Reports out of Minnesota (both the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and QuickFacts) claim that the Boston Bruins finished up the NHL trade deadline by sending Providence Bruins defenseman Jeff Penner and right winger Mikko Lehtonen to the Minnesota Wild for goaltender Anton Khudobin.
Penner had been with the AHL Bruins for four seasons. In those four seasons, the 23 year old had played in 2 NHL games and 207 AHL games. He has 93 points in his AHL career, including 5 goals and 14 assists in 57 games this season.
Lehtonen, a 23 year old Finnish product, had played in the Bruins system for 2 seasons, before leaving to play in the Swedish League this past summer. Lehtonen had logged 1 NHL game in each of his two seasons with the Bruins. In his Providence career, he scored 103 points. So far this season with the Swedish League’s Skelleftea HC, he has played 52 games and scored 29 goals and 27 assists. Lehtonen can not play in the NHL this year, but the Wild now hold his NHL rights.
Khudobin is a native of Kazakhstan, registered his first career NHL shutout on January 16 against the strong Vancouver Canucks. He has spent the majority of his American career with the AHL Houston Aeros. He had logged 1883 minutes in net for the Aeros this season, with a 0.911 save percentage.