At the Rink: Hurricanes at Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Just when it seemed like the Chicago Blackhawks were done with trades, general manager Stan Bowman struck again Monday to pad their depth down the middle.

Not long after the Blackhawks wrapped up their morning skate at United Center, preparing to play the Carolina Hurricanes, they traded fourth-line forward Ben Smith to the San Jose Sharks for fourth-line center Andrew Desjardins.

Smith, 26, has five goals and four assists in 61 games and has played on the fourth line nearly the entire season. He played in parts of five seasons in Chicago and had 23 goals and 16 assists in 156 games.

Smith had worked his way into a key role on the top penalty-kill unit, but Desjardins also has experience playing shorthanded. Desjardins is not expected to play against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, but Smith might play for the Sharks against the Montreal Canadiens.

Desjardins, 28, gives the Blackhawks another experienced center set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. That's the same as center Antoine Vermette, whom Chicago acquired in a trade Saturday from the Arizona Coyotes. The Blackhawks need some expiring contracts to free up money under the NHL salary cap this summer.

In the meantime, they want as much experienced center depth as they can get heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, something they didn't have enough of in the 2014 Western Conference Final against the Los Angeles Kings.

"I think center's important," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We always talk about defense, and defense and centermen are vital to your success. I think having guys who are able to play center and wing at the same time is a great asset to have, for faceoff reasons, on a need basis, and your flexibility in games based on performances. It gives us a lot more options with middle guys, and as we go along here it'll probably be a little clearer exactly how the lines are going to be."

Desjardins isn't a big scorer (five goals and three assists in 56 games), but adds more grit to the second checking line. He was third on the Sharks with 96 hits, second in penalty minutes (50) and had six fighting majors.

It's unclear whether he'll take over at center of the fourth line or on the wing.

Quenneville jumbled his lines at practice Sunday. He bumped Brad Richards from the second line to center the third group and will use Vermette in the middle of the second line. Brandon Saad was moved from his usual spot at left wing on the top line to right wing on the second line, while Kris Versteeg moved up to the top group with Marian Hossa and captain Jonathan Toews.

"We've got a couple guys coming in with some experience and some excitement as well," Quenneville said. "This is a good group. We've got a lot of depth in certain areas and we're comfortable with our group here going forward."

Hossa did not participate in the morning skate, but Quenneville said he's fine and will play. Vermette went through his first workout with Chicago and veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen went through his second straight day with the Blackhawks. Each will play.

The Hurricanes are expected to use the same lineup as in a 5-2 victory at the New York Islanders on Saturday. After signing center Jay McClement to a two-year contract Sunday, there wasn't much left to do for Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis.

Carolina might get up to 11 picks in the 2015 NHL Draft if the Los Angeles Kings qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as Francis concentrates on rebuilding his franchise through the draft. The Hurricanes recalled defenseman Rasmus Rissanen from the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League on Monday, but the 23-year-old will not play.

"He's going to come up and stay with us the rest of the year, so I've got to get to know him," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "This is an opportunity to show us what he can do. He'll practice with us on Wednesday and we'll just go from there. We plan on playing him and getting him a real good opportunity, so at the end of the year we know what we have."

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford will start and Cam Ward will start for the Hurricanes.

Here are the projected lineups:

HURRICANES

Eric Staal – Jordan Staal – Alexander Semin

Jeff Skinner – Riley Nash – Elias Lindholm

Nathan Gerbe – Victor Rask – Andrej Nestrasil

Brad Malone – Jay McClement – Chris Terry

Ron Hainsey – Justin Faulk

John-Michael Liles – Brett Bellemore

Michal Jordan – Jack Hillen

Cam Ward

Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Patrick Dwyer

Injured: Ryan Murphy (lower body)

BLACKHAWKS

Kris Versteeg – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa

Patrick Sharp – Antoine Vermette – Brandon Saad

Bryan Bickell – Brad Richards – Andrew Shaw

Joakim Nordstrom – Marcus Kruger – Daniel Carcillo

Duncan Keith – David Rundblad

Kimmo Timonen – Brent Seabrook

Niklas Hjalmarsson – Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford

Scott Darling

Scratched: Teuvo Teravainen, Andrew Desjardins

Injured: Patrick Kane (fractured left clavicle), Johnny Oduya (upper body)

Status report: Smith participated in the Blackhawks skate at right wing on the fourth line, and it's uncertain whether Quenneville will play Carcillo in that spot or Teravainen.

Who's hot: Toews had a three-game goal streak end in Tampa Bay on Saturday and Versteeg has scored four goals in nine games since returning from a fractured left hand.