from Bob McKenzie of TSN,

Another week, another exercise in trying to put 10 pounds of fertilizer in a five-pound bag.

It’s T-minus 19 days and counting to the NHL trade deadline, so let’s try to size up some of the situations/players we’ll be watching and talking about between now and then.

In honour of the Dustin Byfuglien signing in Winnipeg and Dion Phaneuf trade to Ottawa, let’s start with a trio of defencemen:

Travis Hamonic: The sense I’m getting from teams that would like to trade for Hamonic is that New York Islander general manager Garth Snow would really rather prefer to put this whole thing off until the summer.

The Islanders are all about a) making the playoffs, and b) trying to make a splash in the playoffs. Unless an incredible offer comes across Snow’s desk in the next couple of weeks, which is certainly possible, those interests are likely best served by keeping Hamonic for the rest of the season and trying to deal with his closer-to-home (Western Canada) trade request (for personal reasons) in the off-season.

That doesn’t preclude a deal between now and Feb. 29, it just means it’s going to have to be perfect for Snow to radically alter team chemistry now when he isn’t under any real pressure to do so.

continue for more on Hamonic and more possible trade notes...