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Dallas Stars Trade Lauri Korpikoski to Columbus Blue Jackets for Defensive Prospect Dillon Heatherington

In the immortal words of Brad Gardner, “Lauri Korkiposki, we hardly knee thee.”

The Dallas Stars continued their trade deadline sell off by sending the veteran bottom six forward to the Columbus Blue Jackets for defensive prospect Dillon Heatherington, a second-round pick from 2013.

Heatherington, 21 and turning 22 in May, is a left-shot defenseman currently playing in the AHL. He has one goal and five assists in 38 games this year and is listed at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds.

Early scouting reports called him a “shut down defender” with limited offensive upside, though possessing the ability to make good breakout passes. Other scouting reports described a “physical” game and projected him to be a stabilizing defenseman. This year is his second full season in the AHL, and he missed the start of the season due to a broken wrist.

That said, reports from the Columbus side of things is that Heatherington has really struggled this year even in his role, with the words “big, not very mobile” being thrown around. So we’ll see.

Korpikoski was an offseason signing for Dallas that struggled in the possession game and was a big part of the abysmal penalty kill effort. It was a low-risk, somewhat high reward signing that ended up being simply low risk.

Here is the official release from the team:

Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has acquired defenseman Dillon Heatherington from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for left wing Lauri Korpikoski .

Heatherington, 21, has produced six points (1-5=6) in 38 games played for Cleveland of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season. Last season was his first full professional campaign and he helped Lake Erie to the Calder Cup championship, appearing in 15 playoff contests and recording three assists (0-3=3). In total, he has appeared in 104 career AHL regular season games and has posted 26 points (4-22=26). He will report to Texas, Dallas’ top development affiliate in the AHL.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound native of Calgary, Alberta was originally selected by Columbus in the second round (50th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

Korpikoski, 30, recorded 20 points (8-12=20) in 60 games played for the Stars this season. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound native of Turku, Finland was signed as a free agent by Dallas on Oct. 10, 2016.

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