STOCKHOLM, (OTHL) - - At the day of the trade deadline, a total of 17 trades were completed. And while a majority of the deals were on the minor scale, there were a couple bigger deals made. Colorado and Toronto made the day’s first big deal, as Shawn Horcoff, Tyler Arnason and Kurtis Foster was sent to Denver, while Brad Boyes and Jacub Kindl were sent up north to Canada and Toronto. Then it took until the last hour before the deadline, before we saw another big deal, and this time it was a major deal as Vincent LeCavalier was traded from Nashville to Pittsburgh, in exchange for Patrice Bergeron and a couple of draft picks, including the Penguins 1st round pick in the 2007 entry draft.
A move that surprised a lot of people, including LeCavalier himself who was set for a long playoff run with the Nashville Predators. Instead he will now play out the season with Pittsburgh, before preparing for the 2007-2008 season with his new team.
“I am very surprised as I thought I was going to stay here in Nashville. Obvious no player is safe, but I thought we had a good team and a good chance in the conference. Now I am going to a new team, and I will do what I can to help them this season and in the future.” – LeCavalier himself said as he was on his way to the airport.
Nashville is currently 5th in the western conference, with 84 points in 73 games. They are right now in a fight with Edmonton over fourth place in the conference. Pittsburgh is 12th in the east with 10 points up to the last playoff spot, with only 9 games left to play.
Patrice Bergeron has played 73 games this season, scoring 22 goals and 67 points with a +8 rating so far this season. Vincent LeCavalier has also scored 67 points in 73 games, but has 30 goals and a +31 rating.
OTHL Trades this season