from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- There’s always hope one big trade creates aftershocks — that other teams look at Toronto acquiring Jake Muzzin and say, “Time for the counter-move!”you

There are some teams who appear ready to manoeuvre. Pittsburgh is one, with Jim Rutherford creating more cap room by trading Jamie Oleksiak back to Dallas for a draft pick. Tampa Bay, looking at right-shot defenders, could add one at any time if it chooses to do so.

But three key decisions must be made before things really shake loose. Two are in Ottawa. The other is in Columbus, where Artemi Panarin is thrust into the spotlight.

While we await the choices from Matt Duchene and Mark Stone, we know through agent Dan Milstein that Panarin is only willing to discuss his Ohio future after the season....

- Watching the Islanders, I remember one of Lou Lamoriello’s tenets: “You only add at the deadline when you think you can win,” he said when he added Marek Zidlicky for the Devils in 2012. New Jersey went to the Cup Final. Now the question is: How good does he think the Islanders are?

- I’m not one to complain about All-Star Games, but, aside from Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Brianna Decker, the skills competition was flat. Kevin Bieksa had a good suggestion for the passing accuracy competition that has now tortured Drew Doughty and Erik Karlsson: Give them a set number of pucks, and if they can’t hit those small nets in the neutral zone, add a timed penalty instead of having the misses go on forever.

With the possibility that next year is the last conventional All-Star Game until 2023, I’d love to see them continue to add more motivated competitors. You have to think female players will be official entrants in 2020. I’d like to see alumni such as Al Iafrate (hardest shot) and Adam Oates (passing). Since St. Louis is the host, Al MacInnis is a must if he feels up to it. What has been discussed — but not yet accepted — is active specialists. Bring out the fastest skaters, even if not All-Stars. Give Zdeno Chara and Shea Weber one last rodeo. This event needs new life.

more on the first topic plus numerous other points...