Pens deal Sabourin for Oilers' Garon
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers each tried to shore up a weak spot by swapping backup goaltenders Saturday, with the Penguins acquiring Mathieu Garon for Dany Sabourin, minor league forward Ryan Stone and a fourth-round draft pick in 2011.
The deal involves two goalies who weren't satisfying their teams. Sabourin, at 28, is three years younger than Garon.
The Penguins were looking to improve in goal behind starter Marc-Andre Fleury and believe they've done that with the veteran Garon.
"It's an upgrade for us," Penguins GM Ray Shero told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun. "He's a veteran guy who's proven it. It made sense for us."
The Oilers, meanwhile, had been carrying three goalies on their NHL roster all season in Garon, Dwayne Roloson and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and had been looking to allieviate that situation.
"Obviously we had the three goaltenders, and it wasn't the ideal situation to have three although all three of them performed admirably and very professionally," Oilers GM Steve Tambellini told ESPN.com. "I thought Mathieu did well considering he didn't get much ice time, hanging in there and being ready. But I wanted to make sure going into the last half of the season that we dealt with the situation. And I think we got good value in what was a tough market for trying to move people."
The Oilers don't want another three-goalie situation so they'll have to do something with Sabourin, whether it's putting him on NHL waivers in order to send him to the AHL or possibly try to move him to another organization.
Pittsburgh, losers of eight of 10 before beating Anaheim 3-1 on Friday night, have been troubled by sub-par goaltending while going 10-16-1 since mid-November. Sabourin, a third-teamer last season, is 6-8-2 with an .898 save percentage that ranked 36th in the league and a 2.85 goals-against average.
Garon has similar numbers -- a 6-8 record, an .895 save percentage and a 3.17 goals-against average -- but was Edmonton's starter in 2007-08 before losing his job to Roloson. Last season, Garon was 26-18-1 with a 2.66 goals-against average.
Garon made 37 saves while beating Colorado 3-2 on Friday, his first start since Dec. 30. He had played only a 40-minute relief stint during the team's previous 14 games.
The 31-year-old Garon has played all or part of eight seasons with the Canadiens, Kings and Oilers, winning a career-high 31 games with Los Angeles in 2005-06.
Fleury is having a down season since helping lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals last season, and the team hopes adding Garon will give him a boost. Fleury is 14-11-2 with a .905 save percentage and a 2.94 goals-against average, missing a month from mid-November until mid-December with a groin injury.
Stone, a second-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2003, has nine goals and 19 assists in 38 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) this season. He has one assist in eight career NHL games.
Pierre LeBrun covers the NHL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
