This was overshadowed in the aftermath of Todd Bertuzzi’s attack on Avalanche forward Steve Moore on March 8, 2004, but Colorado made some deals in the final hours before the March 9 trading deadline.
In one of them, the Avalanche acquired veteran goalie Tommy Salo from Edmonton as insurance, to serve as a backup to David Aebischer for the remainder of the season and in the playoffs.
To get Salo and a sixth-round 2005 draft choice, the Avalanche gave up the rights to defenseman Tom Gilbert, a Minnesota native who at the time was finishing up his sophomore season at the University of Wisconsin.
The Avs had claimed Gilbert in the fifth round of the 2002 draft, and he ended up playing a full four-season career for the Badgers before signing with the Oilers and then spending most of the 2006-07 season in the American Hockey League.
Gilbert stuck this season with the Oilers, and he had an assist on Edmonton’s second goal in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Avalanche on Wednesday.
Footnotes. Center Brad Richardson, who hasn’t played this season after suffering a wrist injury in pre-camp conditioning work, was cleared by the Avalanche medical staff to play and assigned Wednesday to the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. Richardson carved out a niche as a third- and fourth-liner last season, getting 14 goals in 73 games. … Winger Jaroslav Hlinka was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game, as was derfenseman Jeff Jillson, who has yet to play since his call-up two weeks ago….After losing their first six games, the Cleveland-based Monsters are 2-7-1.
