CALGARY — The Calgary Flames acquired two assets at the NHL trade deadline, but more importantly didn’t have to give up a player in return.
Calgary picked up defenceman Brett Carson off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes before sending a 2011 seventh-round draft pick to the Atlanta Thrashers for veteran forward Frederik Modin.
“We accomplished what we wanted to from a depth standpoint and we didn’t take anyone out of our locker room,” said Calgary’s acting general manager Jay Feaster.
“I think it’s very important that we give this group the opportunity to stay together and try to finish off what they’ve accomplished here over the last couple months.
“From our perspective we’re very pleased with what happened today.”
Since Feaster took over the GM duties from Darryl Sutter two months ago, the Flames (32-23-9) have gone 16-5-6 to climb into a playoff position in the heavily-competitive Western Conference.
With so many teams still in playoff contention, Feaster said trades were harder to make this year.
“You had a whole lot more buyers than sellers,” Feaster said. “I think that made it even more difficult this time around.”
In Modin, the Flames get a 36-year-old forward who has played in 894 career NHL games. Modin was a member of Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup-winning team that beat Calgary in 2004 when Feaster was the Lightning GM.
“We bring in what is essentially the 13th forward now and we bring in a winner,” Feaster said.
“We bring in someone who has won a Stanley Cup, who has won Olympic gold, someone who has won a gold medal at the world championship and someone who I think is going to fit in very, very nicely within the fabric and the character of our room.”
Modin is scheduled to join the Flames in St. Louis in time for the club’s game Tuesday night against the Blues.
“I’m going to talk to the coaches (Tuesday) to see what kind of plans they have for me and where they think I’ll fit in,” Modin said. “I’m an older guy, I’ve been around for a while and hopefully I can bring some experience to them.
“I’m going to do whatever I can to help out in whatever position they want me to.”
Modin has fond memories of playing in front of fans at the Saddledome during the 2004 final.
“Anytime anybody mentions Calgary and 2004 comes up,” he said. “Playing and being there in Calgary and all the crazy fans around there and the loud building, it’s a lot of fun.
“I’m really excited about going there.”
Although Feaster said Modin is in the “twilight of his career,” he added the six-foot-three, 218-pound left-winger still has some offensive upside.
“Freddy is a big man,” Feaster said. “He’s a very, very strong player physically. He still has the booming shot.”
Carson, 25, was originally drafted in the fourth round, 109th overall, of the 2004 NHL draft when he still played for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.
“He was thrilled to know that he’s actually going to have a bigger locker room space than he did the last time he was in Calgary,” Feaster said.
The six-foot-four, 220-pound Carson appeared in 72 career games with Carolina.
“He’s a big guy who we feel moves the puck well,” Feaster said. “He keeps his game simple.
“The situation we’re in right now, having a little bit more experience as we go down the stretch, we think is a good thing.”
Feaster also talked to other teams about bigger deals, but couldn’t get anything done before the deadline.
“We had some where we thought we might be moving toward a deal and then the deal was off the table because the other team had something else happen ... but nothing that was imminent,” he said.
Feaster confirmed other teams inquired about Curtis Glencross, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
“We obviously got phone calls about Curtis and so we did look at those things,” Feaster said. “We looked at the offers that were presented, but at the end of the day there was nothing coming back that we felt was going to improve our hockey club more than having Curtis here.
“We still have until July 1 to work all that out.”