ANAHEIM, Calif., June 19 -- Seeking a player to anchor the defense, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on Tuesday acquired veteran Keith Carney from the Phoenix Coyotes for a second-round pick, the 41st overall selection, in this weekend's NHL Draft.
Carney, 31, a member of the 1998 United States Olympic Team, led Anaheim's defenseman with a plus-minus rating of plus-15 and ranked second on the team with 194 hits last season. He had two goals and 14 assists with 86 penalty minutes.
The 6-2, 214-pounder is one of only two NHL defenseman to play in all 82 games in each of the past three seasons. Ironically, the other is Oleg Tverdovsky, Anaheim's top offensive defenseman.
Carney's streak of 247 consecutive games is the fourth-longest among active players, behind Tony Amonte of Chicago, Tverdovsky and Radek Dvorak of the New York Rangers.
Since the start of the 1995-96 season, Carney ranks second in games played with 489, trailing Amonte by one, while also ranking fifth among active defenseman with a plus-96 rating.
In four seasons with the Coyotes, Carney recorded a plus-46 rating, including a career-high 24 points in 1999-2000.
A fourth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1988, Carney played in parts of three seasons with them before he was traded to Chicago in October 1993. While with the Blackhawks, Carney had a career-best plus-31 rating in 1995-96 and a plus-26 mark the following year.
The Coyotes acquired Carney and Jim Cummins from the Blackhawks for Chad Kilger and Jayson More in March 1998.
The second-round pick sent to Phoenix was originally acquired by Anaheim from Calgary with Andrei Nazarov for the rights to Jordan Leopold on Sept. 26, 2000.
Tuesday's trade is the latest in payroll paring for the Coyotes, who dealt high-pricedleft wing Keith Tkachuk to the St. Louis Blues in March.
It is also the third trade consummated by Coyotes general manager Cliff Fletcher in the last week. He shipped Robert Reichel and Travis Green to Toronto for defenseman Danny Markov last Tuesday. On Monday, the Coyotes acquired Todd Warriner from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Juha Ylonen in a swap of left wings.
