Trade to Leafs rescues Cross from cellar

MONTREAL (CP) -- Cory Cross is glad to be out of the NHL cellar, even if he's still not sure why the Tampa Bay Lightning traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The lowly Lightning dealt Cross and a seventh-round draft pick to the Leafs on Friday for left-winger Fredrik Modin, who had been slated to start on Toronto's fourth line.
Cross, one of Tampa's top defenceman last season, had just reported to the Lightning camp after signing a new contract during the week. He'll earn $900,000 US this season.
"I wish I knew the answer," Cross, 28, said Saturday, hours before his Leafs played the Montreal Canadiens. "Their negotiating stance was that I was a fifth or sixth defenceman when I was No. 1 last year in Tampa.
"I disagreed with them, I guess."
The six-foot-five, 225-pound Cross is likely to be fifth or sixth on Toronto's depth chart on defence, but he's gone from a last-place overall club to a team that played three rounds of playoffs last spring.
The Lightning was cleaning house and Cross was not in its plans, while Toronto wanted an experienced defenceman to fill in for Dmitri Yushkevich, absent in what could be a long contract dispute.
"It allows us to dress seven NHL guys, or at least have seven NHL guys available," said Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn.
Cross said the money terms of his new contract were settled during the first week of training camp, but the team dallied on getting the deal done, perhaps because they were shopping him.
Cross also told the Lightning he wouldn't mind a trade.
"Two years in a row, it's been bad down there," said Cross. "You can only do so much.
"I know they'll change things around. It's a good city, but then, it doesn't get any better than Toronto."
The knock on Cross is that he's not very physical for his size, but Quinn said he uses his long reach and is "assertive of his territory."
"I'm not the type who's going to take someone's head off," the Lloydminster, Alta., native admitted. "I try to play it smart and pin the guy.
"People say I'm not very physical, but with the motivation of being in Toronto, that might change."
Much will change for Cross, a stay-at-home defenceman who now finds himself on a fast-paced, offensive minded club.
He's also gone from a city that has two reporters regularly covering the team to a major hockey media centre.
"That'll be a big change," he said.
Cross is a rare NHL player to graduate from Canadian university hockey. He was playing and studying education at the University of Alberta when he was selected by Tampa in the 1992 supplemental draft.
Ironically, his place in Tampa may be taken by his former Golden Bears teammate, defenceman Ian Herbers.
"I'd rather have a friend take my job than some else," said Cross. "It worked out great."

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