Kings shore up third, fourth lines ahead of NHL trade deadline
Operating from an unusual position of strength before Wednesday’s trade deadline, the Kings acquired secondary forwards Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay and Fredrik Modin from Columbus to strengthen their hold on a playoff spot. The cost was modest: For Halpern they traded unproductive winger Teddy Purcell and a third-round draft pick, and they got Modin for a conditional pick in this year’s draft.
The Ducks, still chasing the top eight in the West, found much-needed reinforcements on defense. They acquired former King Lubomir Visnovsky from Edmonton to run their power play for defenseman Ryan Whitney and a sixth-round draft pick, and got standout shot-blocker Aaron Ward from Carolina for goalie Justin Pogge and a fourth-round pick this year or next.
The Ducks also restructured their goaltending behind starter Jonas Hiller by sending Vesa Toskala to Calgary for backup Curtis McElhinney and trading a seventh-round pick to Toronto for minor-league goalie Joey MacDonald. In addition, the Ducks traded forward Petteri Nokelainen to Phoenix for a sixth-round pick.
NHL teams made a deadline-day record 31 trades that moved 55 players. Trades were strategic rather than stunning.
“We addressed our defensive situation, which hasn’t been real good this year. That is not a shot at Ryan Whitney, but our defense hasn’t played well,” Ducks General Manager Bob Murray said. “We had to improve if we’re going to go anywhere. I think we’ve done that.”
The Kings, who last month walked away from Carolina winger Ray Whitney when he wanted a long-term contract, looked at him again, but the Hurricanes asked too much. The Kings also considered winger Alex Ponikarovsky, traded by Toronto to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
With the most-skilled players gone and with injured winger Justin Williams weeks from returning, Kings GM Dean Lombardi sought role players to stabilize his third and fourth lines. He found them in Halpern, 33, and Modin, 35. Both can become unrestricted free agents July 1.
“Halpern was a guy we liked. He’s an honest player, he can do a lot of things for you, everything from a fourth-line center to move up,” Lombardi said, noting that Halpern played a defensive role on a top line with Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Malone.
“We’ve also seen him do that checking-penalty killing-faceoff role. So he was a guy we targeted.”
He said Modin carried a “marginal risk” as a big forward who can kill penalties. “I’m pretty happy adding this,” Lombardi said, “and getting Williams back in a couple weeks will be like a free deal.”
In acquiring Visnovsky, the Ducks traded one Olympian for another: Visnovsky played for fourth-place Slovakia and Whitney for the runner-up U.S. But Whitney hardly played in close games because of his deficiencies on defense, a problem that in Anaheim wasn’t balanced by his scoring. He had four goals and 28 points in 62 games with the Ducks.
“It’s tough. It’s a surprise, but it’s a new start,” he said. “I’m happy to be going there. They’re a team that’s rebuilding, but hopefully I can be a leader there and be a part of that.”
Visnovsky and Whitney are signed through the 2012-13 season. Visnovsky’s cap hit will be $5.6 million per season.
“I’m very happy I will be playing for the Ducks and I go back to California,” said Visnovsky, who played 499 games for the Kings before he was traded to Edmonton in 2008. “I’m a little bit surprised because I have a big contract and lots of teams don’t have space for my contract. I’m happy the Ducks did.”
Around the NHL, the Capitals and Coyotes appeared to be the big winners.
Washington took advantage of Carolina’s fire sale to grab gritty forward Scott Walker for a seventh-round pick and got solid defenseman Joe Corvo for defenseman Brian Pothier, a prospect and a second-round draft pick. Washington also sent a second-round pick to Minnesota for Eric Belanger and reacquired defenseman Milan Jurcina from Columbus for a conditional pick. Jurcina is expected to miss a few weeks because of hernia surgery.
Phoenix, purchased by the NHL after falling into bankruptcy, was surprisingly active. The Coyotes acquired former 20-goal scorers Wojtek Wolski from Colorado and Lee Stempniak from Toronto, and defensemen Derek Morris and Mathieu Schneider from Boston and Vancouver, respectively.
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