ANAHEIM — What has become a popular pre-trade move in the NHL finally made its way to Honda Center on Wednesday.
Defensemen John Klingberg and Dmitry Kulikov were not on the ice for the morning skate in advance of the Ducks’ game against the Washington Capitals, having been ruled out for the contest because of trade-related reasons.
Although the Ducks said nothing was imminent in terms of a trade involving either pending unrestricted free agent Klingberg or Kulikov, the ground seems to be shifting almost hourly around the NHL, leading up to Friday’s noon PT deadline. Some players – Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun, for instance – sat out for a lengthy stretch of time until he was finally traded to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday afternoon. Chychrun’s last game played for the Coyotes was on Feb. 10.
Then there was goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, ruled out of the Columbus Blue Jackets’ game against Buffalo for trade-related reasons on Tuesday and moved hours later to the Kings in the Jonathan Quick deal. And news surfaced during the Ducks’ morning skate that Capitals forward Lars Eller had been traded to Colorado.
“I do understand it with the players, there’s obviously a lot of chatter,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “This year’s trade deadline has been very busy. I know players are keeping on top of everything. The reality is – for most of the guys – you can be traded at any point all year long.
“… Where we’re at as a rebuilding team obviously there could be some guys out the door with opportunities elsewhere.”
Eakins said he spoke on Tuesday with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek about Klingberg and Kulikov.
“I totally understand it,” Eakins said. “It’s no different for them tonight than (when) they’re banged up a little bit and can’t play. You’ve got to insert other people.”
Ducks assistant coach Mike Stothers said the defense pairings against the Capitals would be: Cam Fowler-Nathan Beaulieu; Simon Benoit-Kevin Shattenkirk; and Scott Harrington-Colton White.
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Harrington was the newest player on the scene, having been claimed on waivers on Tuesday from the New Jersey Devils. It’s been a hectic few days for Harrington, who was traded to the Devils from the San Jose Sharks on Sunday in the Timo Meier deal. He was able to remain in the San Jose area until the Devils were able to determine their plans for him.
“I appreciated that because there’s been a couple of long days,” Harrington said. “It all worked out for the best.”
He said he was “shocked,” at first, not expecting to be traded. “It’s exciting – at the same time – and then to find out I was going on waivers was pretty disappointing,” Harrington said. “When I found out I got claimed by Anaheim, I was thrilled. Kind of a roller-coaster of emotions the last couple of days. I’m really excited to be here.”
Harrington already knew a handful of Ducks players. He played youth hockey with Ryan Strome, junior hockey in London, Ontario with goaltender Anthony Stolarz for a year and was once coached by Nathan Beaulieu’s father, and was a teammate of Jayson Megna in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Sam Carrick in Toronto.