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 As
expected, the Columbus Blue
Jackets were active during
Wednesday’s Trade Deadline day.
The day got off to an
uneventful start for the Blue
Jackets and general manager
Scott Howson. He did not
make a move until after 2 p.m.;
less than one hour before the 3
p.m. deadline.
“The day was really slow to
start,” said Howson. “People
certainly knew the players that
were available from our part. We
were making some calls early in
the day and it seemed like teams
had other things going on. I
wasn’t sure what was going to
happen but as we started closing
in on 3 o’clock, teams got more
serious on some of their
offers.”
In five trades, the Jackets
acquired three draft picks, two
prospects and a depth player on
the blue line.
 Forward
Raffi Torres was traded to
Buffalo for defenseman Nathan
Paetsch and a second-round draft
pick. Defenseman Milan Jurcina
was sent back to Washington for
a conditional sixth-round pick.
Fredrik Modin was dealt to the
Los Angeles Kings for a
conditional seventh-round pick.
Jurcina’s stock took a
serious hit on Tuesday when he
returned to Columbus from the
Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He
developed a sports hernia which
will require surgery and cause
him to sit out 2-4 weeks for the
Capitals.
Torres, Jurcina and Modin are
all unrestricted free agents
this summer. Of those three
players, only Torres was in
negotiations for a contract
extension.
“You are never satisfied in a
situation like this,” Howson
said. “You are trading away NHL
players; a lot of times for
futures. You want to be in the
other seat and trying to acquire
to help your team. So there is
always a certain amount of
disappointment when you go
through a day like today.”
Syracuse defenseman Mathieu
Roy was swapped with Florida
forward Matt Rust and former
first-round pick Alexandre
Picard, now with the Syracuse
Crunch, was traded to Phoenix
for center Chad Kolarik.
“With Picard, if we weren’t
going to use him as an NHL
player, it was time for him to
move on,” Howson said. “He had
been up and down a few times. He
wasn’t getting full-time
employment here.”
Paetsch, 26, has a goal and
an assist in 11 games this year
for the Sabres. In 157 NHL
games, Paetsch has seven goals,
12 assists and is a plus-17.
Kolarik, 24, has 17 goals and
18 assists in 59 games for San
Antonio of the American Hockey
League. He is a University of
Michigan grad.
Rust, 20, has 11 goals and 21
assists in 37 games for the
University of Michigan. Howson
said he expects Rust to finish
his senior season of 2010-11
with the Wolverines before
joining the Blue Jackets.
Torres has 19 goals and 12
assists this season for Columbus
and is a free agent at the end
of the season. Jackets General
Manager Scott Howson offered
Torres a two-year, $2
million/per season contract, but
he wants to test the market come
July 1.
“I’m excited,” Torres told
TSN. “I’m hoping I can go there
and help them along the way. I
saw it coming; I was just
waiting for it to come.”
He said he expects to play a
similar role in Buffalo that he
had in Columbus—being a hard
checker and contributing
secondary scoring.
 Jurcina played 17 games with
the Jackets, scoring a goal and
picking up a pair of assists. He
was traded to Columbus with
Chris Clark for Jason Chimera on
Dec. 28, 2009. He had four
assists in 27 games with
Washington before the trade.
Modin, in the final year of
his contract, has two goals and
four assists for the Jackets in
24 games.
Roy had 10 assists in 31
games for the Jackets this
season, while Picard had no
points in nine games.
 Following all of Wednesday’s
trades was the promotion of
Syracuse forward Mike Blunden.
Being demoted from Columbus to
Syracuse is defenseman Grant
Clitsome who played in his NHL
debut on Tuesday offering two
assists and one costly turnover
which allowed Vancouver to tie
the game en route to the
Canucks’ 4-3 overtime victory.
As the Blue Jackets look
forward to next season and
beyond, the team is looking at
options with the free agent
market as well as with the
draft. Howson also expects
current KHL forward Nikita
Filatov to rejoin the squad
after he left the team earlier
in the season.
“The core of our team is
still here,” Howson said. “It is
the core that is going to help
us be successful.”
Columbus makes its last
elongated road trip this week
with stops in San Jose, Los
Angeles and Anaheim before
hosting Atlanta on March 11 at 7
p.m.
Dave.Seaman@columbuswired.tv
Twitter: @DaveSeaman94
@Hockey_Boggs
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