from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

Get ready for a wild ride after the Stanley Cup final.

Teams needing change don't like what's available in free agency, with one exec calling it, "the weakest group we've seen." So, they're going to be aggressive in trades, hoping they can address their issues in advance.

We'll get the Ryan Kesler watch, the Jason Spezza watch and the Joe Thornton watch. We'll get so many watches you can open a Fossil store.

Let's go with Thornton. Whatever San Jose wants to do, he has the hammer with his no-move protection. How hard does he want to swing it?

I haven't spoken to him, but, from the little information out there, it's going to be tough to get him to do this -- right now. He just signed a three-year, $20.25-million US extension, which, in this free-agent year, was below market. He wouldn't put pen to paper until Patrick Marleau closed his own deal, even though Thornton agreed weeks sooner.

If he wanted out, he wouldn't have signed. He wouldn't care if Marleau stayed. He'd let it play out, picking his next destination in July. Now it's more complex. If Thornton is a free agent, all it takes to get him is cash. Now, it's assets. And GM Doug Wilson tends to make good trades.

continued plus 30 Thoughts, which you really should read...