Busiest Deadline Day in NHL History Ends
If the NHL wanted to cut down deadline dealing, it didn‘t work. With goaltenders and defensemen drawing the most attention, 25 trades involving 40 players were completed Thursday before the league cutoff. It didn‘t matter that clubs faced their first deadline in the salary cap era or that the end of trading was moved up two weeks to keep teams from giving up hope on the playoffs.
Some like the New York Islanders did, but with 23 of the 30 teams within seven points of a postseason spot at the start of the day, the dealing hit a frenzied pace before the afternoon whistle blew.
The Vancouver Canucks made the biggest splash on the busiest deadline day in NHL history, acquiring backup goalie Mika Noronen and defensemen Sean Brown, Keith Carney, Juha Alen and Eric Weinrich in four separate deals.
"The goal was to shore up our D and see if we could improve in net," Canucks general manager Dave Nonis said. "On the back end, we‘re going to get some bodies back but the timing is uncertain. We felt we needed some character and strength on the back end."
Carolina wasn‘t content to sit back even though the Hurricanes have the most points in the NHL. Less than a week after losing Erik Cole for at least the rest of the regular season, the Hurricanes convinced high-scoring forward Mark Recchi to waive his no-trade clause and leave the Pittsburgh Penguins .
"I didn‘t feel pressure to do it, it wasn‘t an absolute necessity," Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford said. "It‘s not like we were out looking at several players. While the loss of Erik hurts our team, if we weren‘t able to get Mark Recchi, we weren‘t going to get anyone else."
"There‘s a lot more moves than I thought and that people thought there was going to be," Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "I think a lot of teams in the West made themselves better over the last 48 hours."
One of those clubs was the Edmonton Oilers , who acquired left winger Sergei Samsonov from the Boston Bruins for centers Marty Reasoner and Yan Stastny, and a second-round draft pick this year. Another was Colorado, which picked up goalie Jose Theodore from Montreal on Wednesday for goalie David Aebischer.
Vancouver sent a second-round pick and defenseman Brett Skinner to Anaheim for Carney and Alen, and another second-round choice to Buffalo for Noronen, who will help spell workhorse goaltender Alex Auld.
Chicago, just above St. Louis at the bottom of the Western Conference, went the other way and unloaded several veterans in exchange for a host of draft choices.
Despite being only seven points out in the East, the Islanders pretty much said a fourth straight playoff appearance was out of reach. Just one night after dealing forward Mark Parrish and defenseman Brent Sopel to Los Angeles for two former first-round picks, New York dealt off more veterans.
The Islanders traded defenseman Brad Lukowich to the New Jersey Devils and forward Oleg Kvasha to the Phoenix Coyotes for a pair of third-round picks in this year‘s draft.
Kvasha was acquired with Parrish from Florida on June 24, 2000, in the deal that sent goalie Roberto Luongo and forward Olli Jokinen to the Panthers. That trade more than any other marked general manager Mike Milbury‘s disappointing tenure that failed to produce a playoff series victory in his 10-plus years in charge.
Luongo has emerged as one of the league‘s top goalies, and Jokinen is the Panthers‘ captain and leading scorer this season. He was also on the trading block Thursday but signed a four-year deal to remain in Florida and not become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Lukowich is the second defenseman acquired by New Jersey in two days, joining Ken Klee, dealt by Toronto on Wednesday.
"Brad Lukowich provides additional depth and experience to our defense," Devils coach and GM Lou Lamoriello said.
Their area rivals, the New York Rangers , made a similar move by acquiring defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh from Anaheim for the third-round choice they picked up Wednesday in the deal that sent Ville Nieminen to San Jose.
The Devils also picked up center Jason Wiemer from Calgary for a fourth-round pick.
Also active in the Atlantic Division were the Philadelphia Flyers , who closed within one point of the first-place Rangers on Wednesday.
Philadelphia acquired defenseman Denis Gauthier for forward Josh Gratton and two second-round draft choices, and traded a third-round selection to San Jose for right wing Niko Dimitrakos.
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