from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

- With Marc Savard’s and Patrice Bergeron’s concussion history always present with the Boston Bruins, there are worries that Loui Eriksson’s two concussions in the last 45 days may seriously jeopardize his playing days. He’s been a vastly underrated forward for years, but he’s made little impact in Beantown since the Tyler Seguin trade, injuries aside.

- The St. Louis Blues publicly stand behind goalie Jaroslav Halak, but they have the young players to swap for Buffalo Sabres netminder Ryan Miller at the trade deadline. The question is whether he’d be worth four pieces, which is what the Sabres fetched for soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Jason Pominville last season. The Sabres got prospect goalie Matt Hackett, a good young forward Johan Larsson, and first- and second-round draft picks in return. Would the Blues give up goalie Jake Allen, winger Ty Rattie and two draft picks for Miller? That’s what it might take. I know St. Louis doesn’t want to move winger Dmitrij Jaskin.

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Also from Matheson,

- Jordan Staal looks like a shadow of his Pittsburgh Penguins checking-centre self in Carolina. He was in the ideal situation there in Steeltown, but he hasn’t given the Hurricanes a lot of bang for the buck at $6 million per season in salary. The Hurricanes may also have thought that Jordan could maybe push his brother Eric, who may have become a little comfortable in Carolina, but it hasn’t happened. Just because you trade for one brother doesn’t mean it’s a panacea. Case in point: the Philadelphia Flyers acquiring Luke Schenn to have him with brother Brayden. Luke struggles as a third-pairing D-man.

- I keep thinking the Anaheim Ducks will change gears and try to re-sign goalie Jonas Hiller as long as the soon-to-be UFA doesn’t get greedy with what he wants and they will trade Swede Viktor Fasth instead. They can play Hiller and Dane Frederik Andersen and let John Gibson have one more year in the AHL.

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