The Columbus Blue Jackets added some depth to their defense corps today which they hope might blossom into a valuable addition. 

On Monday the Jackets acquired defenseman Anton Stralman from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a third round pick in 2010. 

Stralman, 23, was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs this past summer in a multi-player deal which shipped veteran forward Wayne Primeau to the Leafs. 

The Flames wanted to move Stralman for a return rather than risk losing him for nothing via waivers. 

He has some promise as a puck-moving defenseman and is a right-handed shot, which the Jackets were lacking last season from the point, especially on the power-play. 

They'll hope Stralman can blossom into a decent two-way blueliner. 

This trade also

The Calgary Flames shed a bit of salary today and added some affordable depth while the Toronto Maple Leafs moved out a spare defenseman in exchange for a veteran checking forward.

Heading to Toronto is 33-year-old veteran forward Wayne Primeau, who can play center or left wing on the checking lines. Primeau's plays a physical defensive style but it has played havoc on his body in recent years as he was limited to 43 and 24 games respectively with the Flames over the past two seasons.

The Leafs also get the Flames second round pick in 2011.

Going to Calgary is forward Colin Stuart, defenseman Anton Stralman and a seventh round pick in 2012.

Stralman and Stuart saw limited action with the Leafs last season but Stralman was one of ten defensemen the Leafs have under contract for the upcoming

The Calgary Flames added more depth to their checking lines late Thursday, claiming winger Nigel Dawes off waivers from the Phoenix Coyotes. 

A waiver claim in the off-season isn't a usual occurrence. In this instance, Dawes was a restricted free agent who'd filed for salary arbitration with the Coyotes, who according to reports out of Calgary didn't intend on offering him a one-way contract. 

This appears to work in the same fashion as players who are to be bought out of their contracts, as they have to first clear waivers before the buyouts occur. Since the Coyotes didn't seem to wish to go through the arbitration process and probably would've walked away from an arbiter's award thus making Dawes a UFA, they had to put him on waivers to see if another team would claim him.