Saying he addressed the Penguins' top priority but wasn't closing the door on other moves, general manager Ray Shero acquired defenseman Jordan Leopold from Florida Monday in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft.

"This was to strengthen our defense, which I think we needed a little bit," Shero said.

Leopold, 29, is a puck-moving defenseman who had seven goals and 18 points in 61 games with the Panthers. He was second on the team in ice time with an average of 22 minutes, 25 seconds, and saw some power-play time on Florida's second unit.

At 6 feet 1, 200 pounds, Leopold is not the bruising type nor necessarily the shutdown defenseman the Penguins were thought to be seeking, but coach Dan Bylsma sees a player who can help the Penguins in their transition game, leading to more time with the puck in the team's offensive zone.

"His coaches played him against the other teams' top lines this year," Bylsma said. "A guy who skates like he skates, supporting and joining the rush, going back for pucks, and a guy who has the ability to move the puck like he moves it, it's a unique opportunity to be able to add him to your team."

Leopold makes $1.75 million this season and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, so he had an inkling the Panthers were shopping him.

"The situation down there, you hear your name but you never know if anything is actually going to happen, so it's an exciting day for me because it's a new opportunity for me," Leopold said.

"My game is not going to be anything pretty. It's all about playing safe and getting the puck to the guys who can do something with it."

The deal came in the hours after the NHL trade freeze ended. Teams could not make moves during the Olympic break, which ended Sunday night.

The league trade deadline is 3 p.m. Wednesday, and Shero will continue to see if anything else strikes him as beneficial.

"From our meetings and talking to our coaches, our first priority was to try to add a defenseman, and probably since Saturday I've been active trying to do that," Shero said. "Now we'll just ... continue to make calls and just see what's out there. Maybe it's a minor league deal, maybe it's no deal at all, but just be in the mix of things and see what's out there."

Leopold gives the Penguins eight healthy defensemen, which is one more than they've been carrying this season. That could give Shero the leeway to trade one of them, but he wasn't tipping his hand.

"Last year we went to the final and won the Stanley Cup with eight NHL defensemen, and all of them ended up playing in the playoffs," Shero said.

The Penguins would seem to need to add scoring depth at winger, but Shero and Bylsma said that isn't as dire as has been portrayed.

"When I look at goals for this year, it's been fourth best or fifth best in the league," Bylsma said. The Penguins through Monday ranked fourth with 195 goals.

"Whether every player on our team has scored as many as we anticipated or not, or whether we could get more out of certain positions, we can score goals."

Shero was more succinct in naming a couple of forwards who are expected to produce more over the balance of the season -- Ruslan Fedotenko, who has eight goals in 60 games, and Max Talbot, who has one goal in 28 games but has been hurt much of the winter -- but still gave his offensive players a vote of confidence.

"This is the group of forwards that we won a Stanley Cup with," Shero said. "I think we still have some forwards that we're going to get more out of; we expect more out of, and that's the good news.

"What will happen before Wednesday, we're not certain, but if this is our forward group moving forward, then I'm confident in these guys."

As he is in Leopold.

"He's a guy who can skate, move the puck," Shero said. "He's got good NHL experience."

Leopold was a second-round draft pick by Anaheim in 1999. He played at the University of Minnesota, where he won the 2002 Hobey Baker Award as the top college player.

He has 36 goals and 127 points in 416 NHL games with Calgary (twice), Colorado and Florida.

In 2004, he advanced to the Stanley Cup final with the Flames, who lost to Tampa Bay. In 2006, he played for the United States in the Olympics.

NOTES -- JP Barry, the agent for Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, said Gonchar and the Penguins have suspended contract talks until after the season so as not to be a distraction. Gonchar is eligible to become a free agent July 1. ... Fedotenko, who had not practiced since Thursday, and defenseman Mark Eaton, who sat out Sunday's practice, returned to skate with their teammates. The Penguins have not disclosed the nature of their ailments.

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