Hockey Capsules: Trade deadline comes and goes
NEW YORK — So much for another big hockey boost. The NHL trade deadline came and went with a thud instead of a bang.
Not that anyone expected Wednesday's deadline to come anywhere close to the excitement of Canada's Olympic gold medal win over the United States three days earlier, but it didn't even generate the buzz of previous trading days that created the wow factor.
It did, however, produce a couple of records.
There were a deadline-high 31 deals, mostly of the smaller variety, involving a record 55 players and 25 draft picks completed before the cutoff Wednesday. But big-name players such as Toronto's Tomas Kaberle, Carolina forward Ray Whitney, and New York Islanders goalies Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron stayed with their clubs that are on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
It was the seventh straight deadline day in which at least 20 trades were completed. The previous record was 25, accomplished three straight years from 2006-08. Last year's deadline saw a then-record 47 players switch teams.
Phoenix, which began Wednesday fifth in the Western Conference, made seven trades. Anaheim pulled off five deals.
The day wasn't a total bust on the excitement scale as key players such as forward Raffi Torres, who went from Columbus to Buffalo, and defenseman Steve Staios, part of a rare trade between bitter Alberta rivals Edmonton and Calgary, found new homes in deals that could prove significant in time.
Calgary also traded center Riley Armstrong to Detroit for defenseman Andy Delmore.
Before trading away the popular Staios for defenseman Aaron Johnson and a third-round draft pick from the Flames, the Oilers acquired U.S. Olympian Ryan Whitney from Anaheim for fellow defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky. Edmonton also gets a sixth-round pick in this year's draft. Whitney carries a salary cap price of $4 million over the next three years.
You can blame the Olympic break and the salary cap for keeping the frenzy at a minimum Wednesday. Most of the deals made in the final hours involved players slated for unrestricted free agency that were moved by non-contending teams in exchange for draft picks.
Stars such as Ilya Kovalchuk (Thrashers to Devils), Dion Phaneuf (Flames to Maple Leafs) and Olli Jokinen (Flames to Rangers) were involved in trades before the NHL's two-week Olympic break that ended Monday. Only a few days of dealing were available to general managers after the freeze was lifted following the Vancouver Games.
One intriguing deal Wednesday saw a pair of players chosen in the first round of the draft swapped for each other. Phoenix acquired left winger Wojtek Wolski from Colorado for forward Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter.
The 24-year-old Wolski has 17 goals and 30 assists this season in 62 games. The 21-year-old Mueller has had a disappointing follow-up to his outstanding rookie season. He has four goals and 13 assists in 54 games. Phoenix also reacquired defenseman Derek Morris from the Boston Bruins for a conditional 2011 draft pick. Morris was dealt to the New York Rangers by the Coyotes at last year's deadline.
Boston also traded right wingers Byron Bitz and Craig Weller and Tampa Bay's second-round pick in this year's draft to Florida for defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski.
Contenders, such as Philadelphia, were pressed up against the cap and either didn't have the money or the stockpile of draft picks to make significant upgrades to their rosters. Clubs have about 20 regular-season games remaining to make a playoff push.
The Flyers will rely on Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher to man the nets the rest of the way in place of goalie Ray Emery, who needs season-ending surgery on his right hip.
Anaheim traded goalie Justin Pogge and Boston's fourth-round draft pick in 2010 or 2011 to Carolina for well-traveled defenseman Aaron Ward. The Ducks also dealt recently acquired goalie Vesa Toskala, traded by Toronto in a deal for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, was sent to Calgary for goalie Curtis McElhinney. Then they sent center Petteri Nokelainen to Phoenix for a sixth-round pick in the 2011 draft.
Carolina, which is hoping to make a late-season recovery one season after reaching the Eastern Conference finals, traded defenseman Joe Corvo to the Washington Capitals for defenseman Brian Pothier, left winger Oskar Osala and a second-round pick in next year's draft.
The Hurricanes also sent right winger Scott Walker to the Capitals for this year's seventh-round pick. Washington began the night with an NHL-best 90 points. The Capitals also reacquired defenseman Milan Jurcina from Columbus for a conditional draft pick.
"I don't know if we're the favorite at all, but anytime you get a chance to improve your team without giving up a lot — we hate losing Brian Pothier — but we gained four guys and gave up one," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said "I thought that's a pretty good exchange. There were some spots that we liked to improve and get better at and I thought we did."
Busy Coyotes make 7 trades at deadline
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Broke or not, the Phoenix Coyotes did some serious beefing up for their playoff run.
The team, purchased out of bankruptcy by the NHL as the league tries to work out a deal with a potential buyer, made seven trades shortly before Wednesday's deadline.
In the most significant move, Phoenix acquired left wing Wojtek Wolski from the Colorado Avalanche for forwards Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter.
The 24-year-old Wolski has 17 goals and 30 assists this season in 62 games. The 21-year-old Mueller has had another disappointing follow-up to his outstanding rookie season. He has four goals and 13 assists in 54 games after getting 13 goals and 23 assists in 72 games last year. In 2007-08, Mueller had 22 goals and 32 assists in 82 games. Porter has spent most of the season with the Coyotes' minor league affiliate in San Antonio.
Both Wolski and Mueller were first-round draft picks.
In other deals, the Coyotes traded for defenseman Derek Morris from Boston, defenseman Mathieu Schneider from Vancouver, right wing Lee Stempniak from Toronto, center Petteri Nokelainen from Anaheim, left wing Alexandre Picard from Columbus, and goaltender Miika Wiikman from New York.
