Toronto, ON). Today Toronto made its second deal in a weak towards a rebuild trading backup goalie Andrew Raycroft and 2011 SUF #2 round pick to the Notre Dame Hounds for Antti Niemi. This trade appears to solidify the teams goaltending future with both Anti Niemi and Michael Neuvirth in the system. Both these goalies hold a bright future for the team and should battle each other for backup duties to Niklas Backstrom for next season.
GM Thom Welch said, "Unfortunately Nik is having an off year and we did not have a viable alternative in-house and Neuvirth is in the farm for the year. The addition of Antti will hopefully stabilize our nets and bring us back to respectability. We know this year is going to be difficult, but with a little hard work we expect to challenge for the playoffs".
Toronto traded perennial All-Star forward Martin St. Louis earlier in the week for the 2nd rounder included in this deal. However, Toronto also picked up all around forward Wojtek Wolski in the deal who projects as a TOP 6 forward going into next season. Rumblings indicate Kovalchuk may be ticketed out of town as well, but the rumor mill is always in force around the ACC.
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