now once again add playing in games to his duties. Chiarelli said the team's plan is to go with six defensemen and not call anybody up for the time being. 

YOUTH (PUCK) MOVEMENT

The Bruins had to make some sort of move, and though they lose less in Hunwick than they would in a Michael Ryder, the Bruins did give up something their current squad didn't exactly have a surplus of: speed and puck-moving ability. And it wasn't the first time. With both Dennis Wideman and Hunwick gone, the Bruins' need for a solid puck-mover is a little more glaring than it may have been in the past. 

Yet through the moves they've made, and the group of young defensemen the team has compiled, Chiarelli hopes the puck-movers of the future aren't far behind.  

"It wasn't fun, but we are confident in our defensive pipeline in the very near future that we can use those prospects -- because we have three or four young D that are pushing -- and use those to replace some of the stuff that Matt brought."

The guys Chiarelli mentioned by name were Steve Kampfer, Matt Bartkowski, Andrew Bodnarchuk and Jeff Penner. 

"We've got players that can skate and can push the puck that we feel very comfortable with," Chiarelli said. "They're not NHL players, yet, so there's obviously a ways to go for them. How that is, we'll see how our group goes right now."