"There's no question we are night and day from where we were 24 hours ago in regards to skill, experience and grit," Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said. "Our defense is now as good as anybody's, in my mind. But now we have to get the chemistry right and we have to play as a team and a group, and if we do that then we're going to be much harder" to play against.
The Coyotes are fifth in the Western Conference, one point behind fourth-place Los Angeles. Phoenix has not made the playoffs since 2002.
It was a surprising flurry of activity for a team that is still losing millions of dollars per month and a test to the theory that a team can be successful in the desert if it is successful on the ice.
Here is a synopsis of the other six trades:
—The hard-hitting Morris returns to Phoenix, where he spent parts of five seasons. The Bruins got a conditional 2011 draft choice. Maloney said Morris "leadership and tenacity will be welcomed in our dressing room."
—Schneider, 40, was acquired from Vancouver for defenseman Sean Zimmerman and a conditional 2010 draft pick. Schneider is in his 21st NHL season. He has appeared in 1,281 career games for nine NHL teams. He is a veteran of 111 playoff games.
—Phoenix sent defenseman Matt Jones along with a fourth-round and seventh-round draft pick this year to Toronto for Stempniak, the Maple Leafs' third-leading scorer with 14 goals. He also has 16 assists, making him No. 4 on the team in points.
—The team acquired Nokelainen for a sixth-round draft pick in 2011. Nokelainen, 24, had four goals and seven assists in 50 games for the Ducks.
—The Coyotes sent center Chad Kolarik to Columbus for Picard, who will report to Phoenix's affiliate in San Antonio.
—Phoenix got Wiikman and a 2011 seventh-round draft choice from the Rangers for defenseman Anders Eriksson. Wiikman will report to the Coyotes' American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio.
In another move, the Coyotes reassigned forward Joel Perrault to San Antonio.
First-place Capitals make four deals at trade deadline
WASHINGTON — So much for standing pat with the roster that took the Washington Capitals to the top of the NHL standings.
The Capitals added four players in four deals on a busy trade deadline Wednesday, hoping to strengthen the bid for the franchise's first Stanley Cup title while putting at risk the team chemistry that has gotten them this far.
The biggest trade netted defenseman Joe Corvo from the Carolina Hurricanes for defenseman Brian Pothier, prospect Oskar Osala and a second-round draft pick in 2011.
A separate deal with the Hurricanes brought right wing Scott Walker to Washington for a seventh-round selection in this year's draft. The Capitals also acquired center Eric Belanger from the Minnesota Wild for a second-round draft pick this year, and defenseman Milan Jurcina returns to Washington from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a conditional sixth-round draft pick.
Three of the new players are in their 30s, and all four have contracts that expire at the end of the season.
"We got better and deeper, and we didn't give up our future to do it," general manager George McPhee said. "And we didn't take on any bad contracts to do it, so I was really pleased with the way it went."
Corvo, 32, is adept at both ends of the ice, a reliable penalty-killer with 50 points in his last season-and-a-half with the Hurricanes. He has four goals and eight assists this season, having missed 28 games after his right leg was cut by Washington defenseman Karl Alzner's skate in November.
Walker, 36, had shoulder surgery in early January and returned following the Olympic break. He had three goals and two assists this year for Carolina.
Belanger, 32, has 13 goals and 22 assists this season for the Wild. He previously played for Washington coach Bruce Boudreau when both were with the AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters from 1999-2001.
Washington sent Jurcina, 26, to Columbus along with Chris Clark in the trade for Jason Chimera earlier this season. Now Jurcina is back, but he's about to undergo sports-hernia surgery and will be sidelined 2-4 weeks. The Capitals will give up the draft pick to the Blue Jackets only if Jurcina plays in a certain number of games.
"We gained four guys and gave up one," Boudreau said in Buffalo, where the Capitals played Wednesday night. "I thought that's a pretty good exchange. There were some spots that we liked to improve and get better at, and I thought we did today."
The challenge now is to mesh all the new talent with the present crop. Egos might have to be checked when it comes to playing time.
"I don't know how much easier it makes my job because now you have to try and keep everybody happy," Boudreau said. "So it's going to be a little bit of juggling, but we'll find a way."
Besides, as McPhee noted, getting reduced time with the Capitals is better than some other options.
"We could have moved them to teams that weren't in the playoffs," McPhee said.
"We moved one player off our team, so we did keep our team basically intact," he said. "We have a lot of good guys and a lot of committed people that want to win the Cup."
Belanger and Chimera have a history: Chimera was wheeled off on a stretcher after being checked into the boards by Belanger during a Blue Jackets-Wild preseason game in September. That's not a concern to McPhee.
"In our business, guys play hard against the opposition," McPhee said. "And if they ever end up on the same team, they're usually the first two guys to go to dinner together."
-- Joseph White
Canes unload 5 veterans at NHL deadline
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes traded five veteran players and stockpiled draft picks in a flurry of deals before the NHL deadline.
With general manager Jim Rutherford admitting finances forced the team to "try and cut our losses," the Hurricanes on Wednesday dealt defenseman Joe Corvo to the Washington Capitals, forward Stephane Yelle and prospect Harrison Reed to the Colorado Avalanche and defenseman Andrew Alberts to the Vancouver Canucks.
"It's a tough day. You don't ever want to be a seller," Rutherford said. "When you're a seller, the year's not going the way you expected it to go, whether it's from a financial point of view or a performance point of view. Usually, they go hand in hand."
