NHL Trade Deadline: San Jose Sharks Acquire Dominic Moore; What It Means

The pubic received updates all day via Twitter, Facebook, etc. on San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson's interaction with his Tampa Bay Lightning counterpart Steve Yzerman before the game on Thursday night.

Evidently, the two GM's had been in touch throughout the day, and even a picture of them sitting together in the stands well ahead of the game sparked some rumors.

Was it going to be Teddy Purcell, Dominic Moore or someone else?

Sure enough, it was Moore, and the Sharks sent a second-round pick to Tampa Bay in return.

Moore, who has four goals and 15 assists so far this season on the Lightning's third line, has been rumored to be of interest to the Sharks ever since Andrew Murray was waived a few weeks ago.

The new acquisition should fill Murray's role on the fourth line with a mix that includes Brad Winchester, Andrew Desjardins, Tommy Wingels and Benn Ferriero.

Moore is just 31 years old, and provides the Sharks with veteran experience as well as versatility, speed and grit to match what the San Jose fourth line has been doing all season. He should fit in well with Winchester and Desjardins in particular.

This was a decent trade for the Sharks, who continue to add forward depth to their roster. Although Moore is a rental and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, it is players like him that bolster a team in the playoffs. It also solidifies the starting line-ups for the Sharks, who now have a reliable fourth line center that can play many other ways on this team.

What it means for other possible trades before the deadline for the Sharks has yet to be revealed. Moore is very capable of playing many other roles on the Sharks because of his versatility, making it very likely Wilson has another plan in mind.

The move makes a player like Torrey Mitchell very expendable at this point.

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