'Canes deal Ds Johnson, Tverdovsky to Kings for two players

Lombardi acknowledged that Belanger and Gleason could have helped the Kings immediately, but he wanted to gamble on Johnson.

"He potentially fills a position that's hard to find. These type players aren't often available at a young age. We felt we had to be fairly aggressive," he said. "The kid is a competitor. He's going to be every bit as good as he can be."

The 29-year-old Belanger is a center who had 17 goals and 20 assists in 65 games last season with the Kings, and in five seasons in Los Angeles had 63 goals and 87 assists in 323 career games.

Gleason is entering his third NHL season. The 23-year-old defenseman had two goals, 26 assists and 98 penalty minutes in 125 career games with the Kings.

The Hurricanes included Tverdovsky in the deal because the Kings wanted an NHL-ready defenseman to replace Gleason and Carolina was seeking financial flexibility in the future, Rutherford said.

The 30-year-old Tverdovsky had three goals, 20 assists and 37 penalty minutes last season, his only one with the Hurricanes.

"He gave us a good year, but certainly to clear that contract off our books and give us more flexibility going into next year, where we don't have a $2.5 million contract to look at, it gives us flexibility to make other decisions," Rutherford said.

The move came hours before the Hurricanes' final home game of the preseason against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Rutherford said Belanger and Gleason would join the team Saturday and play in Sunday's preseason finale at Washington.