Carolina received defenseman Brian Pothier, left winger Oskar Osala and a second-round pick in 2011 from Washington; landed prospect Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and a sixth-round draft choice from Colorado; and acquired Vancouver's third-round pick for Alberts.
Those moves came after they sent defenseman Aaron Ward to the Anaheim Ducks for a minor league goalie and a draft choice, then traded forward Scott Walker to Washington for another pick.
Rutherford said the deadline moves, plus two veterans-for-draft-picks deals completed before the Olympic break, will save the organization more than $2 million. Most of the players who were dealt — Corvo, Walker, Yelle and Ward — can become unrestricted free agents after the season.
"We're in a year that our gate receipts are down, our revenues are down. We're in a tough economy, so we understand why," Rutherford said. "Our team didn't play well for a couple of months. We didn't draw as many people as we expected to. And so we, from a business point of view, we felt that we had to try and cut our losses, and we did that, and we did that by not moving any of our core players."
Corvo is making $2.75 million this year, Walker and Ward are making $2.5 million and Yelle signed a one-year deal worth $550,000 over the summer. Alberts is making $800,000 this season and $1.3 million next year under the two-year contract he signed in the offseason.
The only potential unrestricted free agents on the Hurricanes' active roster who weren't traded were goalie Manny Legace and forward Ray Whitney — who had "a handful" of teams inquiring about his availability, Rutherford said.
"We did not see a deal that made sense for us," Rutherford said.
With three defensemen and two forwards now gone from a team that won six straight to creep into the playoff conversation, the big question faced by the Hurricanes is this: Who's left to skate in Thursday night's home game against Ottawa? Carolina entered Wednesday night's games with 57 points — eight behind Boston and the New York Rangers, who are tied for eighth.
"It's not like we've taken a bunch of guys out of the lineup and we're just going to fill in with depth guys," Rutherford said. "We still have a team, as long as we keep that same work ethic and work together as a team that should be able to compete very well down the stretch."
Ward, 37, had one goal, 10 assists and 54 penalty minutes in his second stint with Carolina. The Hurricanes reacquired him from the Boston Bruins during the summer, and he went unclaimed when he was placed on waivers in December. Ward was with Carolina during the run to the 2006 Stanley Cup title.
In the Ward deal, the Hurricanes received goalie Justin Pogge, 23, who has spent this season with Anaheim's AHL affiliate in San Antonio, and a conditional fourth-round pick in either 2010 or 2011.
Carolina will have 11 picks in this year's draft — including three in the second round and two more in the third.
"We probably sit in the strongest position of any team to move up in the draft," Rutherford said.
The last of those picks is the seventh-rounder the Hurricanes received for Walker, a physical, 36-year-old winger whose lasting memory with the Hurricanes undoubtedly will be his overtime goal in Game 7 against Boston last season that sent them to the Eastern Conference finals. Rutherford said Walker's agent asked him to trade his client to a contender.
"It's exciting, but it's tough to leave," Walker said. "So many emotions, you know? Too many, but I'm excited to move on, try and win, but there are a lot of good guys here."
Before the Olympic break, Carolina traded defenseman Niclas Wallin and a draft pick to San Jose for a second-round pick this year, then sent center Matt Cullen to Ottawa for defenseman Alexandre Picard and another second-rounder.
-- Joedy McCreary
Jackets deal Torres, Modin, Jurcina
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The already young Columbus Blue Jackets got a lot younger on Wednesday afternoon.
The club traded veteran forwards Raffi Torres and Fredrik Modin and defenseman Milan Jurcina — all potential unrestricted free agents — for three draft picks and a depth blue-liner.
"It's just about expiring contracts and not having rights to the players," Columbus general manager Scott Howson said. "When you're in that situation, you have to make a decision. Are you going to hang onto them?"
Torres, his wife and 3-month-old daughter will be moving to Buffalo, not far from his parents' home in suburban Toronto.
"They're a pretty good team, a team with a lot of skill," he said of the Sabres. "I'll do what I do best — try to be physical and try to score some goals along the way."
Howson, his back up against Wednesday's 3 p.m. trade deadline, also sent defenseman Mathieu Roy to Florida for University of Michigan center Matt Rust. Then he also dealt former first-round draft pick Alexandre Picard, taken eighth overall in the 2004 draft, to Phoenix for another ex-Michigan player, winger Chad Kolarik.
The flurry of deals save the Blue Jackets money, add prospects and give them more ways to re-energize after a season in which nothing has seemed to work out right. The club stands 25-28-11 and is 14th of the 15 teams in the Western Conference with 61 points.
Torres, Modin (who waived a no-trade clause) and Jurcina could have signed elsewhere this summer without the Blue Jackets getting anything in return. So the club got some value out of them in the form of players or picks, in addition to not having to pay their sizable salaries for even the last 18 games of the season.
Howson said the market was tight and playoff teams were wary.
"Teams are careful with their assets," he said. "The buyers are always trying to wait it out and maybe the price will come down, and the people who are selling are holding onto their price, hoping they're going to get it. It really does become a game of chess or chicken at the end. At some point you've got to jump if you're going to get anything done."
First, Howson traded Torres, one of the Blue Jackets' most productive players, to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Nathan Paetsch and a second-round draft pick.
Torres, 28, who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, scored 19 goals and added 12 assists for the Blue Jackets in 60 games this season.
