By Neil Milbert

About 20 minutes before Tuesday's trading deadline, Blackhawks general manager Bob Pulford sent his second-highest-paid player, $3.1 million defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev, to the New York Islanders for a fourth-round pick in the 2005 draft.

"He's a decent player, but he's hurt all the time, and everybody knows it," Pulford said. "We were fortunate to get what we got."

Karpovtsev has played in 24 games this season. Considered one of the NHL's best shot blockers, he underwent surgery to remove bone chips in his ankle after blocking a shot Nov. 16 against San Jose. He missed 36 games before coming off the injured list Feb. 22, then was out for three more games with a sore shoulder before returning for Friday's loss to Anaheim.

The defensive-oriented player's offensive contributions consisted of three assists. His plus-minus rating is minus-17, far from his rating of plus-39 in 1998-99, when he played 56 games for Toronto and two for the New York Rangers.

Former general manager Mike Smith believed Karpovtsev would prove to be a vital cog in the defensive corps when he acquired him from the Maple Leafs along with a fourth-round 2001 draft pick for Bryan McCabe on Oct. 2, 2000.

Instead, McCabe was the one who went on to become one of the NHL's best and most durable defensemen.

Meanwhile, the injuries that had hindered Karpovtsev before he came to Chicago continued—limiting him to 53, 65 and 40 games the last three seasons.

Karpovtsev is the sixth veteran player—and fifth in the last month—swept away in this season's housecleaning project, which has reduced the Hawks' payroll drastically in anticipation of a new collective-bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players Association.

The consensus is that the new deal will reduce salaries substantially. That will put the Hawks in position to acquire free agents at bargain prices.

At the start of the season the Hawks' payroll was about $31.6 million, seventh lowest of the NHL's 30 teams. Now that Alex Zhamnov ($4.5 million), Karpovtsev, Steve Sullivan ($3 million), Jon Klemm ($2.5 million), Nathan Dempsey ($600,000) and Ville Nieminen ($600,000) have been traded, they will go into the summer with a payroll in the neighborhood of $20 million, lowest in the league.

Over the weekend there were rumors Pulford also was trying to trade winger Eric Daze, whose salary of $3.2 million makes him the highest-paid Hawk. After missing 53 games because of back surgery, Daze was outstanding when he returned to play in the last two games.

Pulford said there was no truth to the rumors.

"We like Daze," said Pulford, who hopes to re-sign him this summer. "If his back is OK, he is a really good player. We had people ask about Daze and about [Mark] Bell and [Kyle] Calder before he got hurt and about [Tyler] Arnason. Everybody asks about the other team's good players."

Will the Hawks make more deals when the season ends and the trading ban is lifted?

"I honestly don't think so," Pulford said. "We'll wait until July 1 [when free agency opens] and see what happens."