Expect Phones To Ring As Trade Deadline Nears

The phones of National Hockey League general managers will be ringing off the hook this weekend as Tuesday’s trade deadline approaches.

Last season, 13 trades involving 21 players were made leading up to the deadline.

The biggest names this season - Adam Oates and Doug Gilmour - already have been gobbled up in trades. But with playoff races in both the Eastern and Western Conferences extremely close, a lot of fine-tuning will be done before the deadline.

The St. Louis Blues hope to solidify their defense and are rumored to have an interest in ex-Blue Steve Duchesne of Ottawa. St. Louis would be willing to give up Stephane Matteau and Igor Kravchuk.

With its playoff hopes fading, Toronto might clean house. The Maple Leafs have already traded Gilmour to New Jersey, and there has been talk of Kirk Muller and Tie Domi heading to the New York Rangers.

Philadelphia is shopping for a goaltender, apparently not convinced Ron Hextall and Garth Snow can get them to the Stanley Cup finals.

Best of enemies

There won’t be any fan mail for Dallas’ Mike Modano from Edmonton captain Kelly Buchberger.

Buchberger has been getting into some tussles with the Stars’ center in recent games. Twice, Stars’ captain Derian Hatcher has come to the defense of Modano and fought Buchberger.

Buchberger says he is not fond of Modano.

“I don’t like the guy,” Buchberger told the Edmonton Journal. “I don’t respect him. He thinks he’s a superstar, but he’s not (Wayne) Gretzky or (Mark) Messier. They work hard. He runs around sticking guys.”

Andreychuk reaches milestone

Dave Andreychuk scored his 500th NHL goal as the New Jersey Devils extended their home unbeaten streak to 15 by beating the Washington Capitals 3-2 Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J.

Andreychuk scored on a power play to become just the 26th player, and second in as many days, to score 500. Pittsburgh’s Joe Mullen did it Friday night.

Elsewhere …

Brian Holzinger scored two goals and Michael Peca had a goal and two assists as visiting Buffalo defeated Philadelphia 7-5, despite being outshot 44-20… . Curtis Joseph stopped 43 shots and Jason Arnott scored the winning goal in the second period as Edmonton defeated Hartford 4-2 in Hartford, Conn., … Rookie Anson Carter’s third goal in six games since becoming a Bruin broke a tie in the second period and helped Boston beat the visiting New York Islanders 5-2… . Brian Noonan scored twice and added an assist as Vancouver posted a 5-2 road win over Tampa Bay and snapped a seven-game winless streak.