He said when the Blue Jackets fell out of the playoff picture, it improved the chances he might be traded.
"It's tough to win in this league on a consistent basis," he said. "It's tough to pinpoint one thing (that went wrong). At the end of the day, we just didn't get the job done."
Paetsch, 26, is a journeyman blue-liner who has seven goals and 35 assists in 157 career NHL games.
The Blue Jackets then sent Jurcina back to Washington. They had acquired him along with forward Chris Clark earlier this season from the Capitals for forward Jason Chimera. In return, Columbus received a conditional sixth-round draft pick because Jurcina, injured during the Olympics, will soon undergo sports-hernia surgery that will sideline him for 2-4 weeks.
Jurcina and Modin both played in the Vancouver Olympics, Jurcina for Slovakia and Modin for Sweden.
Jurcina, 26, had one goal and two assists in 17 games with Columbus.
The Blue Jackets then dealt the 35-year-old Modin to Los Angeles for a conditional seventh-round pick. Modin has seen only limited action this season due to a series of injuries. Modin won a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004.
The left winger has 222 goals and 225 assists in 838 career NHL games, but had just two goals and four assists in 24 games this season.
The day ended with Howson dealing for Rust and Kolarik. Around Columbus, when the talk turns to a Michigan center, everybody wants to know what kind of a blocker he is.
The moves helped add some fresh faces and attitudes to a team that is built on youth, with 25-year-old captain Rick Nash and 21-year-old franchise goaltender Steve Mason.
Roy had played well at times this season, contributing 10 assists in 31 games. Picard had never lived up to his draft-day promise, mustering no goals and two assists in 67 games with the Blue Jackets.
-- Rusty Miller
Ducks acquire Visnovsky, Ward for playoff push
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks are going after a playoff spot with two veteran additions to their beleaguered defense.
The Ducks acquired high-scoring defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday in a trade for U.S. Olympic defenseman Ryan Whitney. Anaheim also acquired Aaron Ward from Carolina to bolster its struggling blue line.
The busy Ducks later swapped backup goalies with Calgary, trading Vesa Toskala to the Flames for Curtis McElhinney, and traded center Petteri Nokelainen to Phoenix for a sixth-round pick.
Edmonton also will get a sixth-round draft pick in the deal for the 33-year-old Visnovsky, who is returning to Southern California after spending his first seven NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings. The four-time Slovak Olympian and former NHL All-Star has 32 points in 57 games this season with the lowly Oilers.
"We feel this is a major addition for us, not only for our stretch drive but going forward," Ducks general manager Bob Murray said.
Anaheim traded third-string goalie Justin Pogge and a fourth-round pick to Carolina for Ward, a stay-at-home defenseman who has 11 points in 60 games with the Hurricanes this season. The 37-year-old Ward is a shot-blocking specialist who should provide a much-needed physical presence.
The Ducks' defense has struggled in front of goalie Jonas Hiller since the offseason departures of Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin, surrendering 189 goals — third-worst in the Western Conference.
Its poor play has been a major reason Anaheim headed into Wednesday's meeting with Colorado in 11th place in the Western Conference, three points behind Detroit for the final playoff spot, despite a wealth of elite offensive talent including Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu.
Whitney has 28 points in 62 games this season with the Ducks, who acquired him in a deal with Pittsburgh on Feb. 26, 2009. The Olympian generally was a disappointment for Anaheim, but was optimistic about turning around his season after winning a silver medal in Vancouver.
Visnovsky has three years and $14 million left on his contract, while Whitney has three years and $15 million left — but Visnovsky's salary is set to decline in his final two years.
As Murray promised, the Ducks didn't move captain Scott Niedermayer, who has 37 points and a minus-17 rating in what might be his final NHL season.
Anaheim recalled goalie Timo Pielmeier from its ECHL affiliate in Bakersfield to serve as Hiller's backup until McElhinney's arrival. Toskala never played for the Ducks after they acquired him from Toronto on Jan. 31 along with Jason Blake in a deal for Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
-- Greg Beacham
Maple Leafs active at deadline, but keep D Kaberle
TORONTO — Tomas Kaberle, often the subject of rumors despite owning a no-trade clause, was nearly on the move from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Olympic defenseman was willing to give up his right Wednesday to stay with the Leafs if a deal could have been worked out with any of three teams he requested, but general manager Brian Burke couldn't find a deal he liked enough to send Kaberle packing before the NHL trade deadline.
Confusion arose in the hours before the afternoon deadline, when Kaberle suggested to reporters he would agree to a trade. That represented an abrupt change in position by the 32-year-old Kaberle, who had steadfastly refused to entertain the notion of moving away from the only NHL franchise he has known.
"There wasn't a deal to be made, and that was the end of it," Burke said. "We were truthful. We never got a list, but we did explore three avenues that the player's agent asked us to explore as recently as this morning."
He would not name the three teams. Burke said he generally does not accept such lists from players unless they include a minimum of 10 teams, but made an exception for Kaberle in light of the player's service to the Leafs. Burke also made a point of repeating he never approached Kaberle to waive the clause.
"Tomas Kaberle has a no-trade clause, and that was given to him in good faith," Burke said. "I think players can only get them if they have a certain level of seniority and a certain level of expertise. And I think organizations are bound by those things, whether it's the same GM who gave it to the player or not."
The Leafs made their biggest deal on the eve of the deadline, trading winger Alex Ponikarovsky to Pittsburgh as part of a three-player deal. Toronto acquired 21-year-old forward Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula from the Penguins, but flipped Skoula to the New Jersey Devils for a fifth-round draft pick Wednesday.
