The Boston Bruins have acquired goaltender Brian Eklund from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for left wing Zdenek Blatny, it was announced today by Boston Bruins General Manager Mike O'Connell. Eklund was assigned to the Bruins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Providence.

Eklund, 25, played four sesaons of college hockey at Brown University with a 7-27-5 record, 3.42 goals against average and one shutout in 48 career college games. He was drafted by Tampa Bay as their eighth pick, 226th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and has played the last three-plus seasons in the Lightning organization with their AHL and ECHL affiliates.

The 6’5”, 205 lb. native of Braintree, MA began this season with Tampa’s AHL affiliate in Springfield, playing in 17 games with a 5-11-1 record and 4.19 goals against average. He was recalled once for a one-game stint in Tampa Bay and played his first NHL game with a 3-2 loss in Montreal on Nov. 8. He was playing with Johnstown of the ECHL at the time of this trade with a 1-0-1 record and 3.23 goals against average in two games.

Blatny, 25, was invited to Boston’s training camp on a try-out agreement and signed with the Bruins as a free agent on Sept. 30, 2005. He has spent most of this season in Providence/AHL where he had 8-22=30 totals with 21 penalty minutes in 35 games. He was recalled once to Boston, from Nov. 28-Dec. 12, playing five scoreless games in that stretch.