Last Minute Deal Brings Slegr to Hockeytown

The Detroit Red Wings waited until nine minutes before the NHL’s trade deadline to make a move.

After seeing highly-coveted Darius Kasparaitis head to the Colorado Avalanche and Lyle Odelein get dealt to the division-rival Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit dealt Yuri Butsayev and their third-round pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft to the Atlanta Thrashers for gritty defenseman Jiri Slegr.

Slegr, twenty-nine, has three goals and five assists in thirty-eight games with the Thrashers. He brings with him a minus twenty-one rating and fifty-one penalty minutes. He had previously played for Vancouver, Edmonton and Pittsburgh before being dealt to Atlanta last season.

Butsayev, twenty-two and the Red Wings’ first choice, forty-ninth overall, in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, has six goals and four assists across three seasons in the NHL with Detroit.

The trade is one of thirteen reported on Tuesday, the day of the NHL’s trade deadline.