The division-leading Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders each bolstered their lineups with moves at the National Hockey League trade deadline.
The Atlantic division-leading Canadiens, who lead the Eastern Conference with 41 wins and 87 points over 62 games, obtained defenseman Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers for two picks in this year’s NHL Draft and forward Brian Flynn from Buffalo for a 2016 draft pick.
Petry, 27, has scored four goals in 59 games for Edmonton this season and 17 goals over 295 career NHL games.
Flynn, 26, has five goals this season and 17 over 159 career NHL games, all with the Sabres.
“Whatever I can do to help the team, that’s what I am going to do,” Flynn said. “They’ve got a really deep lineup, a lot of good forwards, a lot of guys who can score.”
The Metropolitan division-leading Islanders, second in the East at 84 points, obtained forward Tyler Kennedy from San Jose and Dustin Jeffrey from Vancouver in exchange for forward Cory Conacher.
Kennedy, 28, has four goals this season and has netted 84 goals while setting up 110 others over 464 career games with San Jose and Pittsburgh, which he helped to a Stanley Cup crown in 2009.
In one of the biggest trades before the deadline, the Tampa Bay Lightning traded for defenseman Braydon Coburn.
The Lightning shipped defenseman Radko Gudas, a first round draft pick and a third round pick to the Philadelphia for Coburn, who was in his ninth season with the Flyers.
There were two dozen trades on Monday but very few big name players as most teams seemed content to tweak their lineups rather than shake up their dressing rooms.
One player that didn’t move on Monday was embattled Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp who is having his worst season since 2007. Sharp, who is minus-13 on the season, has just one goal in his last 13 games.
Detroit swung a deal with New Jersey to obtain veteran Czech defenseman Marek Zidlicky.
St. Louis also bolstered their blueline unit by obtaining defenseman Zbynek Michalek from the Arizona Coyotes and Robert Bortuzzo from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Blues, third in the Western Conference on 85 points, rank eighth in the NHL defensively with only 2.48 goals allowed a game.