Coyotes trade Dauphin, Helewka to Nashville for Emil Pettersson
Feb 8, 2019, 9:29 AM | Updated: 9:30 am
The Arizona Coyotes announced Friday the acquisition of Nashville center Emil Pettersson in exchange for AHL forwards Laurent Dauphin and Adam Helewka.
The latter two players were with the Tucson Roadrunners at the time of the deal, but Dauphin has spent some limited time with the Coyotes’ NHL roster over the past four seasons. Pettersson, meanwhile, has never played an NHL game but has 11 goals and 22 assists in 49 games with the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) this year.
The move involves a swap of centers as Dauphin and Pettersson can both play the position, one where the Coyotes have been been decimated by injuries this season for Arizona. Centers Brad Richardson, Nick Schmaltz and Christian Dvorak are currently injured, and Alex Galchenyuk was a center at the start of the year but has since been moved to wing.
Pettersson was drafted in the sixth round (155th overall) in 2013.
Helewka scored 13-18-31 in 41 AHL games this year, while Dauphin scored 6-14-20 in 34 games.
Pettersson is waivers exempt and comes with a $742,500 cap hit, according to CapFriendly. His entry-level contract will expire at the conclusion of this season, making him a restricted free agent.
The Coyotes drafted Dauphin 39th overall in 2013 and traded him to the Blackhawks in the summer of 2017 before reacquiring him last season. Helewka came to the Coyotes from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenseman Kyle Wood last summer.
