from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

Some of his counterparts had yet to decide whether they were sellers or buyers based on their teams’ spots in the standings. Some were playoff competitors in the Eastern Conference who, naturally, had no interest in helping Sweeney (and vice versa). Some wanted NHL players to reinforce their varsity rosters, not the futures Sweeney preferred to send out.

The result was a reduced list of dance partners.

Trade deadline day used to be a big thing in the NHL. On March 3, 2010, 31 deals took place involving 55 players, including Dennis Seidenberg. The Canadian networks loved it. They ran all-day coverage and needed every minute to break and analyze player movement.

But those numbers dropped to 19 trades and 37 players last Monday. Technical directors involved with the Canadian coverage were busy instructing their on-air talent to stretch instead of cut. The activity is not expected to pick up in 2016-17. The NHL has become a June league. If a GM hasn’t assembled the bulk of his roster to his liking by the time the market opens for shopping on July 1, it’s probably too late....

The deadline used to be one of the league’s standard signposts. Some organizations, however, are hiring younger and nontraditional thinkers as their decision-makers. They aren’t as married to the tradition of applying the deadline toward improving their needs. They’re considering other times of the year as less expensive team-building segments.

The thinking now is that June is the most efficient window. Teams have yet to set rosters or budgets for the upcoming season. All 30 clubs, more or less, are on equal footing. Most important, draft picks are still in play.

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