Come visit the south

A week after the Nashville Predators offered Peter Forsberg some southern comfort, the Carolina Hurricanes offered the same to Anson Carter, who played very well in his Hurricanes debut last night. Now the Thrashers are joining the party, acquiring Keith Tkachuk and Alex Zhitnik over the weekend.

Going back to the Carter deal, the Canes gave up a fifth-round pick for Carter, who will make an impact in Carolina. With just 18 games remaining, Carter brings size, grit and a deft scoring touch to the table. Shame on every other team in the league for not even kicking the tires on this one.

All season long, the Blues have been demanding a king’s ransom for Tkachuk, and they found the suckers to pay it. Tkachuk heads from the Blues to Blueland in Atlanta for Glen Metropolit and three draft picks. Tkachuk is enjoying a much better season this year than last, and he’s collected 43 points in 61 games. He still has the potential to be an impact player, but he’s certainly not worth the package the Thrashers gave up. But Tkachuk is a name player, again, with the potential to be a difference maker down the stretch and into the playoffs. It’s a move Thrashers’ GM Don Waddell thought he needed to make, and good on him for making it.

A move he probably didn’t need to make was to acquire one of Philadelphia’s defensemen. That said, Zhitnik is a good defenseman, and should slide nicely into Atlanta’s back end. He led the Flyers in ice time, at more than 25 minutes a game, though he won’t be expected to log that kind of ice time with Atlanta. Zhitnik will make for a nice top-four guy, and with Andy Sutton, Greg de Vries and Niclas Havelid, the Thrashers have a nice group of top defensemen.

The key to the trade is prospect Braydon Coburn. The young defenseman has spent most of the last three seasons in the American League after being drafted eighth overall by Atlanta in 2003. Coburn still has the tools to become a very good NHL defenseman, though not necessarily the stud the Thrashers thought they’d drafted. Coburn is expected to join the Flyers right away, and he’ll be given lots of room to grow with this young group.

We’re excited for the next 48 hours around here, and excited to see what happens.