ANAHEIM, Calif., July 6 (UPI) -- The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim continued their offseason effort to provide help for Paul Kariya, acquiring right wing Petr Sykora on Saturday as part of a seven-player trade with the New Jersey Devils.
Sykora heads to the West Coast with defenseman Mike Commodore, goaltender J.F. Damphousse and 19-year-old right wing Igor Pohanka. In return, the Devils received former All-Star defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, left wing Jeff Friesen and right wing Maxim Balmochnykh.
The deal continues the retooling of a Devils' team that began last March with the trade of Jason Arnott and Randy McKay to the Dallas Stars and continued last week with the loss of center Bobby Holik to the archrival New York Rangers via free agency.
Sykora was a member of New Jersey's "A Line," which thrived during back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances in 2000 and 2001 but was broken up when Arnott and McKay went to Dallas for Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner.
Sykora, 25, slumped last season with 21 goals and 27 points in 73 games. He had a career season in 2000-01, totaling 35 goals and 46 assists in 73 games and finishing fourth in the NHL with a plus-36 rating. The native of the Czech Republic parlayed those numbers into a two-year, $6.8 million contract in salary arbitration.
