Canucks Acquire Goaltender Labarbera from Kings

The Vancouver Canucks announced on Wednesday that they have acquired goaltender Jason Labarbera from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the Canucks' 7th round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. The trade comes in the wake of a groin injury to backup goaltender Curtis Sanford, who was placed on the injured list after Tuesday nights 3-2 loss at home to the Philadelphia Flyers. Canucks starter Roberto Luongo has been on the injured list with a groin injury since November 23, but has been skating with the team in practices recently. However, Luongo is not expected to return for at least three more weeks. With prospect Cory Schneider already up with the team and insufficient goaltending depth on their minor league teams, a trade for an experienced goaltender was a must for the Canucks. Labarbera had recently become expendable to the Kings given the improved play of rookie Jonathan Quick and the return of Erik Ersberg from injury. So far this season, Labarbera has gone 5-8-4 with a 2.83 goals-against-average and .893 save percentage with two shutouts in 18 games. Labarbera has struggled in net the past couple of seasons in Los Angeles due in large part to the Kings' porous defense. He has the skills to be a decent goaltender and likely just needed a change of scenery in order to further those skills. Labarbera will be a good fill-in goaltender for the Canucks until Luongo and Sanford return from injury and could see an improvement in his game playing behind a stronger defense.