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During that three-month rush to glory through the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011, veteran defenseman Andrew Ference came up with a nickname for a big, tough, uncompromising rookie on the blue line: Darth McQuaider.

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The moniker got some traction, as so often happens during such imagination-capturing times as a title push. Appropriate T-shirts were designed and ordered. And just like his infamous "Star Wars" namesake, McQuaid can often be found dressed in black, and most definitely isn't one to be trifled with.

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He's a throwback defenseman who would have fit right in with the Big Bad Bruins of yore. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, he's as eager to drop unsuspecting forwards in their tracks as slip off his gloves in support of a teammate.

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The product of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, had a menacing presence along the blue line of the Bruins after he completed a three-season undergraduate degree with Providence of the American Hockey League in 2010.

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Originally the property of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who chose McQuaid in the second round (No. 55) in the 2005 NHL Draft, he was finishing his final with Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League when the Blue Jackets traded him to Boston on May 16, 2007.

After three years with Providence in the American Hockey League, in which McQuaid compiled 280 penalty minutes, his fearlessness and abrasive style earned him a place on the Bruins roster for the 2010-11 season.

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Sixty-seven regular-season appearances were followed by 23 more during the postseason as the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. He played 72 games in 2011-12 before injuries began to pile up.

In October 2012, a blood clot was discovered near his left collarbone, a product of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and required two surgeries, one to administer to the clot itself, the other to prevent reoccurrence. The procedure involved cutting the muscles around the clot and then removing a rib.

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During the 2013-14 season, a nagging quadriceps problem sidelined McQuaid before he was forced to shut down entirely after undergoing arthroscopic ankle surgery to repair damage sustained during rehab for his quad.

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The next season McQuaid missed time with a broken thumb as well as corrective surgery from the 2012 procedure.

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But the Bruins still believed in McQuaid and signed him to a four-year contract on June 30, 2015. He spent three more seasons with the Bruins before being traded to the New York Rangers on Sept. 11, 2018. With the Rangers headed for their second straight non-playoff finish, McQuaid found himself back with the team that originally drafted him when he was traded to Columbus on Feb. 25, 2019.

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NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

 

• Traded to Boston by Columbus for Boston's 5th round pick (later traded to Dallas -- Dallas selected Jamie Benn) in 2007 NHL Draft, May 16, 2007.

• Traded to NY Rangers by Boston for Steven Kampfer, NY Rangers' 4th-round pick in 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional pick in 2019 NHL Draft, September 11, 2018.

• Traded to Columbus by NY Rangers for Julius Bergman and Columbus' 4th- and 7th-round picks in 2019 NHL Draft, February 25, 2019.