With all the moving and shaking leading up to the National Hockey League’s trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon, AHL teams continue to feel the aftershocks.
Brad Boyes, the AHL’s fourth-leading scorer with 60 points in 61 games for Cleveland this season, has been acquired by the Boston Bruins in a three-team trade.
Boyes, an AHL All-Star and All-Rookie Team selection a year ago, was a first-round draft choice by Toronto in 2000. He was dealt by the Maple Leafs to San Jose last March in a trade for Owen Nolan.
This season, Boyes has been one of the big reasons the Barons are poised to reach the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time in three seasons. The Mississauga, Ont., native has 25 goals and 35 assists with Cleveland, and made his NHL debut with the Sharks on Sunday afternoon.
The three-team swap also featured 1998 Calder Cup champion defenseman Andy Delmore going from Buffalo to Boston, defenseman Jeff Jillson heading from Boston to Buffalo and 1996 Calder Cup champion Curtis Brown moving from Buffalo to San Jose.
In other deadline-day dealing, the Ottawa Senators obtained former AHL All-Star defenseman Greg de Vries from the New York Rangers in exchange for Karel Rachunek and Binghamton forward Alexandre Giroux.
In 59 games with the B-Sens this season, Giroux has 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points, good for second on the team in scoring. His plus-15 rating is tops on the club.
Vancouver sent defenseman Martin Grenier and forward R.J. Umberger to the Rangers for Martin Rucinsky. Grenier has five goals, four assists and 145 penalty minutes in 38 contests with Manitoba this season; Umberger was Vancouver’s first-round pick in the 2001 draft, but did not sign with the Canucks after three seasons at Ohio State.
The Canucks also dealt Ryan Ready to St. Louis for fellow 2003 AHL All-Star Sergei Varlamov. Ready has seven goals and 18 assists in 64 games with Manitoba this season, while Varlamov has picked up seven goals and 16 assists in 43 contests with Worcester.
Finally, Vancouver sent defenseman Rene Vydareny to Montreal for veteran forward Sylvain Blouin. The 22-year-old Vydareny has two goals and 10 assists in 52 games with Manitoba in 2003-04, while Blouin has two goals, one assist and 75 PIM in 29 matches for Hamilton.
St. Louis also traded defenseman Tom Koivisto to Phoenix for future considerations. Koivisto has picked up four goals and 13 assists in 28 games with Worcester this season.
Colorado sent forward Jordan Krestanovich to Minnesota for Chris Bala. Krestanovich has four goals and 15 assists in 38 games with Hershey this year, while Bala has posted seven goals and 11 assists in 61 contests with Houston.
Colorado’s acquisition of goaltender Tommy Salo from Edmonton led to the assignment of 2003 AHL All-Star Philippe Sauve to the Hershey Bears. Sauve, a second-round pick by the Avalanche in 2000, has a career AHL record of 68-58-19 with 14 shutouts in 157 games with Hershey.
The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired forward Lasse Pirjeta from Columbus for Brian Holzinger, another member of Rochester’s 1996 Calder Cup title team. Pirjeta was assigned to Syracuse on Feb. 26, and had one goal and two assists in five games with the Crunch.
In a waiver transaction on Tuesday afternoon, the Rangers also claimed forward Mike Green from Florida. Green has recorded 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points in 45 games with San Antonio this season, and has skated in 11 matches with the Panthers, registering one assist. He made his NHL debut on February 3 at San Jose.
The Rangers later sent forward Paul Healey to Florida for defenseman Jeff Paul. Healey, a Calder Cup champion with Philadelphia in 1998, has 11 goals and 10 assists in 51 games with Hartford this season. Paul has two goals, six assists and 174 penalty minutes in 57 matches with the Rampage.
On Monday, the Florida Panthers acquired center Kamil Piros from the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for defenseman Kyle Rossiter.
Piros, 25, has recorded 10 goals and 20 assists in 50 games with the Chicago Wolves this season. A member of the Wolves’ Calder Cup championship team in 2002, Piros has also skated in 14 NHL contests with the Thrashers in 2003-04, tallying one assist. Rossiter, 23, has five goals and seven assists in 51 AHL matches with San Antonio this season. The former second-round draft pick (30th overall in 1998) has played four games for the NHL Panthers this year.
Also Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Steve Webb to the New York Islanders for Alain Nasreddine.
Webb had four goals and seven assists in 30 AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. He previously played in the Islanders’ system from 1996-2003, including 311 NHL games with New York. Nasreddine had one goal and six assists in 53 contests with Bridgeport this year. His AHL experience includes trips to the conference finals with Fredricton in 1999 and with Hamilton in 2002.
