Canucks, Predators interrupt sleepy day
A National Hockey League trade deadline slower than dial-up Internet and as slumbersome as a Ken Dryden speech finally gathered steam just past the 1 p.m. MT cut-off when the Vancouver Canucks announced they’d made their play.
In a swap of top-drawer prospects and former first-round picks, the Canucks sent skilled centre Cody Hodgson to the Buffalo Sabres for rugged winger Zack Kassian.
The 21-year-old Kassian secured an element Canucks critics had long been lamenting — toughness.
“I was not expecting this at all,” Kassian said. “I just want to thank Buffalo. They did a lot for me and I’m very excited to go contend for a (Stanley) Cup now. It’s going to be very exciting. They’re a Canadian team. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
In Hodgson, the Sabres land a player that hadn’t found a fit, or enough room on the roster, to play with Vancouver and will get a chance to flourish as a top-line forward in Buffalo.
The 22-year-old — picked 10th overall in 2008 — had 16 goals and 17 assists in 63 games with Vancouver. Kassian, 21, had split his season between Rochester of the American Hockey League and Buffalo. He had three goals and four assists in 27 NHL games.
The trade also saw the team swap defenders — the canucks sent 27 - yearold Alex Sulzer to Buffalo for 24-yearold Marc-andre Gragnani.
Earlier, Vancouver added Stanley Cup-winning centre Sami Pahlsson from Columbus for two fourthround picks this year. They also added forward Andrew Gordon from Anaheim.
“It feels great. It’s a chance for me to get to the playoffs and a chance at (the Stanley Cup) again,” Pahlsson, a member of the Ducks’ 2007 championship team, said on a conference call.
Outside of the major late-developing move, the general managers could conjure only 15 deals Monday — on what generally is a 20-plus deal day — and it made for a sleepy day in front of computer screens and TVS for a hockey-hungry nation.
Beyond the numbers, and likely of more interest to the public, there were no other trades of great significance.
Clearly the lack of sellers drove the prices sky-high for the prospective buyers. Thanks a lot, parity. The busiest and most effective club would be Nashville.
The Predators made a couple of moves to bolster an already rich roster. Nashville added checking centre Paul Gaustad from Buffalo and a 2013 fourth-round pick for a first-rounder in 2012.
The Preds also reunited the Kostitsyn brothers. Forward Andrei hops from Montreal to join Sergei, with Nashville surrendering a secondround pick in 2013 plus the conditional fifth-round selection in 2013 they landed from Montreal in the Hal Gill deal last week.