By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com
UNIONDALE, N.Y.Theres no denying the Bruins are moving closer to a deal for Toronto Maple Leafs premium defenseman Tomas Kaberle, and Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is working to fit the puzzle pieces in place for another move to free up some salary cap space.According to several hockey sources, and as reported earlier on Thursday morning by TSNs Darren Dreger, the Bruins are getting close to a trade agreement on a deal with the Leafs for the four-time All-Star defenseman. The package is believed to be Blake Wheeler and a draft pick headed to the Leafs, and that package of playersprospects would net the Bs the puck-moving defensemanpower play quarterback that Boston desperately needs.Right now if we can improve then Ill take whatever Chiarelli can give us, right? said coach Claude Julien. But I think its pretty obvious and pretty clear that we want to upgrade our puck-moving part of our game from the back end. Steve Kampfer has done that as a young player, and now were looking for a guy with a little more experience. Thats what were looking right now.Hockey sources have indicated to CSNNE.com theres a second, salary-cap clearing deal being moved into place to give Boston some cap flexibility. The Bs are discussing sending rugged defenseman Mark Stuart to the Chicago Blackhawks, who are looking for a little more toughness around their net.The Stuart deal would net the Bruins a draft pick, and would be strictly for salary cap relief rather than instant roster improvement.The Bs have roughly 2.5 million salary cap space, and shedding the cap hits of Wheeler (2.2 million) and Stuart (1.675 million) would give Boston room to add Kaberle to their pop-gun power playand have some room in case any other roster tweaking is needed prior to the Feb. 28 NHL trade deadline. Stuart is aware of the trade chatter surrounding his name and clearly wants to remain with the Bruins, who drafted and developed him. But he's done a good job of blocking everything out as hes resumed his hard-hitting role in the Boston lineup.Were not having problems because of rumors the last three games. Were just not playing good hockey, said Stuart. Trade rumors are a part of the game, but you cant let those kinds of things affect your game or how you play.
Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs