Ducks send Cullen, Trnka to Florida, acquire All-Star
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Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Attempting to end a three-year postseason drought, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks acquired All-Star defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh and left wing/defenseman Lance Ward from Florida on Thursday for center Matt Cullen, defenseman Pavel Trnka and a fourth-round pick in next year's NHL entry draft.
Ward
Ozolinsh
Entering Thursday night's game at San Jose, the Ducks had 53 points and trailed Colorado by one point for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth. Florida entered its game at Detroit with 47 points to rank 12th in the Eastern Conference.
The 30-year-old Ozolinsh has seven goals and 19 assists in 51 games this season. He was voted into the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference in Sunday's All-Star Game, to be played in Florida. It will mark his fourth straight All-Star appearance and seventh overall -- six of them starts.
Ozolinsh played in 83 games last season for Carolina and Florida with 14 goals and 38 assists, ranking him fifth among NHL defensemen.
A 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, Ozolinsh represented Latvia in the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City. He has played in 712 regular-season games with 148 goals and 343 assists. Since his first NHL season in 1992-93, he trails only Al MacInnis (164) of St. Louis in goals by a defenseman.
Drafted by San Jose 12 years ago, Ozolinsh was a member of Colorado's 1996 Stanley Cup championship team. He led all defenseman in points with 19 in 22 postseason games that year.
Ward, in his third NHL season, had three goals and one assist in 36 games for the Panthers. The 24-year-old has four goals and seven assists in 134 career games -- all with Florida.
Cullen, 26, had seven goals and 14 assists in 49 games for the Mighty Ducks this season. A second-round draft pick of the Ducks in 1996, he has 65 goals and 135 assists in 426 NHL games.
Trnka, 26, has three goals and six assists in 24 games. Drafted by Anaheim in 1994, he has 11 goals and 47 assists in 322 career games.
"Matt Cullen and Pavel Trnka are both very solid young players, who are moving into the prime stages of their careers,'' Panthers general manager Rick Dudley said. "We feel that we have improved our team now and for years to come.''
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