Salo

OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators traded defenseman Sami Salo to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday for left wing Peter Schaefer.

The 25-year-old Schaefer, who signed a bonus-laden, two-year, $1.125 million deal with Ottawa, had 16 goals and 41 points in 33 games last season with TPS Turku of the Finnish Elite League.

Schaefer has 75 points in 178 NHL games over three seasons, from 1998 to 2001, with Vancouver. He was the Canucks' third pick, 66th overall, in the 1995 draft.

He recently turned down the Canucks' three-year offer worth $1.85 million and had threatened to return to Europe.

"They wanted to tie me up for a really long amount of time, and we thought with money not there, then the shortest term was the best way to go,'' Schaefer said of the contract impasse with Vancouver. "We felt the short-term deal was the best situation for us, and Ottawa was offering a two-year deal.''

Salo was Ottawa's ninth pick, 239 overall, in the 1996 draft. The native of Turku, Finland played four seasons with the Senators, with 19 goals and 50 assists in 195 games.

"I feel that I still have a lot more to give than I have given during the past years,'' said Salo, who signed a qualifying offer in Ottawa that will pay him $880,000 this season and make him a restricted free agent next year. "As long as I'm going to stay healthy it's going to be different.''