RALEIGH, NC—Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired goaltender Justin Pogge (POH-gee) and a fourth-round draft pick from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Aaron Ward. The conditional fourth-round draft pick originally belonged to the Boston Bruins, and the Hurricanes will receive the pick in either 2010 or 2011. Rutherford will be available to the media at 3:15 p.m. at the RBC Center today, after the NHL’s trade deadline has passed at 3 p.m.

Pogge, 23, played in seven NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008-09, and has a career NHL record of 1-4-1 with a 4.35 goals-against average. He has spent the 2009-10 season with San Antonio of the American Hockey League (AHL), posting a 12-7-3 record with a 2.57 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. In 165 career AHL games with Toronto and San Antonio, Pogge has earned a record of 83-63-14, with a 2.69 goals-against average.

Pogge (6’3”, 200 lbs.) played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League (WHL), where he was the WHL Player of the Year and the Canadian Major Junior Goaltender of the Year in 2006, after posting a 38-10-6 record with a 1.72 goals-against average and 11 shutouts for the Calgary Hitmen. The Ft. McMurray, Alb., native was Toronto’s first choice, 90th overall, in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He was acquired by the Ducks from the Maple Leafs on Oct. 8, 2009, in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Pogge’s career statistics are attached to this release.