The Dallas Stars made one more deal before the NHL's trade deadline Wednesday, sending forward Lauri Korpikoski to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defense prospect Dillon Heatherington.
It was the fourth trade in six days for Stars GM Jim Nill, who also moved forward Patrick Eaves, defenseman Jordie Benn, and defenseman Johnny Oduya.
"It's busy for the wrong reason to tell you the truth. You'd like to be a buyer at this time of year. But it's the situation we put ourselves in, and we know we have to get better," Nill said. "When you have the [pending unrestricted free agents], you have to decide to re-sign them or try to get some assets for them. It's all about asset allocation right now. The other part that comes into play is the expansion draft, and that came into play in a lot of these moves. You can only protect some players, you know you're going to lose some players, so you're better off to get something for players before you lose them and that was our mindset going into this week."
Stars make one last deal before deadline
Korpikoski to Columbus for defense prospect; injury that will eventually require surgery keeps Sharp off the trade market
