from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

"Everyone has played from 20 to 24 games so far; you've got to adjust your thinking to making a quicker assessment," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli told ESPN.com. "We’re used to making our assessments over a longer period of time. And this year it’s different. Therefore, for me it’s a little funky right now to know we’re that close to making deals."

What also gums up the works is that the list of UFAs-to-be, aka rental players, might shorten as the month rolls as teams re-sign those players and take them off the trade market.

"What’s happened the last five or six years is teams realizing that even if they’re a seller, they realize it’s not like the old days where you trade [a UFA to be] for a draft pick and easily replace them [in the offseason]," Kings GM Dean Lombardi told ESPN.com. "Even midrange players, many teams are now deciding to keep them and try to sign them versus giving them away for a second- or third-round pick. That’s something that’s changed in this business since I got in it; very different. Some teams are looking at that No. 4 or No. 5 defenseman and saying, 'I’m not replacing him this summer, I need to keep him and sign him.'"

more