Montreal — He sat in his hotel room at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal and waited. And waited.

Former Thrashers forward Marian Hossa knew he was going to be traded, especially when he was told to hang back at the hotel while the Thrashers practiced Tuesday morning.

RICH ADDICKS / AJC (ENLARGE)

Thrashers GM Don Waddell agreed to a trade for Marian Hossa with seven minutes to spare before the NHL deadline.

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And he didn't think he'd have to travel far.

"I was waiting for Montreal," he admitted later.

But instead, at 2:53 p.m., seven minutes before the trade deadline, Hossa was traded to Pittsburgh, for three players and a 2008 draft pick.

He and Pascal Dupuis join Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, immediately strengthening Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference. In return, the Thrashers get forward Erik Christensen, forward Colby Armstrong, prospect Angelo Esposito and a 2008 first-round pick.

"It's exciting to play with a player like Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin and a bunch of young, talented guys; I'm looking forward to it," Hossa told the Journal-Constitution minutes after the deal was completed.

At the same time, there was a touch of regret leaving the Thrashers, a team he's played with since he was acquired for Dany Heatley in August 2005.

"I had a great time in Atlanta," Hossa said. "It was just fabulous people I was working with. Great teammates, and especially the fans -- they were awesome and really, really nice to me."

When Hossa and the Thrashers couldn't agree to a contract extension and slipped further out of the playoff race, Hossa had to go.

The Thrashers added some needed grit in 25-year-old Armstrong, and a top-six forward in Christensen. They're both excited about the possibility of getting the Thrashers back in the Southeast division race.

"It's kind of exciting, the challenge," Armstrong said from his cellphone en route to Atlanta. "We're going to come in there and work our butts off."

Said Christensen: "They're a good hockey club; we think their building is a tough place to play. They have great talent in Ilya Kovalchuk and Kari Lehtonen. We feel like we have a great chance."

The prize of the deal could be Esposito, who slipped to the 20th pick in last June's draft after being touted as a potential top-10 pick. The 19-year-old center plays in the QMJHL and has 26 goals and 29 assists in 48 games.

Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said he was thrilled to pick up another first-round pick in what is expected to be a deep draft, although he hinted he might prefer to use it in a trade this summer for immediate help.

"Getting that first-round pick was critical to the deal," Waddell said in a news conference before Tuesday night's game against Montreal.

Waddell called the final moments before the deadline "hair-pulling time." Tuesday morning there were reports that Hossa was traded to Montreal, and Waddell later confirmed that the Canadiens came close to landing the All-Star forward.

The offers from competitors sweetened as the day went on. At 11 a.m., Waddell had three serious teams he was discussing a deal with.

"By 2 o'clock, I had six pretty darn good options," Waddell said. "If the deadline would have been 5 o'clock, who knows what I would have got?"

Christensen and Armstrong are expected to join the team in Duluth for practice today; they face Hossa and their former team Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Waddell knew he was pushing it by cutting it so close to the deadline.

"I had seven minutes to spare," he said. "If I had any kind of phone trouble, you would be watching Marian [with us] tonight."

The Thrashers also traded minor-leaguer Alexandre Giroux, a left wing, to Washington for minor-leaguer Joe Motzko, a right wing.