Blockbuster Trades on Deadline Day

The Colorado Avalanche announced today that the team has acquired goaltender Reto Berra from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a second-round selection in the 2014 NHL Draft. Berra, 27, has appeared in 29 games for the Flames this year, posting a 9-17-2 record with a 2.95 goals-against average. He began the year with Abbotsford of the American Hockey League, compiling a 4-3-1 record with a 2.66 GAA and a .908 save percentage in nine games. Recalled by Calgary on Nov. 2, Berra stopped 42 shots in a 3-2 OT victory over the Blackhawks in his NHL debut on Nov. 3 at Chicago. The Bulach, Switzerland native represented his country at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia last month, posting a 0-1 record with a 1.02 GAA in one start for the Swiss. He stopped 30 of 31 shots in a 1-0 loss to Sweden on Feb. 14. Selected by St. Louis in the fourth round (106th overall) in the 2006 Entry Draft, Berra was acquired by Calgary on April 1, 2013. The 6-foot-4, 194-pound netminder had spent his entire career in Switzerland prior to this year. In addition to the Berra acquisition, the Avalanche also announced today that the club has signed defenseman Cody Corbett to a three-year, entry-level contract. Corbett, 20, has recorded 56 points (16g/40a) in 58 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League this season. His 56 points lead all Edmonton defensemen and tie him for fifth among league blueliners. A native of Lakeland, Minn., the 6-foot-1, 194-pound defenseman is in his third season with Edmonton, where he has 124 points (29g/95a) in 183 career games.

The Washington Capitals on Tuesday acquired forward Dustin Penner from the Anaheim Ducks, adding a veteran with postseason experience to their push for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Ducks get back a fourth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft which they had previously traded to the Capitals. The 31-year-old, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, said he hopes to be in the lineup when the Capitals visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night and added that he had no indication he was about to be traded. Penner has 13 goals and 32 points in 49 games this season, his first back with Anaheim. He began his career with the Ducks in 2005-06 and won the Stanley Cup with them the following season before signing an offer sheet with the Edmonton Oilers which the Ducks elected not to match. Penner had a career-high 32 goals and 63 points with the Oilers during the 2009-10 season but was traded to the Los Angeles Kings at the 2011 NHL Trade Deadline. The following year he won his second Stanley Cup. Penner has 150 goals and 307 points in 571 regular-season games. He has 13 goals and 35 points in 78 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He's familiar with at least one of his new teammates; Penner and Washington forward Eric Fehr both come from Winkler, Manitoba. At 6-foot-4, 247 pounds, Penner should provide size as well as some scoring ability. On Wednesday the Crapitals acquired goaltender Jaroslav Halak and a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft from the Buffalo Sabres for goaltender Michal Neuvirth and defenseman Rostislav Klesla. Halak had joined the Sabres on Friday as part of the trade that sent Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to the St. Louis Blues. He leaves Buffalo without playing a game for the Sabres; he was the backup to Jhonas Enroth on Monday against the Dallas Stars. In 40 games this season, Halak is 24-9-4 with a 2.23 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He can be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Halak, 28, has a history with the Capitals. In the first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs he backstopped the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens to a seven-game upset of top-seeded Washington, ending the club's Stanley Cup hopes after a Presidents' Trophy-winning season. He allowed three goals on 124 shots in the final three games of the series. A 2003 ninth-round pick of the Canadiens, Halak has 139 wins and 26 shutouts in 260 NHL games with the Canadiens and Blues. Neuvirth, 25, is 4-6-2 with a 2.82 GAA and .914 save percentage in 13 games this season. A 2006 second-round pick (No. 34), Neuvirth has a career record of 59-41-13 in 134 games, all with the Capitals. Neuvirth was scheduled to back up starter Braden Holtby on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals had acquired Klesla on Tuesday from the Phoenix Coyotes as part of the Martin Erat trade. The 31-year-old had one goal and three assists in 25 games with the Coyotes.

