from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- For the record, Jim Rutherford denies he is considering resigning from the Canucks. Vancouver’s got a lot of decisions to make, on and off the ice, but he’s determined to lead that process.

- We’re going to have a better idea what Kane and Jonathan Toews are thinking around 10 days before the March 3 deadline. On some level, they hoped that there could be a way to stay, but that’s dissipating. The Blackhawks want to move on and the reality of what Chicago is doing has set in on both. The big question is, how many teams both players are willing to consider. A few players at All-Star praised Kane for playing through something that clearly is bothering him, especially since Chicago is hoping what they get in return benefits the rebuild.

- We’ll see if Bo Horvat’s eight-year, $68-million extension moves the line for Larkin and Steve Yzerman. Generally, Yzerman digs a trench and doesn’t go much further, although Nikita Kucherov pushed Tampa Bay’s ceiling to $9.5-million two months before Yzerman resigned from the team. I don’t believe that’s where we’re going here, but what it shows is that sometimes, things can move.

Larkin’s best attribute is that, as a centre, he’s difficult to replace. Top-line centres are very hard to find. My guess is this ends somewhere in the eights. If Yzerman believed he couldn’t sign Larkin, he would have traded him last summer before the captain’s no-trade clause kicked in.

- I thought an 84-game schedule might be on the docket in March’s GM meetings, now I’m not so sure. What I do think we could get is a discussion on cutting down the number of pre-season games.

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