The Florida Panthers have traded forward Dominic Moore to the Montreal Canadiens for a second-round pick in the 2011 draft.
The trade represents the first for Montreal's newly-installed general manager Pierre Gauthier, who took over earlier this week when Bob Gainey stepped down.
Moore, 29, has eight goals and nine assists in 48 games for Florida. He is earning $1.1 million this season and becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
"This might signal a lot of wholesale changes in Florida right now," said TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie. "They were not at all happy the other night with the performance they got against the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 loss, and Panthers GM Randy Sexton has basically said that virtually everybody, including netminder Tomas Vokoun, is available.
"Will they get something else done before the (Olympic trade freeze) deadline of 3pm et Friday? They're certainly trying," added McKenzie.
This is the third year in a row that Moore has changed teams in mid-season. He was claimed off waivers from Minnesota by Toronto in 2007-08, and was traded from Toronto to Buffalo at last season's trade deadline.
The native of Sarnia, Ontario signed with Florida as a free agent just prior to this season.
He was originally drafted by the New York Rangers in the third round of the 2000 draft. Montreal will be his seventh NHL team.
In other moves on Thursday, the Canadiens recalled defenceman P.K. Subban from the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL and sent forward Ben Maxwell back down.