The Minnesota Wild have acquired forward Matt Moulson from the Buffalo Sabres, John Vogl of the Buffalo News reported. Minnesota also received forward Cody McCormick from the Sabres for forward Torrey Mitchell and multiple draft picks, according to Vogl. Moulson was one of the top players expected to be available on NHL Trade Deadline day. He has 17 goals and 38 points in 55 games this season, which began with the New York Islanders before he was traded to the Sabres as part of a package for Thomas Vanek in late October. A 30-year-old left wing, Moulson is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He had 11 goals and 29 points in 44 games with the Sabres after spending nearly his entire career playing next to John Tavares with the Islanders. McCormick, who turns 31 next month, has one goal and five points in 29 games for the Sabres. He is also scheduled to be a UFA at the end of the season. Mitchell, 29, has one year left on his contract with an average annual value of $1.9 million. He has one goal and nine points in 58 games for the Wild this season.

The New York Islanders traded Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday for a second-round draft pick and a prospect Sebastian Collberg. Vanek is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the season. He turned down a contract extension from the Islanders last month because he appears intent on testing his market value when the free-agent signing period opens July 1. The Islanders acquired Vanek in late October in a trade that sent Matt Moulson, a conditional first-round draft pick and a 2015 second-round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres. Moulson reportedly was traded to the Minnesota Wild around the same time the news broke on Vanek's trade to the Canadiens. Montreal is second in the Atlantic Division with 75 points, eight behind the first-place Boston Bruins. The Canadiens are 20th in the League in goals (2.48 per game) and 13th on the power play at 19.7 percent. Vanek had 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 47 games with the Islanders. He had instant chemistry with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo as the three made up the Islanders' top line and one of the best forward lines in the NHL for a while. The Islanders fell out of the Stanley Cup Playoff race last month, and Tavares sustained a season-ending knee injury playing for Canada in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. With Vanek turning down the contract extension last month, a trade out of Long Island seemed inevitable.

The Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday acquired added goaltender Viktor Fasth from the Anaheim Ducks in a trade for two draft picks. Anaheim receives a fifth-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft and a third-round choice in the 2015 draft for Fasth. The 31-year-old has made five appearances this season because of injuries, but he is healthy. He is 2-2-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. The Ducks signed Fasth to a two-year, $5.8 million contract after a strong rookie season in 2012-13. He went 15-6-2 with a .921 save percentage and 2.18 GAA after several strong years in Sweden. Edmonton acquired goalie Ben Scrivens from the Los Angeles Kings earlier this season. The Oilers began the season with Devan Dubnyk as their starter but traded him to the Nashville Predators. The Oilers signed Ilya Bryzgalov as a free agent but traded him Tuesday to the Minnesota Wild. Anaheim had the best goaltending depth in the NHL, which allowed the Ducks to make this trade. Frederik Andersen, a 24-year-old rookie, moves from No. 3 to No. 2 on the depth chart. He is 15-3-0 for the Ducks this season in 19 appearances, taking advantage of the time Fasth has missed. Andersen has a .929 save percentage and a 2.12 GAA for Anaheim. The Ducks also have 20-year-old John Gibson, one of the best prospects in the world at the position.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded right wing Marian Gaborik to the Los Angeles Kings, a team desperate for goals, according to a report by TSN. Matt Frattin, a second-round pick and a third-round pick are reportedly heading back to the Blue Jackets in the trade. The third-round pick turns into a second-round pick if the Kings win one round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or if Gaborik re-signs with L.A., according to the Columbus Dispatch. Only three teams in the NHL have scored fewer goals than the Kings. Gaborik will be expected to contribute in that category. Gaborik is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the season. He was also traded on NHL Trade Deadline day last season, when the New York Rangers moved him to the Blue Jackets in a blockbuster which brought Derick Brassard, John Moore and Derek Dorsett to the Big Apple. However, Gaborik played in only 34 of 74 games with the Blue Jackets. He missed 40 games this season with injuries, including 23 with a broken collarbone that prevented him from playing for Slovakia in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Kings need some offensive help (they average 2.32 goals per game) and they have to be hoping Gaborik finds his game so he can help them make a push for another Stanley Cup. Gaborik has six goals and 14 points in 22 games this season, including a goal and an assist in four games since returning from his broken collarbone. He is a three-time 40-goal scorer and has 342 goals in 791 career NHL games with the Minnesota Wild, Rangers and Blue Jackets. Frattin had six points in 40 games with the Kings. He was acquired this past summer in the trade that sent Jonathan Bernier to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This isn't the first time Kings general manager Dean Lombardi has gone to the Blue Jackets for offensive help. Lombardi acquired Jeff Carter from Columbus shortly before the deadline in 2012. It turned out to be a major acquisition as Carter helped the Kings win the Stanley Cup a few months later. He scored four goals in the Stanley Cup Final, including the overtime winner in Game 2 and the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. The Blue Jackets bolstered their defense Wednesday by acquiring Nick Schultz from the Edmonton Oilers in a trade for a fifth-round draft pick, according to multiple reports. Schultz is 31 years old and has played 871 NHL games with the Minnesota Wild and Oilers. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Schultz comes to the Blue Jackets at a time when their blue line is in a bit of disarray because of injuries. Fedor Tyutin injured his ankle during the 2014 Sochi Olympics and is on injured reserve. Ryan Murray sustained a lower-body injury Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs and did not play Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. He is considered day-to-day. Schultz had no goals and four assists with a minus-11 rating in 60 gam

