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Trade: Rangers trade Nick Holden to Bruins

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during their game at Madison Square Garden on February 9, 2018 in New York City.

Abbie Parr

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The New York Rangers and Boston Bruins have been rumored to be possible trade partners for a defenseman, and on Tuesday afternoon it happened.

It just wasn’t the defenseman -- Ryan McDonagh -- that people were talking about.

Instead it is Nick Holden heading to Boston.

The Trade: The New York Rangers send Nick Holden to the Boston Bruins for defenseman Rob O’Gara and a 2018 third-round draft pick.

Why the Rangers make this trade: They told their fans changes were coming. The team is falling out of the playoff race, it needs to hit the reset button, and Holden is an unrestricted free agent after this season that probably did not fit in with the new direction of the team.

At 24 and with only 11 games of NHL experience under his belt O’Gara probably isn’t much in the way of a prospect, while the third-round pick is probably the key to the deal for the Rangers.

Why the Bruins make this trade: They get a veteran defenseman to add some depth to their blue line for a potential Stanley Cup run. It’s not the blockbuster move that acquiring a player like McDonagh would have been, but given the low cost it could prove to be a pretty solid depth move.

Holden, 30, has been with the Rangers since the start of the 2016-17 season and has 14 goals and 32 assists in 135 games with the team over the past two years. He had a really strong year offensively a season ago (setting career highs across the board) but has seen a bit of a regression this season. He won’t need to play the 20 minutes a night he was playing in New York and could fit in nicely as a depth defenseman in Boston.

Who won the trade: Both teams get what they’re looking for. The Bruins get a depth defender for a Stanley Cup and don’t have to pay a steep price, while the Rangers cash in an asset that probably wasn’t going to re-sign with them after the season.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.