Per NHL.com:
TSN is reporting the Phoenix Coyotes have acquired center Antoine Vermette from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
TSN is reporting the Blue Jackets will receive a pair of draft picks — a second-round pick in 2012 and a fifth-round choice in 2013 — as well as a minor-league player. The Columbus Dispatch is reporting the player to be goaltender Curtis McElhinney.
Vermette has eight goals and 19 assists in 60 games for the Blue Jackets, but has six seasons of at least 16 goals on his resume, plus 42 games of playoff experience with the Senators and Blue Jackets. Vermette also was part of the 2007 Senators team that played in the Stanley Cup Final.
He should help a Phoenix offense ranked 18th in the League at 2.57 goals per game.
The Coyotes, winners of eight of their last 10, enter Wednesday’s games seventh in the Western Conference with 69 points, but just five points ahead of 10th-place Dallas.
