The Nashville Predators have made the first big move on the day of the NHL's trade deadline, acquiring forward Andrei Kostitsyn from the Montreal Canadiens. Nashville traded a second-round pick in 2013 and a return of the conditional pick involved in the deal for Hal Gill earlier this month.
Kostitsyn has 12 goals and 24 points in 53 games this year, although he has just two goals in his past 28 games. A first-round pick by Montreal in 2003, he has scored at least 20 goals three times, including a career-high 26 in 2007-08.
He will be reunited with his younger brother, Sergei, whom the Predators added from Montreal in July 2010 for Dan Ellis and Dustin Boyd.
According to the reports, however, that won't happen until Nashville's game against Carolina on Tuesday. Andrei Kostitsyn will not dress for Monday's Nashville game against the Los Angeles Kings.
It is also the second deal between the two teams this month. Montreal sent veteran defenseman Hal Gill and a conditional pick in the 2013 draft to Nashville for Blake Geoffrion, a second-round pick in 2012 and a minor-league defenseman.
The Predators are in fifth place in the Western Conference, but also have the fifth-most points in the NHL. Nashville won a Stanley Cup Playoff series in 2011 for the first time in franchise history, and the Predators are making a push for an even deeper run in 2012.
To do that, though, Nashville knows it will need some scoring. Nine teams have more goals than the 176 that Nashville has registered this season.
Kostitsyn, like Gill, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
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