CALGARY – The Calgary Flames traded defenceman Kris Russell to the Dallas Stars on Monday in the final hours before the NHL trade deadline.
In exchange, the team acquired 24-year-old Finnish defenceman Jyrki Jokipakka, 19-year-old centre Brett Pollock and a conditional second-round draft pick for 2016. The condition being, if the Stars reach the conference finals and Russell dresses fifty per cent of the games in the first two rounds, the pick becomes Dallas’ first round choice in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Speaking in a Flames TV interview before the deadline, President of Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames Brian Burke said they made a “concerted effort” to sign Russell, who was an unrestricted free agent.
“We love Rusty. He’s an Alberta kid, he’s everything we want in a player here,” Burke said. “But where our team is, and the players we have coming up to sign limits what we would be in a position to do.”
“His agent said he wants to test the market, and we understand that.”
READ MORE: Live coverage of the 2016 NHL trade deadline
On Saturday, the Flames sent Jiri Hudler to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a second-round draft pick this year and a four-rounder in 2018.
The club had previously acquired forward Hunter Shinkaruk from the Vancouver Canucks for centre Markus Granlund. Shinkaruk, a Calgary native, will be assigned to the AHL’s Stockton Heat.
The Flames kick off their road trip in Philadelphia on Monday, taking on the Flyers at 5 p.m. MST.
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