from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

...making a trade these days is like negotiating an international trade agreement. As Detroit’s Holland suggests, there has to be a harmonic convergence of supply, demand, money, term, need and placement in the standings before a deal is considered and that’s sucked the life out of the market

“It’s very hard because of the competitive balance,” said Holland. “I think back to 15 years ago there were probably three, four teams in each conference who really thought they could win it. It was like an arms war. Now, if you make the playoffs, you can win the Stanley Cup.”

And everyone thinks they can make the playoffs. Heading into the weekend games, seven points separated the third-place team from the 13th-place team in the West. In the East, it was seven points between sixth and 14th. Basically, one seller has been identified, the Florida Panthers, and that’s skewed the market.

“Are we a today team or a tomorrow team,” says one GM who requested anonymity. “Do we reset or refresh? I haven’t answered that question. Let’s talk again after the deadline.”

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