NHL teams
Craig Custance, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Sergei Plotnikov traded to Coyotes from Penguins

NHL, Arizona Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild

The Arizona Coyotes have taken on another reclamation project, adding big Russian winger Sergei Plotnikov in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins will receive 24-year-old German winger Matthias Plachta, who is playing for Springfield of the AHL, and a conditional seventh-round draft pick.

Plotnikov, 25, was signed as a free agent last summer after spending six years in the Kontinental Hockey League, and the hope was he might fit playing on the wing with countryman Evgeni Malkin for the Penguins. The pair won a gold medal together at the 2014 world championships. It didn't work out that way, and Plotnikov played only 32 games for the Penguins, collecting just two assists.

The Coyotes tweeted that Plotnikov will wear sweater No. 43 when Arizona plays in Pittsburgh on Monday night.

He will join a Coyotes team that seems destined to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Earlier this season, the Coyotes added former first-round draft pick Jarred Tinordi from the Montreal Canadiens in the hopes that they can jump-start his sputtering NHL career.

The Coyotes are expected to trade soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Mikkel Boedker before the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline Monday.

Other transactions

--The Minnesota Wild traded goalie Niklas Backstrom and a sixth-round draft pick to the Calgary Flames for right wing David Jones on Monday at the NHL trade deadline.

The 31-year-old Jones had nine goals and six assists in 59 games for the Flames this season, ranking second on the team with 115 hits. He has 102 goals and 86 assists in 446 NHL games, totaling 47 goals over the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons for the Colorado Avalanche.

The 38-year-old Backstrom has not played at all this season, stuck behind Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper. He hasn't been in the Wild net since Jan. 13, 2015, the day before they acquired Dubnyk.

The Wild were unable to deal him or buy out his contract last summer because of lingering injuries, so they were forced to carry his salary-cap hit of more than $3.4 million in the final year of a three-year deal he signed in June 2013 after playing in 42 of the 48 regular-season games with a 2.48 goals-against average in that lockout-shortened 2013 season.

--The future is now for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who recalled prospects William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen and Nikita Soshinkov to replenish their roster after several trades.

The 19-year-old Nylander is the organization's top prospect and was set to make his NHL debut Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who said they would not trade pending free agent Steven Stamkos before the 3 p.m. deadline.

--The Montreal Canadiens have acquired former first-round draft pick Stefan Matteau from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Devante Smith-Pelly.

Matteau, 22, has appeared in 20 games for the Devils and has one goal. Smith-Pelly, 23, was traded from Anaheim to Montreal last season, but he has 12 points in 46 games this campaign.

--NHL teams were busy on the waiver wire on deadline day, no one more so than the Edmonton Oilers. The team announced that it claimed forward Adam Cracknell from the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Adam Pardy from the Winnipeg Jets.

--Mike Brown's new team is coming to him.

A day after being waived by San Jose, Brown was claimed off waivers by the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, just hours before they visited the Sharks.

Brown had one goal and two assists in 44 games for San Jose but was expendable after the Sharks traded for forward Nick Spaling from Toronto last week.

--The Columbus Blue Jackets were quiet at the trade deadline but took care of one of their own in signing forward Boone Jenner to a two-year contract extension Monday. According to an NHL source, the contract is worth $2.9 million per season.

Jenner, the No. 37 overall pick in 2011, has a career-high 22 goals this season through 63 games. He was set to be a restricted free agent after this season.

ESPN's Pierre LeBrun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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