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Bruins Make Trade With Rangers, Acquire Defenseman Nick Holden For Rob O'Gara, Draft Pick

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins have gotten a jump start on the NHL trade deadline.

Though that deadline is still nearly a week away, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was busy on Tuesday, executing a trade with the New York Rangers.

The Bruins acquired defenseman Nick Holden from New York. In exchange, the Bruins will send defenseman Rob O'Gara and a 2018 third-round draft pick to New York.

Holden, 30, has played in 55 games for the Rangers this season. The 6-foot-4, 214-pound defenseman been a reliable player, skating in 295 of a possible 306 games over the past four seasons and averaging over 20 minutes per game. He set a career high in both goals (11) and assists (23) last season, and he has posted 3-9-12 totals this year. The left-shot defenseman played with Colorado and Columbus prior to joining the Rangers in 2016.

O'Gara, 24, was originally selected by Boston in the fifth round of the 2011 draft. He played at Yale, wining a national title in his freshman year, and turned pro in 2016. He's played in just 11 NHL games, while playing in 107 AHL games for Providence.

The Rangers, sitting five points out of the second wild-card spot but in last place in the Metropolitan Division, sent a letter to fans earlier this month to tell them that the team would be selling off big names in advance of the Feb. 26 trade deadline in an effort to kick-start a rebuild. Though Holden is not one of the bigger names, his departure likely will open the doors to a number of trades involving the Rangers in the coming days.

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