The Vancouver Canucks have finally traded goaltender Roberto Luongo, moving him to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. Vancouver traded Luongo and forward Steven Anthony to Florida for goalie Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias. Luongo has been the subject of trade rumors since losing his starting job to Cory Schneider during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Luongo is 19-16-6 this season with a .917 save percentage and a 2.38 goals-against average. He has 367 NHL victories, which places him 16th on the all-time list. Luongo, who turns 35 years old a month from Tuesday, is second on the active wins list behind New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur (683 before play Tuesday). This is the fourth season of a 12-year, $64 million contract Luongo signed in September 2009. It carries an average annual value of $5.33 million and runs through 2021-22. Florida general manager Dale Tallon said during a conference call that the Canucks are picking up 15 percent of Luongo's salary for the remainder of the contract. It was shortly after watching Schneider finish Vancouver's first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 that Luongo reportedly first requested a trade. He and Schneider spent the entire 2012-13 season together, and Luongo started the first two games of the first-round series against the San Jose Sharks because Schneider was injured. Schneider started the final two games of the four-game sweep by San Jose. Schneider was traded to the New Jersey Devils at the 2013 NHL Draft for a first-round pick (No. 9), which was used to select forward Bo Horvat. Luongo reclaimed the No. 1 spot on Vancouver's depth chart when Schneider was traded, but another controversy about his playing time developed in the past week. Eddie Lack has started all of Vancouver's games since the 2014 Sochi Olympics ended after Luongo lost his final five starts before the break. The Canucks are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08 and after five consecutive division championships. Canucks coach John Tortorella named Lack the starter for the 2014 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic on Sunday, a decision that was controversial at the time and disappointed Luongo. Markstrom, 24, was a second-round pick (No. 31) by the Panthers in the 2008 NHL Draft. He's been considered one of the best goaltending prospects in the world for a couple of seasons but has yet to prove he can be consistent at the NHL level. He is 11-25-5 in 43 appearances with an .898 save percentage with the Oilers this season.

Other Deals:

Ruutu CAR – Loktionov NYJ

Dubnyk NSH – Future Considerations MTL

Hemsky EDM – Draft Picks OTW

Bryzgalov EDM – Draft Pick MIN

Weaver FLA – Draft Pick MTL