Kyle McLaren Traded

Left handed Canadian Defenceman Kyle Mclaren was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2009 6th round draft pick.

McLarens Career as outlined by Wikipdia

McLaren was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round, ninth overall, during the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. He played his first NHL season when he was just eighteen in the 1996 season, and was the youngest player on an NHL roster that year.

McLaren was traded to San Jose along with a fourth round draft pick for young defenceman Jeff Jillson and goaltender Jeff Hackett in the 2003 NHL season season after getting into a dispute with the Bruins' management. Reportedly, they offered McLaren a two-way contract, meaning that McLaren would make less money than if he were playing in the American Hockey League. An established NHL player at that point, McLaren was insulted and demanded a trade. He along with teammate Joe Thornton both were drafted by Boston but traded to San Jose.

In recent years, McLaren has developed a reputation for having one of the best hip checks in the league. His most notable hip check was in the first round of the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he pinned St. Louis Blues winger Petr Cajanek into the boards near the Sharks' blue line. Cajanek would not play for the remainder of the series. Other memorable hip check recipients include Petr Prucha and Trevor Letowski.

During the 2003 season he was was struck in the face by a slapshot from Vancouver’s Sami Salo and missed 6 games due to his injury. For the remainder of the season he played with a clear visor. He stopped wearing a visor until partway through his 2005 season, when he returned with a yellow tinted visor because its color helped prevent glare of the ice from affecting him. McLaren switched back to a clear one during the 2007–08 season, reportedly because his lucky visor was not helping change his ineffectiveness during San Jose playoff runs.

McLaren is in a three-year-contract worth US$7.5 million; the deal expires in June 2009. McLaren signed that deal citing how happy he was in San Jose and how much his family loved it there.

On October 7, 2008, McLaren was placed on waivers by San Jose Sharks' general manager Doug Wilson so that the team could accommodate the salaries of newly-acquired defencemen Brad Lukowich, Dan Boyle, and Rob Blake within the constraints of the NHL salary cap. He currently plays for the Sharks' American Hockey League affiliate Worcester Sharks; his salary does not affect the San Jose Sharks' salary cap as long as he remains in Worcester.