Burke also shipped forward Lee Stempniak to Phoenix for defenseman Matt Jones and the Coyotes' fourth-round and seventh-round draft choices in 2010.
In other moves, the Leafs acquired defenseman Chris Peluso from Pittsburgh for a sixth-round draft pick, and traded goalie Joey MacDonald to Anaheim for the Ducks' seventh-round pick in 2011.
Stempniak and Ponikarovsky can both become unrestricted free agents this summer. Burke said Ponikarovsky was traded after the sides failed to terms on the length of a new contract.
"His agent said he wants a four-year contract extension, and I'm not interested in that," Burke said. "When I see some of the contracts that are being awarded, my guess is that this is the right way for Poni to go, too. He thinks he can get a four-year deal somewhere, and my guess is, he probably will — but I'm not giving him a four-year deal."
Sharks make no moves at trade deadline
SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson stood pat at the NHL trading deadline on Wednesday, believing he already has the pieces in place to make the long playoff run that has eluded the team in recent years.
"We believe in them," Wilson said shortly after the deadline passed. "We're pleased with our team and are looking forward to staying healthy as we go forward."
San Jose entered the day atop the Western Conference standings with 89 points, two points ahead of Chicago. The Sharks trail Washington by one point for the most in the NHL.
Wilson said he had a few discussions with other teams before the trade deadline but did not see any deal that would improve his team under the constraints of the salary cap.
Wilson made two deals before the Olympic break, acquiring defenseman Niclas Wallin from Carolina for a draft pick and sending enforcer Jody Shelley to the New York Rangers.
"We have all the tools to move forward," goalie Evgeni Nabokov said. "We are second in the league for a reason."
Coach Todd McLellan said he is pleased with his team, which has undergone many changes since last summer with the addition of players such as Dany Heatley, Manny Malhotra, Scott Nichol and Jed Ortmeyer.
He also has confidence in a group of young players who have been shuttling back and forth from Worcester of the AHL for most of the season.
"We believe in the rest of the guys in the locker room," McLellan said. "The leadership is there. The guys just have to go out and do it and make good on it."
Regular season success is nothing new for San Jose but has not led to postseason glory. The Sharks set franchise records and NHL bests with 53 victories and 117 points last season. That raised hopes that after three straight second-round losses, the Sharks could finally get over that hump and into a Western Conference final or beyond.
But they struggled late in the season and then lost the first two games at home to the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks and were eliminated in six games. That marked just the third time since the current playoff format was adopted before the 1993-94 season that the team that won the Presidents' Trophy failed to get out of the first round.
Questions about playoff success will hound the Sharks in the upcoming weeks.
"Until we get to that point we won't be too sure about anything," captain Rob Blake said. "We've accomplished what we needed to do so far in this season. We have 19 games left to secure a spot up top and move on to the postseason."
The Sharks are missing defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was placed on the injured reserve list with a lower body injury. He has missed nine straight games but is expected back before the end of the month.
The Sharks reassigned forward Dwight Helminen and defenseman Jason Demers to Worcester of the American Hockey League. McLellan said the team sent down Demers for a week to 10 days in order to get a better look at Wallin and Jay Leach, who was acquired from Montreal in December.
-- Josh Dubow
Flames acquire D Staios from rival Oilers
CALGARY, Alberta — The Edmonton Oilers traded defenseman Steve Staios to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday in a deal between two of the NHL's biggest rivals.
The Flames acquired the 36-year-old defenseman for 26-year-old defenseman Aaron Johnson and a third-round draft pick in either 2010 or 2011 before the NHL trade deadline.
Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter said he made the deal to acquire a veteran defenseman to help the Flames (30-23-9) make a stretch run for a playoff spot.
"Steve's a player that I've liked for a long time obviously and (I've) seen him in that Calgary-Edmonton rivalry lots over the years," Sutter said. "Thankfully we get him."
It marked the first time the adversaries in the Battle of Alberta agreed on a swap.
"I've tried lots," said Sutter, who worked on the deal for a month. "There's not very many of that type of quality veteran leadership type of defensemen in the market. If they were, we felt that they weren't as good as Steve or they were making a lot more money. You're talking about a top guy in terms of leadership, and that's really important to our team."
In 40 games for the Oilers this season, Staios has seven assists and a minus-19 rating. He has one year left on his contract worth $2.2 million and is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2010-11 season.
The Flames also swapped backup goaltenders with the Anaheim Ducks, acquiring Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney. Calgary then traded forward Dustin Boyd to the Nashville Predators for a fourth round draft pick.
Neither Staios nor Toskala arrived in Calgary in time to play Wednesday night against the Minnesota Wild. Matt Keetley was recalled from the AHL's Abbotsford Heat to back up goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
Blues acquire forwards D'Agostini, Labrie
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues acquired forwards Matt D'Agostini and Pierre-Cedric Labrie ahead of the NHL's trade deadline Wednesday.
D'Agostini had two goals, two assists and 26 penalty minutes in 40 games for the Montreal Canadiens this season, and scored 12 goals with nine assists and 16 penalty minutes in 53 games in 2008-09. He was Montreal's sixth-round draft pick in 2005.
D'Agostini is expected to join St. Louis for a game Thursday in Dallas. To make room, the team assigned 36-year-old forward Derek Armstrong to their American Hockey League affiliate in Peoria, Ill.
