By Brian Bohl

For the second consecutive season, a makeshift media center across the hallway from the Islanders dressing room was the place to be to receive news about a key Pittsburgh Penguins trade-deadline move.

Last season, the Pens were at Nassau Coliseum for a game against the Islanders when word came down to reporters in Room 6 that Pittsburgh acquired Marian Hossa in a move that propelled the club to the Stanley Cup Finals. Before the NHL’s Wednesday trade deadline, the Islanders finally ended the Bill Guerin saga, trading the team’s captain to Pittsburgh for a conditional draft pick.

Guerin’s trade was not a harbinger of wholesale changes. General manager Garth Snow did not move Doug Weight, Brendan Witt, Andy Hilbert, Radek Martinek or any other Islanders who were rumored in potential deals. Instead, the Isles shipped out the 11th captain in team history, moving Guerin to the Penguins in exchange for a fifth round pick that originally belonged to Tampa Bay. That selection could be improved based on the following scenarios.

If the Penguins qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, the pick going back to Long Island will be a fourth rounder. Should Pittsburgh win a postseason round and Guerin appears in half of Pittsburgh’s games, the Islanders will receive a third rounder.

“The entire Islanders organization has the utmost respect for Bill Guerin and we sincerely thank him for his time on Long Island and as the team’s captain,” Snow said.

That was the only move the Islanders made during a day that saw NHL teams make 22 trades involving 45 players and 21 draft picks. Instead of getting something in return for veterans Hilbert and Weight-two impending unrestricted free agents-Snow left open the possibility of re-signing the forwards without mentioning them by name.

“We’ll do whatever we have to do to be better,” Snow said. “We weren’t going to just go in and have a fire sale. If we identify a free agent to be as someone as we can re-sign, we’ll take that road.”

But two years ago, Snow was on the other side of the buyer-seller divide. Instead of fueling other franchise’s playoff runs, the first-year GM bolstered his own club’s fledgling playoff chances by trading prospects and draft picks for Ryan Smyth. The move worked in the sense that the Isles qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seed and gave a spirited fight against top-seeded Buffalo in the first-round.

“As a seller, you can’t make a trade for the sake of making a trade,” Snow said in Room 6 at Nassau Coliseum, the same site where two years ago the Isles shocked the league by acquiring Smyth, an All-Star and former 40-goal scorer, for a stretch-run deadline deal.

Yet Snow might have waited too long to pull the trigger on Guerin, who recorded 39 goals in 142 games for the Islanders, including career goal No. 400 earlier this year. The 38-year-old has been a model teammate since signing a two-year contact before the 2007-08 campaign and adjusted to the captain’s role despite never wearing the “C” on his jersey in his other NHL stops.

In less than three weeks, the Islanders traded its only two 20-goal scorers from last season. Mike Comrie went in a package with Chris Campoli to Ottawa for a late first-round pick and now Guerin might net the Isles only a fifth round choice when his value might have been higher earlier this season.

“Billy brings that veteran presence,” Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said. “He’s a right winger with a right shot, and he can still skate. I talked to him this afternoon after the trade and I told him what I was expecting of him. He’s a goal scorer. Billy Guerin can play with good players and score goals – he’s certainly done that in the past. I think we have the players for him to play with and support him.

“He has size. We wanted to get bigger and we wanted to get a little bit stronger up front and I believe that’s a good fit. Hopefully it’s a good move for both of us.”

Trade speculation heated up Saturday when Guerin participated in the pregame warm up but was held off the ice before opening face off against Buffalo. He also sat out Monday’s victory over Colorado, something Snow said came on the advice of both Guerin’s agent and team.

“I had a conversation leading up to the warm-up and after contacting Bills agent and talking it over a little bit, it was in everyone’s best interest that he probably shouldn’t play and when I say we, I mean the three of us…really didn’t want to risk bill getting injured,” Snow said.

As a side note, Jon Sim cleared waivers and Snow also said he would be agreeable to keeping Witt beyond this season. The veteran defense man was critical of first-year head coach Scott Gordon’s system earlier this season.

“To me Brendan Witt is what the Islanders are looking to be,” Snow said. “He’s tough he plays with a lot of heart, selfless; he’s a good leader in the locker room. He’s a player we’ve had here for a few years now and were happy he’s back for two more.”