Jackets and Oilers swap defenceman

[Sylvanfan]

Columbus Post Dispatch

Late on Monday Jackets GM Sylvanfan got feeling all nostalgic about acquiring former players and swung a trade to bring back a former player of his from one of his numerous previous stints as a CPHL GM.

Coming to Columbus is Karel Rachunek and moving out to Edmonton is Nolan Baumgartner. Rachunek who suffered some mysterious illness in the offseason has seen his CPHL play sprial drastically this season after posting solid seasons in his previous 3 campaigns. Last year the Czech defender collected 65 points and had 49 and 56 in his two previous seasons. This year the 26 year old defenceman has a paltry 7 assist in 41 games!

Baumgartner was claimed on waivers by the Jackets about 3 weeks ago from the Avalanche. In 47 games this season Baumgartner has 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points and has registered a +14 rating.

The main reason this deal goes through is salary where Rachunek makes 2.9 million per season and Baumgartner is a much lower 800k. In order to absorb Rachuneks salary the Jackets needed to take 100k in cap and will need to make a couple of other roster moves. But GM Sylvanfan felt it was worth it to get the 26 year old Rachunek. "Rachunek still has some intriguing potential and is a good puck mover. With 15 points in 45 NHL games and looking like he'll get a few more minutes with the Rangers here down the stretch we still feel he has #4 defenceman type potential. With Baumgartner up for unrestricted free agency he wasn't really in our plans for next year. This gave us an oppurtunity to get an asset that we'll have into next season and that could pay some nice dividends for us. We'll certainly give Karel the chance to take on a bigger role here than he had in Edmonton. We wish Nolan well as he was a true professional for our organization. We feel that he'll appreciate the move as Edmonton is probably a better fit for him."