A little thin up front?

A lack of finish is keeping the team from winning tight games?

Acquire a defenceman!

And so was the case on Tuesday morning when the Calgary Flames completed a three-player deal with the Atlanta Thrashers. In the deal the Flames ship winger Jeff Cowan, along with defensive prospect Kurtis Foster for the Thrasher's young and enigmatic blueliner, Petr Buzek and a conditional draft pick.

The confirmation of a deal concludes a mysterious 24 hours of on again off again rumours involving the pending deal. TSN broke the news on Monday afternoon, only to later report the deal was in jeopardy because the Flames were incensed with the information leak from the Atlanta side.

For his part, Calgary general manager Craig Button was reluctant to say much of anything yesterday when questioned by the Calgary Herald, "I don't know how they got that information or where they got it from, but I can assure you there's no deal consummated."

At any rate the deal did in fact go down on Tuesday.

As we've seen before, Button dealt from a position of knowledge, having scouted for and drafted Buzek while with Dallas in 1995. The Stars later lost Buzek to the Thrashers during the expansion draft 1999.

"Petr Buzek is a good young defenceman who has played at the top level of international hockey and has potential to grow on our team," said Button in a team release Tuesday morning.

Buzek is a talented blueliner, as was seen when he represented the Thrashers at the 2000 All Star game on the strength of a solid 19 point rookie season.

Since then, however, things have soured between the Thrashers and the young rearguard.

In November the team suspended the young Czech when he refused to suite up with Atlanta in a game against the Ottawa Senators. At the time, Buzek, fearing further injury, approached the Thrasher's general manager Don Waddell in the hopes of extending his current playing contract. His overtures were rebuffed.

"Since Petr played in only five games last season and has played in nine games thus far during the 2001-2002 season, I was not in a position to agree to it." Waddell told the Canadian Press.

From there Buzek requested a trade and sat inactive until recently playing a handful of game in the AHL on a conditioning stint.

 

The deal is an opportunity for Buzek to start over, though the very same contract issues could rear its head again in Calgary.

For the Flames part, the return of Jeff Shantz from a nine-month injury created the need to move a forward, and Jeff Cowan was the odd man out.

Cowan was to be counted on to provide some of that much heralded offence from unlikely sources this season, but he fell out of favour with coach Greg Gilbert for his lack of attention to detail. When on top of their game, the Flames play a very regimented system, and it appeared Cowan was unable or unwilling to pull the line.

The Flames also surrender their 2nd pick in the 2000 entry draft in defenceman Kurtis Foster. Foster a hulking blueliner with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL has been somewhat of a disappointment since getting drafted, failing to secure a spot on the Canadian world junior team last season. Still, at 6'5" and 200 plus pounds, he remains an intriguing prospect.

As is the case with any player transaction it's interesting to envision a line up with the players departing and arriving.

If the Flames have depth at any position it's the blueline with seven NHL caliber defencemen already in the fold.

Does this deal suggest the wrist injury to Derek Morris is much more serious than previously thought? The powerplay quarterback has missed nine straight games with a jammed wrist, and the team has been reluctant to pick a date for his return. Buzek doesn't possess the offensive upside of Derek Morris, but he can likely add more to the puck moving cause than the team's current sixth defenceman Jamie Allison.

Another possibility is another deal is in the works involving one of the Flames defencemen.

Craig Button was adamant about keeping his young four together in Derek Morris, Robyn Regehr, Denis Gauthier, and Toni Lydman, but he wouldn't be the first general manager to go back on his word.

The Flames are thin up front, and could likely acquire a top six forward should any of the aforementioned four get his ticket out of town.

Stay tuned!