Senators considered 2-for-2 goalie swap?

According to Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray tried to deal goalies Martin Gerber and Ray Emery for Chicago Blackhawks goaltenders Nikolai Khabibulin and pending unrestricted free agent Patrick Lalime.

The Ottawa Citizen’s James Duthie reports that Murray apparently wanted to get Khabibulin for weeks leading up to the deadline, but needed to move one of his netminders to offset the salaries.

Since he couldn’t deal either Gerber or Emery, Murray decided to get creative and try to make the 2-for-2 swap.

When asked about the 2-for-2 goalie swap, Murray didn’t deny it.

“The trading deadline is over. I talked about a thousand different things. I talked to every manager pretty much in the league about a whole variety of things. I have all these creative ideas and nobody agreed with me, so we’ll just move on,” said Murray.

The Blackhawks didn’t appear to take the offer “too seriously,” because they would gain salary and take more of the cap hit in the deal.

Khabibulin earns $6.75 this year and next and Lalime makes $950,000 this year. Meanwhile, Gerber makes $3.7 million this year and next while Emery earns $2.75 million this year, $3.25 million next year and $3.5 million, after which he will become a UFA.