Hossa joins Sid the Kid

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 27, 2008

It was no surprise the Atlanta Thrashers traded All-Star forward Marian Hossa, but his landing beside Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh seemingly came out of nowhere.

Hossa, set for unrestricted free agency in July, went to the Penguins along with forward Pascal Dupuis just before Tuesday's trade deadline. It was the headline move on what has traditionally become a seismic day in the NHL.

The Penguins paid a hefty price for Hossa, a two-time 40-goal scorer, trading top forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, 2007 first-round draft pick Angelo Esposito and a future first- round draft pick. It was one of two big moves for Pittsburgh, which also acquired hulking defenseman Hal Gill from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In all, NHL teams made 25 trades involving 45 players in the six hours before the noon deadline. The number of deals matched the league record, equaling each of the past two years, and the players moved fell one short of the mark set in 2003.

Among the other deals:

-Tampa Bay moved center Brad Richards and goalie Johan Holmqvist to the Dallas Stars for backup goalie Mike Smith, forwards Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern and a fourth-round draft pick next year.

-The Washington Capitals acquired goalie Cristobal Huet from the Montreal Canadiens for a second-round pick in next year's draft, and secured six-time All-Star Sergei Fedorov from Columbus for defenseman Theo Ruth, forward Matt Cooke from the Vancouver Canucks for left wing Matt Pettinger, and left wing Alexandre Giroux from Atlanta for right wing Joe Motzko.

-The New York Islanders sent troubled forward Chris Simon to the Minnesota Wild for a sixth-round pick, and traded defenseman Marc- Andre Bergeron to Anaheim for a third-round selection.

-Anaheim traded right wing Brandon Bochenski to Nashville, and dealt right wing Brandon Segal and a seventh-round draft pick to Tampa Bay for defenseman Jay Leach.

-Los Angeles sent defenseman Brad Stuart to Detroit for two draft picks and goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin to Anaheim for a draft pick.

Game highlights

David Krejci scored his first goal, and Tim Thomas stopped 22 shots for his second shutout as the Boston Bruins won their fourth consecutive, 4-0 over Ottawa. ... Ty Conklin stopped a career-high 50 shots for Pittsburgh in a 4-2 victory over the Islanders. ... Brooks Laich had two goals and assisted on two others to lead the Capitals over the Wild 4-1. ... Loui Eriksson scored twice, and Mike Ribeiro added a pair of assists in a three-goal third period as the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1. ... Robert Nilsson scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 for their league-record 13th shootout win this season. ... Paul Stastny set up the tying goal, then scored the overtime winner as Colorado came from behind for a 3-2 victory over Calgary.