The major trades that occurred leading up to the NHL Entry Draft heightened expectations of more to come.

Instead, we got a bunch of minor deals barely worth noticing, but since it’s my job to track and post trades involving NHL players I will duly note them here.

The biggest trade of the draft saw the Anaheim Ducks deal forward Ryan Shannon to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward Jason King and a conditional pick in 2009.

Shannon played in 53 games with Ducks in 2006-07, his rookie season, including 11 playoff games in the Ducks march to the Stanley Cup. He’s considered a checking line forward and will have to battle for space on a Canucks team that doesn’t lack for checking forwards.

King was considered a promising scoring forward during his rookie debut back in 2003-04, getting off to a fast start offensively scoring the bulk of his 12 goals and 21 points early in the season before tailing off, resulting in demotion by mid-season to the minors.

He played last season in Sweden after failing to agree to terms with the Canucks.

The Montreal Canadiens made a trade but not the major one for Patrick Marleau that was oft-rumored heading into the draft.  The Habs instead dealt goaltender Michael Leighton to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2007 seventh round pick.

Leighton was claimed off waivers on the trade deadline by the Habs as a depth pickup after starter Cristobal Huet was sidelined by injury and backup David Aebischer struggled to replace him. The strong play of young call-up Jaroslav Halak ensured Leighton didn’t see any game action with the Habs.

In other draft weekend trades involving NHL players:

-The Anaheim Ducks acquired center Stephen Dixon from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for center Tim Brent, who played fifteen games for the Ducks this season.

- The Vancouver Canucks acquired defenseman Jimmy Sharrow from the Atlanta Thrashers for winger Jesse Schultz, who played two games this season for the Canucks.

Finally, Los Angeles Daily News reporter Rich Hammond reported on his blog that the Kings have bought out the contract of center Alyn McCauley, who had two years and $4 million remaining on his contract.

Based on the buyout formula of buying out two-thirds the remaining value spread over twice the remaining tenure of the contract, it’ll cost the Kings over $666K per season over the next four years.