Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - The sad saga of the Pittsburgh Penguins continued Sunday with the trading of forward Martin Straka to the Los Angeles Kings.

While the move was inevitable to help keep the Penguins from sinking into the Allegheny River from a business standpoint, it illustrated just how desperate things are in the Steel City. A new arena might not even be the answer to save the Pens. Perhaps an NHL Welfare system would work better.

Straka, who was tied for the team's scoring lead and had been a mainstay since re-joining the club in 1997, was dealt for one reason only. His salary for the 2003-04 season will be $4.35 million, while next year it balloons to $4.7 million.

"Certainly, economics is always a factor," Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said. "And long term, Marty wasn't going to be with us. We had an opportunity to get a young kid [Sergei Anshakov] who's going to be able to play for us in a couple of years, and a guy [Martin Strbak] who can give us a little more depth on defense."

Patrick can talk all about how the trade will help the team, but the bottom line is that a common occurrence these days in the NHL took place Sunday. The Kings added another legitimate body to their lineup, while the Penguins all but assured themselves of finishing with the Eastern Conference's worst record.

Straka, of course, is merely the latest in a long line of proven veterans the club has dumped since its 2001 Eastern Conference finals appearance. Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis, Bob Boughner, Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang...

Heck, if it was within the rules you'd probably see Mario Lemieux, if he was ever healthy again, trade himself. OK, that might be a bit too far-fetched.

Of course, the Penguins, who brand their young players as the "X Generation" on their web site, do have some promising horses in the stable. Rico Fata, obtained in the Kovalev deal, Konstantin Koltsov and Aleksey Morozov are all talented and will likely be integral if and when this club is ready to compete again. And goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, despite some bumps in the road, is the real thing and will be the anchor in net for years to come.

But Fleury's situation could turn out to be the most disturbing fallout from the team's financial woes. Recent talk has Pittsburgh pondering a trip back to Juniors for him in an effort to avoid the incentives he's likely to earn if he remains with the club. Dumping veterans to save a buck is one thing, but retarding the development of your blue chipper would be a disgrace.

NOT GOING AWAY

The Tampa Bay Lightning may have five games in hand on the Atlanta Thrashers, but the fact that Black Friday has passed and we can refer to them as the first-place Thrashers is remarkable.

Those hideous blue alternate sweaters aside, Atlanta is making its pitch to be this year's version of the Minnesota Wild. Bob Hartley, having had a full training camp to install his way of doing things, has the club tailored to his liking, Pasi Nurminen is proving he's a legit NHL goaltender and Ilya Kovalchuk has been, well, as advertised.

But most importantly, Atlanta is playing very solid team defense. After allowing 280+ goals in each of its first four years of existence, the Thrashers are on pace to surrender only 226.

Atlanta has especially shined on the penalty kill, ranking fifth in the NHL with an 86.7 percent success rate. A season ago the Thrashers killed off only 81.7 percent of the power plays they faced, good for 24th in the league.

PROBLEMS IN THE CANADIAN CAPITAL

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of the meeting the Ottawa Senator organization's power figures had following Saturday night's home loss to Toronto.

Owner Eugene Melnyk, president Roy Mlakar, GM John Muckler and coach Jacques Martin held a pow-wow behind closed doors for roughly 40 minutes. What transpired is not known.

What is known, though, is that the Sens, picked by many, including myself, to raise the Cup next spring, sit in a last-place tie with the Montreal Canadiens in the Northeast Division. They are eight off the pace of the first-place Maple Leafs and would not qualify for the postseason if things kicked off today.

Ottawa has a tough stretch upcoming that could either sink it deeper or bring it back. Beginning Monday against Philadelphia, the Sens have six-of-seven against what you'd have to call the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. Two tilts apiece with Boston and Tampa Bay and a match with New Jersey are included in the tough slate.

If these upcoming weeks go bad, you have to wonder how safe Jacques Martin's job, which has been in jeopardy in years past, will be.