Thrashers acquire Belanger and Hamel

The Nashville Predators picked up the veteran defenceman they were seeking Saturday when they sent centre Eric Belanger to the Atlanta Thrashers for defenceman Vitaly Vishnevski.
The trade was the second in two days for Belanger, who was acquired by Nashville from the Carolina Hurricanes for centre Josef Vasicek.
The Thrashers also claimed forward Denis Hamel on waivers from Ottawa.
Vishnevski, 26, has three goals and nine assists in 52 games for Atlanta this season while earning US$1.55 million.
Although he'll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer, Vishnevski brings a much needed boost of experience to a Nashville blue-line corps stocked with talented youngsters like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis.


"With Vishnevski, we are adding a big, strong, physical defenceman with over 400 NHL games of experience and two deep runs into the post-season," said Predators general manager David Poile. "We have been carrying 15 forwards on the roster for most of the season. This gives us some veteran depth on the blue-line and gives our roster more balance."
Belanger, 29, who is earning US$1.3 million this season and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1.
He had eight goals and 12 assists in 56 games with Carolina while winning 53.6 per cent (362-for-676) of his face-offs.
It's the third trade of the season for Belanger, who was acquired by the Hurricanes along with Tim Gleason from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Oleg Tverdovsky and Jack Johnson on Sept. 29, 2006.
Hamel, 29, has registered four goals, three assists in 43 games with the Senators this season.

Hockey Guy Notes: Vitaly Vishnevski have been a healthy sracth for the past 5 games soo he came avaivlbe, good move by both teams!