The Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks have finally gotten the ball rolling on this year’s trade deadline.
Around noon, Thursday, the Ducks traded forward Chris Kunitz ($3.725 million/season), and prospect forward Erik Tangradi (Belleville Bulls) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenceman Ryan Whitney ($3 million/season).
This is an interesting trade for both teams, as both are sitting in 10th place in their respective conferences.
For the Ducks, it gives them three solid mainstays on the blueline. Along with Whitney, they have Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermeyer, one of whom is most likely going to be traded within the next week. Whitney is in his second year of a six-year contract.
The Penguins get a perennial 20-goal scorer, and someone to potentially play on Sidney Crosby’s wing. He’s under contract for three more years, and has playoff experience in winning a cup with Anaheim in 2007. They also get Tangradi, a second-round draft pick that has 87 points so far this season with the Belleville Bulls.
Both teams apparently aren’t finishing dealing, especially the Penguins, with it being clear that they need some more help up front if they expect to make a run towards the playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens continued to revamp their blueline when they sent forward Steve Begin to the Dallas Stars earlier this evening for D Doug Janik.
The former second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Janik, will be joining his fourth NHL team in the past four seasons. He’s appeared in 13 games for the Stars this season, registering one point.
The Stars are getting gritty checking-line forward Begin, who in his ninth full season has played in just 42 games this year. He has six goals and 10 points to go along with his 27 PIMs. Begin’s best season came in ‘05-’05 when he scored 11 goals and added 12 assists in 76 games.
Keep checking back for all of your trade deadline information.
Topics: Anaheim Ducks, Chris Kunitz, Dallas Stars, Doug Janik, Erik Tangradi, Montreal Canadiens, NHL Trade Deadline 2009, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan Whitney, Steve Begin
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