NHL trade deadline passes with Sault native dealt

A trio of players with ties to Sault Ste. Marie were traded on Monday as the National Hockey League’s trade deadline approached late Monday afternoon.

Sault Ste. Marie native, and former Soo Greyhounds forward, Tyler Kennedy was traded this afternoon by the San Jose Sharks.

Kennedy, 28, was traded by the Sharks to the New York Islanders for a conditional draft pick.

The pick will either be the Islanders seventh round pick or Tampa Bay’s seventh round pick, whichever is later in the draft. Should the Islanders win the Stanley Cup and Kennedy plays in at least half of the games in the final, the pick will then become a third round pick in 2016, either the Islanders pick or the third round pick the Islanders previously acquired from the Vancouver Canucks. Again, the pick moved will be the later of the two.

This season, Kennedy posted four goals and nine points in 28 games with the Sharks.

Kennedy, a fourth round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009. He was dealt by the Penguins to the Sharks in June 2013 for a third round draft pick and proceeded to sign a two-year contract with the club.

Kennedy spent four seasons with the Greyhounds from 2002-2006, posting 64 goals and 184 points in 249 games.

The Islanders also acquired another former Greyhound on Monday as they acquired forward Dustin Jeffrey from Vancouver in exchange for Cory Conacher.

Jeffrey has spent much of the 2014-15 season with the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets where he was the team’s leading scorer with 41 points in 49 games.

Jeffrey signed with the Canucks over the summer after splitting the 2013-14 season between Pittsburgh and the Dallas Stars.

In 163 games with the Greyhounds after being acquired from the Mississauga IceDogs midway through the 2005-06 season, Jeffrey posted 84 goals and 212 points. In his OHL career, Jeffrey had 100 goals and 252 points in 246 games.

Andrew Desjardins, who suited up with the Greyhounds from 2004 to 2007, was also moved prior to Monday’s deadline as the San Jose Sharks dealt the 28-year-old to the Chicago Blackhawks for Ben Smith.

In 58 games with the Sharks this season, Desjardins had five goals and three assists.

In 254 games with the Greyhounds, Desjardins had 48 goals and 113 points.