Talk about a strong finishing kick. The Canes' turned what appeared to be a fairly quiet trade deadline day into a bang-up, wholesale lineup change with a late rush.

Defenseman Aaron Ward and Scott Walker were traded just after noon. About three hours later, just before the NHL's 3 p.m. deadline, the Canes dealt defenseman Joe Corvo to the Washington Capitals for defenseman Brian Pothier, Finnish forward Oskar Osala and a second-round pick.

Defenseman Andrew Alberts was sent to the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick, and forward Stephane Yelle to the Colorado Avalanche.

PHILADELPHIA — Canes goaltender Cam Ward finally will get a day off. He also will have the chance to break the franchise record for career wins at home.

Canes coach Paul Maurice said today that Manny Legace would start tomorrow against the Philadelphia Flyers, ending Ward's streak of 17 consecutive starts. Legace has not played since relieving Ward in the Dec. 23 game against Montreal and has not started since Dec. 12 against Ottawa.

It's always an awkward thing for a player: walking into a new locker room, meeting new teammates, settling in with a new team.

Many NHL players have experienced it, changing teams through a trade or free agency. Tom Kostopoulos and Andrew Alberts are experiencing it this week with the Canes, participating in the "Camp Brindy" informal workouts at the RecZone.

"Everyone here is pretty nice and showing me around, so it makes it a lot easier," said Kostopoulos, a forward who played for the Montreal Canadiens last season and signed a three-year, free-agent contract with the Canes.

Exit Anton Babchuk and Dennis Seidenberg. Enter Aaron Ward and Andrew Alberts.

Question: Do the changes on defense leave the Hurricanes better equipped to handle teams like the Penguins?

Fire away.

The Carolina Hurricanes have bought out the remaining year on the contract of defenseman Frantisek Kaberle.

Kaberle, 35, was due to make $2.2 million this coming season. With the buyout, he will collect two-thirds, or about $1.5 million, of that amount over the next two seasons.

"We wanted to change the makeup of our defense, make our defense bigger," said Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford, who notably brought back defenseman Aaron Ward in a trade with the Boston Bruins and picked up Andrew Alberts in free agency.

Rutherford said Kaberle became expendable after the Hurricanes traded for Joe Corvo in February 2008, which "covered up the strengths of [Frank's] game."

Andrew Alberts was hoping to stay with the Philadelphia Flyers and sign a new contract. The big defenseman was coming off a season in which he set career highs for games (79), points (13) and plus-minus (plus-6).

And then the Flyers brought in Chris Pronger in the mega trade with the Anaheim Ducks. That was pretty much that.

"We had talks with Philadelphia but once they traded for Pronger we were not able to get a deal done," Alberts said Wednesday. "But that's just part of the business. That's the way you have to take it: it's just business."

But Alberts had other free-agent offers to consider. And one of the first, he said, was from the Hurricanes.

The Carolina Hurricanes signed defenseman Andrew Alberts, who had a team-high 157 hits and blocked 133 shots for the Philadelphia Flyers last season.

It's a two-year deal that will pay him $800,000 this season and $1.3 million next year.