SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks got the veteran left
wing they needed, acquiring Adam Graves from the New York Rangers
on Sunday for two young players.
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New York received right wing Mikael Samuelsson and defenseman
Christian Gosselin, who both played for the Sharks' AHL affiliate
in Kentucky last season. The Rangers also will pay a large portion
of Graves' $4 million salary next season.
Sharks GM Dean Lombardi has coveted Graves, who scored 303 goals
in 14 NHL seasons, for nearly four years. On the second day of the
NHL draft, Lombardi finally got a wing he feels is capable of
playing opposite San Jose's cornerstone right wings, Owen Nolan and
Teemu Selanne.
"I don't think there's any question that this is a good fit,"
Lombardi said. "I also don't think there's any question this
player needs a change. He's going to get a breath of fresh air, a
new start."
Graves, reached in his wife's hometown of Windsor, Ont., said he
was pleased to move from the Rangers, who haven't made the playoffs
in four years, to the Sharks, who expect to contend for the Stanley
Cup next season.
"To say I'm excited would be an understatement," Graves said.
"Last year was an off-year by my personal standards. I've
dedicated myself this summer, and I'll be ready to play come
training camp."
Graves, who set a franchise record when he scored 52 goals for
the Rangers in 1993-94, had just 10 goals last season. Still, he
won the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication to
hockey because he played while dealing with the deaths of his
father and infant son.
"What Adam has meant to the Rangers' franchise and to the city
of New York as a player and a person cannot be overstated,"
Rangers GM Glen Sather said.
Graves, 33, had 26 points in 82 games last season. In 10 seasons
with the Rangers, he had 280 goals -- third on the franchise's
career list -- and 227 assists with 810 penalty minutes in 772
games, winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 and becoming one of the
Rangers' most popular players.
"I had nothing but great memories in New York that I'll have
forever," Graves said. "But this is a great opportunity, and you
can never replace that."
With New York looking to dump many of its high-priced veterans,
the Rangers agreed to pay part of Graves' salary in a deal similar
to the one that brought Selanne from Anaheim in March.
"A pretty good part of our payroll is going to come from two
other teams, so that's pretty good," Lombardi said.
Neither Lombardi nor Sather would specify the exact amount, but
it would have cost New York two-thirds of Graves' salary to buy out
his contract.
Samuelsson, a 24-year-old Swede, had 32 goals, 46 assists and 58
penalty minutes in 66 games last season with the now-defunct
Thoroughblades.
Gosselin, also 24, had two goals and three assists in 42 games
while serving as one of Kentucky's enforcers. The native of Laval,
Quebec, was selected by New Jersey with its fifth choice in the
1994 NHL entry draft. He signed with San Jose last July as a free
agent.
Lombardi didn't flinch at giving up two prospects for Graves.
The Sharks have one of the NHL's deeper development systems, and
Samuelsson faced long odds to play in San Jose any time soon, given
the franchise's glut of talented right wings even behind Nolan and
Selanne.
"I also think it's still underestimated the number of young
players we have playing in San Jose," Lombardi said. "It's
important to add guys who understand winning and who can be an
example to those younger guys."
Lombardi said he will move quickly to add another year to
Graves' contract, which expires in 2002.
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