Capitals big winners on a busy trade day

It was a busy couple of days for NHL general managers before Wednesday's trade deadline.

The bigger names moved before the Olympic break when Dion Phaneuf went to Toronto from Calgary and Ilya Kovalchuk left Atlanta for New Jersey.

But it was a record-setting day as there were 30 trades involving 53 players.

The Red Wings, who had no cap space, made only a trade of minor-league players, sending Kris Newbury to the New York Rangers for Jordan Owens.

Washington Capitals

The Capitals apparently were not satisfied with leading the league with 247 goals and a plus-70 goal differential. Up front they added solid center Eric Belanger from the Wild and gritty forward Scott Walker from the Hurricanes. On defense they took Walker's teammate Joe Corvo , who can move the puck and play on the power play.

"Corvo was the top defenseman available in our minds," Capitals GM George McPhee told the Washington Post. "He plays both ends of the rink, he can defend, he spends a lot of time on the PK (penalty kill) but he'll generate offense, which is the type of defenseman we like."

Phoenix Coyotes

The Coyotes were busy, making seven trades. The biggest was acquiring forward Wojtek Wolski , 24, from the Avalanche for forwards Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter . Wolski had 17 goals and 30 assists in 62 games with the Avs. The Coyotes also brought in D Mathieu Schneider , the former Wing who had been playing in the minors for the Canucks.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins made their main move Tuesday night, picking up forward Alexei Ponikarovsky , 29, from the Leafs. Ponikarovsky had 19 goals and 22 assists in 61 games with the Leafs and was plus-5.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings, in fourth place in the West, acquired defenseman Fredrik Modin from the Blue Jackets. The Kings also added center Jeff Halpern , 33, from the Lightning. Halpern had nine goals and eight assists in 55 games with the Lightning. He's a defensive forward who can win faceoffs.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes were one of the big sellers. Although they did not trade Ray Whitney , who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, they did collect draft picks. They now have three second-round picks and two third-round picks for this summer's draft and 11 picks in the first seven rounds.

Nothing doing

The Flyers were quiet, in part because they had no first or second-round picks to offer.

"We looked around for a few things to see if anything made sense, and nothing came up that did, so we're marching forward," Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said.

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By the numbers

30: Trades Wednesday, a record

53: Players involved in those 30 trades

7: Trades made by Phoenix Wednesday

Michigan connection

Players traded with Michigan ties