Veteran forward Thomas Vanek brings another consistent goal scorer to a Columbus Blue Jackets team that has struggled with production while staying in the playoff race.The 34-year-old Vanek was traded to Columbus from the Vancouver Canucks on Monday for forwards Jussi Jokinen and Tyler Motte.Vanek http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-dustin-brown-jersey , a pending unrestricted free agent playing on a one-year deal, is tied for second on the Canucks in scoring this season with 17 goals and 24 assists in 61 games this season. The 13-year pro has 350 goals and 388 assists in 946 NHL games.”Thomas Vanek is probably one of the best power-play players in the league and a consistent goal scorer and can add some offense to our team,” Columbus general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said.Vanek will join the team in Los Angeles for Thursday night’s game against the Kings.Monday’s trade deadline arrived with the Blue Jackets picking up Vanek, center Mark Letestu and defenseman Ian Cole without giving up any important pieces of their long-term plan.Earlier in the day, the Blue Jackets picked up Cole from Ottawa for center Nick Moutrey and a 2020 third-round draft pick. It’s the second time in three days that Cole has been moved after Ottawa acquired the 29-year-old on Friday from Pittsburgh for Derick Brassard.”He’s a competitive defenseman,” Kekalainen said. ”He can play an aggressive game, in your face. He’s very strong Jake Muzzin Jersey , good in front of the net. Keeps the game simple, moves the puck well. He’s not a guy who’s going to score a lot of points, but he’s a good defender, and that’s what we were looking for.”On Sunday, the team got Letestu, who spent 2011-15 with the Blue Jackets, from the Nashville Predators for a 2018 fourth-round selection. He has eight goals and 11 assists with three power-play goals in 60 games with Edmonton this season.Kekalainen said the Elk Point Jeff Carter Jersey , Alberta, native will play on Monday night against Washington.Cole, who won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh, was in the Blue Jackets locker room before the game.”I’m very excited,” Cole said. ”They have a great team here, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”He said his role will be to ”play some solid defense, play hard and get pucks to these skilled forwards as quickly as we can.”—Wawrow reported from Buffalo http://www.officialkings.com/authentic-adidas-jonathan-quick-jersey , New York.— DALLAS (AP) Tyler Seguin’s first 40-goal season likely will end with the Dallas Stars missing the playoffs for the second straight year.And the win that came with the high-scoring forward’s personal milestone is a little too late for their dwindling postseason hopes.Seguin’s empty-netter in the final minute put him at 40 after John Klingberg scored a goal while adding to his NHL-leading assist total for defensemen in a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.Jason Spezza scored a goal for the first time since Jan. 16 as the Stars won for just the second time in 11 games – a slide that wiped out any realistic playoff hopes and left their fate in the hands of St. Louis, Anaheim and Colorado.Seguin was the sudden star at the end of the home finale when his shot from behind his own blue line made him the third Dallas player to reach 40 goals in a season on the night that the first, franchise icon Mike Modano, dropped the ceremonial first puck as part of the club celebrating 25 years in Texas.”What he’s done this year I’m really proud of him,” said goalie Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 33 shots. ”He’s taken a role as a complete 200-foot player. I didn’t even know it was the first time. I feel like he does something like that every year.”The Wild, still holding the third playoff spot in the Central Division and in solid wild-card shape with four games remaining Nate Thompson Jersey , lost the second of a home-and-home set two nights after beating the Stars 5-2 in Minnesota.Minnesota’s season-best seven-game point streak ended in the sixth straight game that the Wild gave up the first goal.”You can’t keep giving up leads, letting the other team score the first goal and expect to win every time,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”It’s hard to keep pace in the game.”Seguin and Jamie Benn assisted on Klingberg’s eighth of the season for a 2-0 lead in the second period.Klingberg had his career-best 56th assist on the first-period goal by Spezza, who took a pass from Alexander Radulov ahead of the defense before his shot from close range trickled under the right left of Devan Dubnyk, who had 32 saves.The Wild are still in good shape with 96 points but could use another win to erase any doubt.”We don’t want to start thinking about the situation down the road,” Dubnyk said. ”We’ve done a good job not doing that all year, so now’s not the time to start doing it.”Radek Faksa scored short-handed for Dallas 19 seconds into the third period Authentic Oscar Fantenberg Jersey , but Zach Parise answered with a power-play goal 70 seconds later. The Stars’ Remi Elie had taken a holding penalty late in the second.Mikael Granlund topped last season’s career high with his 44th assist on Parise’s goal.NOTES: Wild D Ryan Suter went off with a lower-body injury late in the second period. He wasn’t using his right leg as he was helped through the tunnel to the locker room. ”I hope it’s not as bad as it looked when he was coming off,” Boudreau said. … Spezza has eight goals in 75 games. His previous low when playing at least 75 games was 22 goals in 2003-04, the 34-year-old’s first full season in the NHL.UP NEXTWild: Final home game of the regular season Monday against Edmonton.Stars: Start of season-ending three-game West Coast trip Tuesday at San Jose.—
