Dallas Stars trade Philippe Boucher to Pittsburgh for Darryl Sydor

by Mark Stepneski of of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — For the fourth time in is his career Darryl Sydor is involved in a trade with the Dallas Stars and for the third time he's headed in Dallas' direction. The Stars acquired Sydor from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Philippe Boucher.

The deal was made Saturday night and completed in a conference call with the league Sunday morning.

“Darryl is a proven veteran defenseman who brings a great deal of character and leadership abilities to our group,” Stars co-GM Les Jackson said in a news release. “He is obviously a player we are very familiar with and we are excited to welcome him back to the Stars. On the other side of the coin, we thank Philippe Boucher for everything he’s done for the Dallas Stars organization the last few years, and we wish him the best with the Penguins.”

The 36-year-old Sydor, who has won Stanley Cups with both the Stars (1999) and Tampa Bay (2004), will bring some veteran leadership to the Stars.

Sydor, who signed with Pittsburgh after the Stars decided not to resign him after the 2006-07 season, saw limited action in Pittsburgh's playoff run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and has been a healthy scratch often this season. He's played in eight of Pittsburgh's 17 games this season.

The 35-year-old Boucher, who had a career year in 2006-07 was slowed by injuries last season, was slowed by an injury in training camp this season and has struggled. He has three points and a minus-four rating in 16 games.

Since both Sydor and Boucher have cap hits of $2.5 million the deal has no impact on the Stars' salary cap situation, which is very tight. Dallas has about $150,000 in cap space at this time.

Sydor and Boucher's contract situations are similar as well. Both players are in the final year of their contracts and will be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season.

Sydor has 486 points career points in 1,179 games with Los Angeles, Dallas, Columbus, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

Boucher has 91 goals and 294 points in 723 career games with Buffalo, Los Angeles and Dallas.