Columbus Blue Jackets Trade Two Players, Including Syracuse Crunch Center Mark Hartigan, To Anaheim Ducks - AHL NHL

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Syracuse, NY - January 26, 2007 - The Syracuse Crunch announced today that the Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired center Zenon Konopka, left wing Curtis Glencross and a conditional seventh round pick in either the 2007 or 2008 NHL Entry Draft from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for right wing Joe Motzko, center Mark Hartigan and a fourth round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft.

Konopka, 26, has tallied four goals and three assists for seven points with 48 penalty minutes in 23 career NHL games, all during the 2005-06 season with Anaheim. This year he has collected 11 goals, 24 assists and 97 penalty minutes with the AHL's Portland Pirates, leading the club in scoring. In 266 career AHL games, he has 207 points (75g, 132a) and 804 penalty minutes.

A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, he played four seasons of junior hockey with the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League from 1998-2002. In 242 career OHL games, he registered 53 goals, 132 assists and 389 penalty minutes. In 2000-01, he tallied 20 goals, 45 assists and 120 penalty minutes in 66 games and added 7 goals, 13 assists in 20 playoff games to help Ottawa advance to the Memorial Cup Tournament.

Glencross, 24, made his NHL debut with the Ducks this season, appearing in two games and recording 1 goal and two penalty minutes. He has added 6 goals, 10 assists and 74 penalty minutes in 31 games with Portland. He has spent most of his first three professional seasons in the AHL, registering 29 goals, 24 assists and 228 penalty minutes.

Prior to joining the professional ranks, he played two seasons of college hockey at Alaska-Anchorage (WCHA). The Kindersley, Saskatchewan native tallied 57 points (32g, 25a) and 158 penalty minutes in 72 career games from 2002-04. He signed with the Ducks as a free agent on March 25, 2004.

"Zenon Konopka and Curtis Glencross are two young guys who have a chance to develop into solid NHL players," said Blue Jackets President and General Manager Doug MacLean. "Konopka in particular is a hard-working, character player who we think has a real good upside."

Motzko, 26, tallied 1goal in seven games with the Blue Jackets this season and notched 11 goals, 23 assists and 29 penalty minutes in 31 games with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. He has collected 1goal in 11 career NHL contests. Hartigan, 29, had three points (1g, 2a) and two penalty minutes in six games with the Blue Jackets and had 19 goals, 13 assists and 51 penalty minutes in 34 games with Syracuse. He has registered 16 goals, 10 assists and 38 penalty minutes in 73 career NHL games with Columbus and Atlanta.

Hartigan, 29, has appeared in 34 games with Syracuse this season, 19 goals, 13 assists and 51 penalty minutes. Hartigan leaves the Crunch first on the Crunch’s all-time list with 107 goals, 47 power play goals and 18 game-winning goals, third with 212 points, fifth with 104 assists and eighth with 220 games played. In 276 career AHL games with Chicago and Syracuse , Hartigan has tallied 122 goals, 136 assists and 333 penalty minutes. The Fort St. John , British Columbia native has also recorded 16 goals, 10 assists and 38 penalty minutes in 73 career NHL games with Atlanta and Columbus .