Thrashers add speed in trade for MacArthur

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Thrashers' locker room just got a little more crowded.

At Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline, the team acquired forward Clarke MacArthur from Buffalo for a third- and a fourth-round draft pick.

The move gives the Thrashers 15 forwards on the active roster, including Evgeny Artyukhin, who was acquired Monday from Anaheim.

“We recognize that’s going to be an issue,” Thrashers general manager Don Waddell. “Everyone is healthy right now, which is a very good thing. We have 17 games this month, and to think we are going to get through this stretch healthy, we’ll be very fortunate. We’ll address it. Now we’ve got competition for jobs. I look at it as a very healthy situation. If you play well, you’re going to continue to play. If you have a bad night or a night off, there are other guys waiting to take your job.”

One forward the Thrashers were unable to trade was Slava Kozlov. The veteran requested a trade earlier this month because of his reduced role with the team. Waddell said he was unable to accommodate the assistant captain, who was willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to a playoff contender.

“There wasn’t a buyer for [him],” Waddell said. “We had small interest early in the day and as the day went on that weeded. We couldn’t move him, so he’s still a Thrasher and is going to be one for the rest of the year.

“We never had an offer to bring to him.”

The Thrashers were active in the trade market early in an effort to make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history. Before the Olympic break they acquired forward Niclas Bergfors and defenseman Johnny Oduya, along with a prospect and a first-round draft pick, in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade with New Jersey. They also traded goaltender Kari Lehtonen to Dallas for a prospect and a fourth-round pick.

MacArthur, 5-foot-11, 191 pounds, has 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in 60 games for Buffalo this season. He has a plus-minus rating of minus-14. The 24-year-old was a third-round pick (74th overall) by Buffalo in 2003. He had 79 points (41 goals, 38 assists) over four seasons with the Sabres.

Waddell said that after adding size to his forward corps with the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Artyukhin, he added speed with MacArthur.

“I think he’ll be a second- or third-line guy,” Waddell said. “The way we look at our top nine forwards are right now, we’d be hard press to say what is our No. 1 line, our No. 2, our No. 3 line. I think if you are going to have success in the NHL you have to have three lines that can score. … We’ll find a spot in there for him and go from there.”

Artyukhin arrived in Atlanta late Tuesday night and practiced with the team Wednesday. Waddell said he will start in a fourth-line role but that his “skill level is greater than what he’s been able to show.”

“I’m going to use [my size], for sure,” Artyukhin said. “I will do my best, play physical and shoot the puck. I want to help this team make the playoffs.”

Artyukhin skated with Rich Peverley and Maxim Afinogenov on Wednesday, but coach John Anderson said that was not an indication of the line he might be on. Anderson said he just wanted to see him on the ice.

“He’s big,” Anderson said. “He’s big and fast. He looked good out there.”

Kozlov, who has been a healthy scratch in nine of the past 11 games, said before the trade deadline expired that he would not be bothered if he weren't traded.

For now, the roster is crowded, but the playoffs are the goal. The Thrashers are 3-1-2 in the six games since the trading barrage began by sending Kovalchuk to New Jersey.

The Thrashers have 24 players on their active roster, meaning there will be four healthy scratches per game. Defenseman Chris Chelios, whom the team signed Tuesday, cleared waivers and was re-assigned to AHL Chicago.

“I think this is a strong statement to our players, to our fans, that we believe we can make the playoffs, and that’s why we were buyers and not sellers,” Waddell said.