EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers dealt leading scorer Vincent Damphousse to the Montreal Canadiens Thursday for three players, rather than losing the left wing to free agency.
Damphousse, 24, was dealt to Montreal for center Brent Gilchrist, left wing Shayne Corson and junior winger Vladimir Vujtek.
Damphousse was believed to be negotiating with the Canadiens as a free agent. Rather than have him sign with Montreal and get unknown compensation, Edmonton GM Glen Sather instead traded him to the Canadiens.
Acquired before the season from Toronto, Damphousse led the Oilers with 38 goals and 51 assists last season.
Gilchrist, 25, had 23 goals and 27 points in 79 games for Montreal. Corson, 26, has had a number of off-ice incidents, recently, resulting in numerous trade rumors. He had 17 goals and 36 assists last season with Montreal.
Vujtek is a 19-year-old left wing, originally from Czechoslovakia. Playing with Tri-City in the junior Western Hockey League last season, he had 102 points in 53 games.
Sather said the team's penchant over the last couple of years to trade high-price talent is fiscally responsible in the smaller NHL markets.
'At some place, sanity has to take over in the NHL and I would predict this year that you're going to see some teams that aren't going to complete the year unless they become fiscally responsible for what's going on', Sather said. 'That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make everyone aware of what's going on here. You can't have six guys on your hockey club making a million-and-a-half dollars and try to make it in this market.'
Sather says the deal is a good one for Edmonton, which gets two proven players and a potential star.
'This is a deal for three quality hockey players. It was a chance to get a young, talented player, who could develop into a star and two quality players,' he said.