To get D'Agostini, St. Louis sent prospect Aaron Palushaj to Montreal. Palushaj is 20 and was the 44th overall pick in the 2007 draft. He had five goals and 17 assists in 44 games for Peoria this season.
The Blues traded center Yan Stastny to Vancouver to get Labrie, a 23-year-old forward who had five goals, one assist and 69 penalty minutes for Manitoba of the AHL. Signed by Vancouver as a free agent in 2007, he will report to Peoria.
Stastny has played in parts of four NHL seasons, all with the Blues, with six goals, 10 assists and 58 penalty minutes. He spent most of this season in Peoria. In four games with St. Louis, he had one goal.
Red Wings, Rangers beat deadline with minor trade
DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings have acquired prospect Jordan Owens from the New York Rangers in exchange for seldom-used forward Kris Newbury.
The move came Wednesday, before the NHL's trade deadline.
The 28-year-old Newbury played in four games for the Red Wings and scored one goal. He had 33 points in 52 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the American Hockey League. The 23-year-old Owens had 19 points in 50 games for the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack this season.
New York also acquired defenseman Anders Eriksson from the Phoenix Coyotes for minor league goalie Miika Wiikman and a seventh-round pick in next year's draft. The 35-year-old Eriksson will report to Hartford of the AHL. Eriksson has played in 564 NHL games over 11 years with Detroit, Chicago, Florida, Toronto, Columbus, Calgary and Phoenix.
He had three assists in 12 games after signing with the Coyotes on Dec. 21.
Detroit was not expected to make a major move because injured players such as Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Andreas Lilja and Niklas Kronwall have returned to the lineup.
Kings acquire Halpern, Modin in separate trades
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings have acquired veteran center Jeff Halpern and forward Fredrik Modin to help their push toward their first playoff spot since 2002.
Halpern was acquired Wednesday from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a trade for center Teddy Purcell and a third-round pick in the upcoming draft.
The Kings got Modin from Columbus for a conditional seventh-round pick.
Halpern spent his first six NHL seasons with the Washington Capitals, becoming captain before stops in Dallas and Tampa Bay. He has 17 points in 55 games with the Lightning.
Purcell had six points in 41 games as a seldom-used forward in Los Angeles.
Modin has just six points with the Blue Jackets after starting the season with an injury, but the veteran Swede has valuable playoff experience, winning a Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004.
Bruins send Morris to Coyotes, get Seidenberg
BOSTON — The Boston Bruins have traded defenseman Derek Morris to the Phoenix Coyotes and acquired defenseman Dennis Seidenberg from the Florida Panthers in separate deals before the NHL's trade deadline.
Morris has three goals, 22 assists and 26 penalty minutes in 58 games for the Bruins this season. Morris finished the 2008-09 season with five goals, 15 assists and 40 penalty minutes in 75 games for the Coyotes and the New York Rangers.
The Bruins sent forwards Byron Bitz and Craig Weller to Florida for Seidenberg. The Panthers also traded the rights to Ohio State defenseman Matt Bartkowski to Boston and got a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.
Seidenberg, a member of Germany's 2010 Olympic team, has appeared in 62 games for the Panthers this season.
Commentary: NHL does best to kill Olympic hockey buzz
In Pittsburgh, they cheered louder for a rival goalie than their own hero, but the home fans couldn't be blamed. Like anyone else on either side of the border, they simply got caught up in one of the greatest hockey stories ever.
The Penguins and Sabres were a decent enough matchup on any other night. But who could get the drama that was Canada and the United States just a few days earlier off their mind?
Hockey fans couldn't, and neither could a lot of people around the country who wouldn't know the difference between a Zamboni and a blue line. They all sat in front of the television Sunday afternoon as the drama played out on the ice in Vancouver with a lot more than just a gold medal at stake.
It was the most viewed hockey game in 30 years, and one of the greatest sports events of the last 30 years. An average of nearly 28 million people watched in the U.S. alone, or about 27 million more than the average weekend day game on NBC.
The exposure was huge for hockey. The resulting buzz was just as good.
NHL owners should have been high-fiving each other from one end of the ice to another. They should have been making plans to capitalize on the kind of publicity that money truly can't buy.
Instead, they were muttering about Russia four years from now, and trotting out their commissioner to make vague threats about not allowing NHL players to compete.
Talk about a buzz kill.
People into hockey — and that includes almost every resident up north — have long dreamed of the day when something glorious lifted their sport from niche status into the mainstream. The gold medal game did that — if just for one fleeting moment — and all of hockey celebrated almost as much as Canada did.
But now it's back to reality. There's a season to finish, some interminable playoffs to endure.
And more griping from owners about how, yes, the Olympics were a nice event, but there's no reason to interrupt a perfectly good NHL season every four years to make sure the best players are in them. Especially if they're in a time zone not conducive to prime time TV and if NHL owners aren't making money on them.
The last part is key, because there's not much any owner won't do if there's a wad of cash involved. Indeed, that's part of the posturing coming from commissioner Gary Bettman, who has to be hearing plenty from his owners on how the league sacrifices everything to accommodate the Olympics and gets almost nothing in return.
Bettman talked during the Olympics about the "destruction" the games do to the league, then issued a statement after the gold medal game making sure everyone knew it was really the NHL's game and the NHL's players who made it so special. Bettman's message was clear: If the Olympics want to keep using NHL players like they have since 1998, it will be on terms far more favorable to the league.
