The Wild have been searching all season for that fourth d-man to set their defensive rotation... We'll GM Thomson found his man in the well travelled Pavel Kubina.

"Francis was doing an excellent job but we felt if we really wanted to compete with the top teams in this league was had to go out and get a stud on defense. Kubina isn't one of those flashy scoring type guys but he will fit within our system and give us some good minutes, stated Wayner.

The deal breakdowns like this:

To Florida
Ryan White - Prospect
Christian Backman
Luke Richardson
Hannu Toivonen
Mon 2nd 2009
TB 3rd 2009
LA 6th Pick 2009

To Minni
Kubina
Emery

At the end of the day, we give up Backman, White, 2nd, 3rd, 6th for Kubina and a small upgrade on a backup tender.  Also get a backup tender for this year, and who knows if he comes back with a better attitide might find himself another job in the NHL. Overall we really didn't want to give up the quantity of picks as we really need prospect depth but in the end we are competing for a playoff spot here, and maybe even for the division title, so why not roll the dice... Both teams in the end got what they wanted so hopefully it works out for both of us.

It is rumoured that Minni still has both first rounders, Booth, Enstrom, Wolski in the mix for player upgrades, however, it remains to be seen if they will pull the trigger on another deal or not.