| | ST. LOUIS -- In desperate need of a scoring forward, the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night acquired veteran left wing Derek King from the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Tyler Harlton and an exchange of eighth-round draft choices in the 2000 draft.
| |  | | | King |
King, 32, has no points in three games with Toronto this season
after collecting 24 goals and 28 assists in 81 games last year.
The 6-foot, 200-pound King began his career with the New York
Islanders in 1986-87 and enjoyed his best season in 1991-92,
when he had 40 goals and a career-high 78 points playing on a
line with current Blues center Pierre Turgeon.
St. Louis might have lost left wing Geoff Courtnall for the rest
of the season after he took a high hit from Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard on Saturday. Courtnall missed more than 50 games last season with post-concussion syndrome, and his career might be in jeopardy.
"St. Louis approached us, which was probably spawned by the Geoff Courtnall injury," Toronto coach and general manager Pat Quinn said. "I talked to Derek early in training camp, and I
said that I wasn't sure how much ice he was going to get. For a veteran guy that can still make a contribution, we thought it would be in the best interest of both parties to allow him to go to a place where he would have a chance to play."
Quinn said the Maple Leafs will pay part of King's $1.8 million salary, but wouldn't say how much. He did say the main motivation for the trade was not to dump salary, but rather to keep the Maple Leafs near the 23-man roster limit.
King appeared in 12 games for the Hartford Whalers in 1996-97
before spending the last two seasons with the Maple Leafs. He
has 259 goals and 344 assists in 811 NHL games.
Harlton, 23, has no points in three games for Worcester of the
American Hockey League this season. He split last season
between Worcester and Peoria of the East Coast Hockey League.
Harlton is 6-foot-2 and 212 pounds. He had two goals and adding five
assists in 58 games with Worcester last season.
The native of Pense, Saskatchewan, was drafted 94th overall in 1994.
"Scouts think he might have a chance at making it," Quinn said. | |
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