There's not a lot that can be done about the two-week hiatus the NHL has to take, but there could be limits on how many players go from each team and the NHL may push for more control over licensing and the video from the games. Conceivably, there could be a cash payment from the IOC to compensate the league for its trouble.
Russia's star Alex Ovechkin has already made it clear he's playing no matter what, but he's a superstar and superstars can get away with things their teammates can't. If the NHL doesn't get its way, he may be lacing them up with a bunch of junior players.
My guess is all the blustering by the NHL is just posturing before talks with the IOC and before negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with players. Deep down, even the most hard-nosed owners have to understand that this is all good for hockey.
Then again, these are the same guys who robbed their loyal fans of an entire season of hockey with a lockout that shut down the league, so don't sell them short.
It's not unthinkable to think they would rob hockey fans of their next Olympics.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org.
Elsewhere
Olympics over, Sabres' Miller back on the job
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Once Ryan Miller finally got home to Buffalo early Wednesday, he tossed his Olympic silver medal "somewhere" on his dresser. And when he got to the rink for practice, the goalie was thinking about playoffs, not a podium.
The surroundings were familiar and so was Miller's routine. He stepped on the ice, skated to his customary place on the Sabres logo at center and launched his usual stretching regimen.
Fun time is over for Miller. As enjoyable as it was becoming an Olympic star at the Vancouver Games, Miller's back to his regular job with the Sabres and focused on securing a playoff berth during the regular season's final six weeks.
"There's no time to really sit and reflect. Certainly, I am happy with my performance," Miller said. "I guess it's sinking in a little bit. But you come back, and you've got to get to work."
Though Miller was intent on resuming his routine, the definition of normal for him might have changed. Miller played a leading role in the U.S.' better-than-expected silver-medal performance, a run that ended with a 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the gold medal game Sunday.
Between interviews with Ryan Seacrest and shown on NBC celebrating at the closing ceremonies, Miller — his unshaven beard, gangly body and shrug-of-the-shoulders demeanor — was selected the tournament MVP by posting a 5-1 record while allowing only eight goals.
"Heh, heh, I don't know how it's changed too much. I've been playing goalie for a while now," Miller said, regarding his growing public persona. "It's just more people are aware of things, I guess. That's kind of what the Olympics brings out: More people are paying attention."
The attention people are paying Miller was evident before Buffalo's game at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, when Miller was introduced as the backup and received a standing ovation from the packed house of Penguins fans.
"You don't always step into a visiting rink expecting something positive," Miller said. "It was a little surreal."
It was much of the same on Wednesday night, when Buffalo hosted the Washington Capitals. Making his first start since the Olympics, Miller received a 45-second standing ovation as he was the last of seven local Vancouver Games' medalists honored by the Sabres.
Several fans brought U.S. flags and many more chanted "USA! USA!" as Miller acknowledged the cheers with several waves from the goal crease.
Miller-mania was already apparent during the pre-game practice, which is open to the public. A larger than usual crowd of about 100 were on hand to catch a glimpse of Miller.
"He took a country by storm and proved what he could do," said Matt Bradley, who got a seat directly behind the Sabres bench.
In Buffalo, Miller is regarded as the key to the Sabres' chances of making a deep playoff run this season. Already mentioned as a Vezina Trophy candidate, Miller ranks second in the NHL in goals-against average (2.16) and save percentage (93).
With a 30-15-7 record, Miller has accounted for all but three of Buffalo's victories this season. The Sabres (33-20-9) are fifth in the Eastern Conference, but have been slumping, going 1-6-2 in their past nine games following a 3-1 loss to Washington.
Miller picked up where he left off in Vancouver by making 37 saves against the Capitals, but ultimately it wasn't enough.
In a bid to shake up the team and bolster its offense, general manager Darcy Regier made two trades before the NHL trading deadline on Wednesday. In the more significant deal, Buffalo acquired forward Raffi Torres from Columbus in exchange for a second-round draft pick and sparingly used defenseman Nathan Paetsch.
With 19 goals this season, Torres immediately becomes Buffalo's leading scorer. An eight-year NHL veteran who also played with Edmonton and the Islanders, he has 177 points (98 goals, 79 assists) in 418 career games.
The Sabres also dealt forward Clarke MacArthur to Atlanta in exchange for third- and fourth-round draft picks.
Trades aside, Regier discussed how key Miller is to Buffalo.
"He's certainly the backbone," he said.
Coach Lindy Ruff, who was a Team Canada assistant, became an even bigger fan of Miller after his performance at Vancouver.
"The Olympics, when you tear it all down, it's about great performances," Ruff said. "You have to put up great performance after great performance, and I thought Ryan just kept doing it and gave that team a chance to be on the podium."
-- John Wawrow
Blackhawks say they're OK with goalies
CHICAGO — Cristobal Huet and Antii Niemi got a vote of confidence from their general manager and coach after the Chicago Blackhawks failed to land a new goaltender at the Wednesday trade deadline.
The Blackhawks currently are second in the West with 87 points. With a stretch run to the playoffs ahead, many thought Chicago would try to strengthen the most visible and often most important position on the ice.
"We're not letting in a lot of goals," general manager Stan Bowman said, adding he's satisfied with Huet and Niemi.
"We have confidence in our goaltenders. We're a team. We win as a team and we lose as a team. I don't think it's fair to put it on one position."
