from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

- An all-points bulletin has gone out for Claude Giroux in Philadelphia. Where is the Flyers’ big points-producer hiding out? One lonely assist in six games. He’s making that ‘Giroux’s a slam-dunk for Canada’s Olympic team’ story look pretty silly right now. Giroux has 13 goals in his last 54 games, counting the lockout year.

- Can the Buffalo Sabres get any more for winger Thomas Vanek and goalie Ryan Miller at the deadline than the Calgary Flames did with their unrestricted free agents Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester? The Flames retrieved college winger Ben Hanowski, Swiss goalie Reto Berra, defenceman Mark Cundari (all now in AHL Abbotsford), college forward Kenny Agostino (still at NCAA champion Yale), and their two first-round picks, Emile Poirier and Morgan Klimchuk, are back in junior. Everybody in the league knows Vanek will sign with the Minnesota Wild next summer.

- Dany Heatley’s lack of foot speed is a major concern in Minnesota. He can’t keep up anymore even though he’s leaner this season. The Wild could have exercised one of those amnesty buyouts last summer, but he needed shoulder surgery. You can’t buy out injured guys, so they have his $5-million salary and $7.5-million salary cap hit on the books.

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