• alt="" data-uk-cover="" />

    All-Centennial Team

  • alt="" data-uk-cover="" />

  • alt="" data-uk-cover="" />

    Stanley Cup Champs

    Bruins waive forward Max Talbot

    Max Talbot played in just 18 games for the Bruins. Photo Via Jana Chytilova, Getty Images
    The Bruins made a surprising move on Monday and placed forward Max Talbot on waivers.

    The thirty-one year old was acquired at last season's trade deadline from the Colorado Avalanche along with forward Paul Carey in exchange for forward Jordan Caron and a future draft pick.

    This move may come as a bit of a shock to Bruins fans as it looked like Talbot was going to anchor the Bruins' fourth line heading into training camp. Talbot held a $900,000 cap hit, and with him now gone the Bruins have roughly $3,000,000 in salary cap space.

    The freeing up of this money could mean a couple of things, but it is unlikely that this is the foreshadowing of a major trade or free agent signing. With the season starting up on Thursday night it  would make little sense to add a player with a big contract and give him almost no time to prepare for the season.

    Another possible motive for the release of Talbot could have been the Bruins attempting to free up some money to restructure or extend a player such as Torey Krug or Loui Eriksson, who are due to become free agents at the end of the 2015-2016 season.

    The most likely reason for Talbot's departure however is that the Bruins want options. Why pay a thirty-one year old forward $900,000 to be your tenth or eleventh winger? By letting Talbot go the Bruins now have money available to spend on the free agent market in case the forward-core becomes depleted with injuries like it did last season.

    Along with gaining salary cap space, the Bruins made a statement today that they are relying heavily on younger talent such as Brett Connolly, Ryan Spooner and Joonas Kemppainen to anchor the bottom two lines.

    Follow me on Twitter @fLAno0 for more NHL News!