Niemi had replaced Huet as the starter for four games — all wins — before the Olympic break, but was pulled Tuesday night after giving up three goals on 12 shots to the Islanders, including two within 25 seconds of one another. Huet, playing for the first time since early February, replaced Niemi and gave up two more scores.
Huet has played in 43 games this season, is 24-12-4 and has a 2.31 goals against average. Niemi has appeared in 23 games with a 2.26 goals against average and is 17-4-1. They have four shutouts each.
Coach Joel Quenneville said both would play in the final six weeks of the regular season and then the Blackhawks would stick with one once the playoffs begin. Last season they went with Nikolai Khabibulin in the playoffs and reached the Western Conference finals.
Huet, in the second year of a 4-year, $24.45 million deal, was 1-2 in the playoffs a year ago after Khabibulin was injured.
"I've been saying all along that I believe in these two and I think you know they've been here and they've gotten us to this point," Bowman said.
Bowman said he couldn't reach a deal for any position, despite extensive conversations with a number of teams. But he said the Blackhawks were comfortable with their roster.
"To just disrupt that at this point just to say you made a trade was never going to happen," he added.
Huet was to start Wednesday night against Edmonton in Chicago's first home game since the Olympic break.
"I think the scrutiny and level of attention goaltenders get is certainly in place across the board," said Quenneville, saying the entire defense needs to tighten up.
"I think our group all year long has been fine," he said of Huet and Niemi. "It's been part of our success. It's been relatively consistent."
The Blackhawks did make some minor deals earlier in the week. They acquired goalie Hannu Toivonen and defenseman Danny Richmond from the Blues for goalie Joe Fallon and assigned their new players to Rockford of the AHL. They also acquired defenseman Nick Boynton from the Ducks for future considerations. He also was sent to Rockford.
-- Rick Gano
Ovechkin ready to put Olympics behind him
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alex Ovechkin is refocused on the NHL, and not the fallout in Russia following his country's poor performance at the Vancouver Games.
"I'll talk about the NHL, and no more Olympics, please," Ovechkin said after a brief practice in Buffalo on Wednesday morning before the Washington Capitals' game against the Sabres. For Ovechkin, it's his first game since Russia's 7-3 loss to Canada in the quarterfinals of the Olympic men's hockey tournament last week.
Though the NHL's leading scorer described the Olympic experience as good, Ovechkin sidestepped a question about the latest news in Russia that Leonid Tyagachev, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee since 2001, had lost his job after the nation won just 15 medals — and only three gold — in Vancouver.
"I've said, we're all disappointed, but let's move forward," said Ovechkin, who has 42 goals and 47 assists in 54 games this season. "Let's talk about the future, not what happened in the tournament."
The Russian men's hockey team's inability to win a medal was considered a major disappointment for a star-studded group that was projected to contend for the gold medal.
With the Capitals, Ovechkin has reason to look forward. Washington (41-13-8) enters the game against Buffalo with a league-leading 90 points. With 20 games left, the Capitals have all but secured a playoff berth.
"You just can't wait until the season's going to be over and the playoffs are going to start," he said. "The most important thing that when you go to the playoffs, you're in good shape, you're not tired and you just concentrate on your game."
The Capitals had won 14 straight before entering the NHL's Olympic break on an 0-1-2 skid, capped by a 4-3 shootout loss to St. Louis on Feb. 13.
-- John Wawrow
Tampa Bay Lightning sale finalized
TAMPA, Fla. — The sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning to Boston Red Sox minority owner Jeff Vinik is complete.
The NHL's Board of Governors gave unanimous approval to the deal Wednesday. Vinik agreed to buy the team, the company that operates the St. Pete Times Forum, and more than five acres of land adjacent to the downtown arena on Feb. 4.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The Boston financier reportedly paid about $110 million cash — substantially less than the $206 million a group led by Oren Koules and Len Barrie paid for the franchise in June 2008.
Vinik takes controls of a franchise that's struggled on the ice and at the box office since winning the Stanley Cup in 2004.
"The Lightning is a great franchise in a terrific community," Vinik said in a statement released by the team. "We thank Oren Koules and his partners for beginning the turn-around of the Lightning hockey club. Our goal now is to build a world-class organization, on and off the ice."
Prior to being purchased by Koules and Barrie, the Lightning had been owned since 1999 by Palace Sports & Entertainment, a group led by the late Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson that helped transform Tampa Bay from a perennial last-place team into a Stanley Cup champion.
Vinik, 50, managed Fidelity's Magellan Fund before founding Vinik Asset Management.
Ponikarovsky to miss game while acquiring visa
PITTSBURGH — Newly acquired forward Alex Ponikarovsky won't play for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Rangers in New York on Thursday night because he lacks a U.S. work visa.
Because Ponikarovsky became a Canadian citizen while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the process for obtaining the work visa should take only a couple of days. A native of the Ukraine, he could play for Pittsburgh during Saturday's home game against Dallas.
The visa is required when a citizen of another country accepts employment in the United States.
The Penguins acquired Ponikarovsky from the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night for prospect Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula, who was subsequently traded to New Jersey for a fifth-round draft pick.
Sabres C Gaustad to miss a week after hurting hand
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres center Paul Gaustad will miss at least a week with what the team is calling an upper body injury.
Coach Lindy Ruff would not provide details on the injury on Wednesday ahead of the game against Washington.
Gaustad appeared to hurt his right hand during a fight with Mike Rupp in the third period of Buffalo's 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Gaustad has nine goals and seven assists for 16 points in 49 games this season.
