This Sheriff's Heading To The Wild (Out) West

Here comes the rough part of free agency. Anyone who expected the Boston Bruins to put out the same roster from the 2008-09 season was being naive. It was to be expected that with the limited cap space and amount of Bruins free agents to be that we'd be seeing some fan favorites take their exit out of the Hub of Hockey for broader horizons. Mark Shane Hnidy as the first of many bound out of Boston.

When the Bruins traded for the bruising defensemen back in January 2008, it was viewed as a desperation move by a GM who was simply running out of defensemen on the depth chart. Pulling the trigger to bring Hnidy into black and gold cost the Bruins winger Brandon Bochenski, a player who had experienced minor success in 2006-07 but failed to translate that into 2007-08 due to injuries and inconsistency under the Claude Julien system. The price for Hnidy was small, but no one expected what Hnidy truly brought to the Bruins blue-line.

Standing at 6'2 and with a face only a mother could love, Hnidy brought an added element of toughness to the Bruins defense. He would have no issues with burying a player into the boards, and his stern style of play earned him the nickname of 'Sheriff' in Boston.

Following another solid season as a 6th defensemen for the Bruins, Hnidy chipped in with the hits and added 12 points in 65 games, tying his career high from 2006-07 with Atlanta. Undoubtedly, his most remember incident came in a brawl with the Dallas Stars where The Sheriff went to work and demolished Matt Niskanen's face with several right hands.

Although never an offensive defensemen by any means and a frequent victim of poor decision making, there's no questioning that Hnidy, like many Bruins players, became a fan favorite with time. However, as the Bruins season ended, many knew that Hnidy would not be returning with Johnny Boychuk on the up-swing and Matt Hunwick anticipated to re-sign with the club for another season. Remaining on the list of 08-09 Bruins in the free agent pool are veteran center and face-off master Stephane Yelle, goaltender Manny Fernandez and restricted free agents Phil Kessel and Matt Hunwick.

With Hnidy bound for Minnesota, the Bruins are now in new need of a Sheriff. Mark Stuart anyone?