Drury, Yelle Traded to Flames

Colorado Avalanche General Manager Pierre Lacroix has a history of acquiring top defensemen through trades. Normally he waits until the trade deadline, but he considered this one too good to pass up.

The Avalanche traded forwards Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle to the Calgary Flames for defenseman Derek Morris in a five-player deal Tuesday. Colorado also got forwards Dean McAmmond and Jeff Shantz.

“I think history speaks for itself,” Lacroix said. “Every time there’s been a situation with our team that needed to be addressed in the eight years that we’ve been here, we’ve never been afraid of addressing it and fixing it.”

Lacroix brought in Ray Bourque, Rob Blake and Darius Kasparaitis at the trade deadline the last three seasons, but Colorado’s need for a top-line defenseman led to the deal this year.

Morris, 24, played only 61 games last season because of a wrist injury, but still led Calgary defensemen with 30 assists and 34 points.

The deal didn’t come without a price for Colorado.

Drury, 26, was one of Colorado’s best young players and has a knack for coming through in the clutch.

It started at an early age, when he led Trumbull, Conn., over Taiwan in the 1989 Little League World Series and continued at Boston University, where he won the Hobey Baker Award in 1998.

Drury won the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie in 1999 and has been at his best in the playoffs, where he has 26 goals in 80 games. He had three game-winning goals in the playoffs last season and has 11 in the last four postseasons--most in the NHL.

“It is difficult to lose a player like Chris Drury,” Lacroix said. “Chris Drury is an exceptional player and in order to acquire an exceptional player, I think that it’s totally normal that they request a top player.”

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Hartland de Montarville Molson, former head of the family brewing dynasty and longtime owner of the Montreal Canadiens, has died at 95. A statement issued Monday by Molson Inc. announced the death but did not give a date. Molson was president of the Canadiens from 1957 to 1968.... Veteran winger Dixon Ward, who played in Switzerland last season, was signed by the New York Rangers. Ward, 34, has played 529 games in the NHL. He has 95 goals and 129 assists with 429 penalty minutes.