Breaking News: Flames make splash on Day 2 of draft acquiring Bouwmeester’s rights

Tim Wharnsby and Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail are reporting that:

The Calgary Flames made an early splash on the second day of the 2009 NHL draft, acquiring the rights to soon-to-be unrestricted free agent defenceman Jay Bouwmeester.

The price was steep: a third-round pick and Jordan Leopold.

The Flames’ move was a bit of a surprise because the word around the draft floor Friday evening was that the Bouwmeester camp had informed most teams that the player wanted to test the open market July 1.

Flames’ general manager Darryl Sutter, who made the trade this morning, must have had a complete change of heart overnight.

For complete story, click here.

While I think Bouwmeester will be a very good addition to the Flames, I am very impressed with the Panthers for getting anything for the UFA Bouwmeester.  It may turn out that they only end up with a 3rd round pick as Leopold is also an UFA, but they were days away from getting no return on their investment so anything is better than nothing at this point. 

I am sure that the Flames braintrust must feel pretty confident that they will be able to get Bouwmeester signed as he seemed intent on testing the free agency waters.

Finally the trades that we anticipated yesterday begin.  

Don’t forget that you can get all the exciting news that is happening at the draft live from Rich and Kyle who are at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and getting information to IC readers via Twitter.