Trade Deadline: Things to Watch

1. Brad Richards - I've maintained all season that as long as Dallas is in the playoff race, they will hang on to their best player. They're in a playoff position right now and it makes no sense to move him. The panelists will focus on him all day long to keep you watching, but Richards won't be going anywhere.

2. The New Jersey Devils - On January 1st the Devils were 28 points out of a playoff spot and presumably the fire sale was on. Fast forward to today and they are only nine points out, with a game in hand on eighth seed Carolina. They have an aggressive owner, and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually added some bodies. The consensus is that they will move Jason Arnott, but beyond that, I suspect a house cleaning is out of the question.

3. Back-Up Goaltenders - The Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes (two teams with playoff aspirations) aren't confident enough in Patrick Lalime or Justin Peters, respectively, to put them in the line-up. The Anaheim Ducks are without starter Jonas Hiller and The Maple Leafs have sustained yet another injury in net (to James Reimer). Look for all of these teams to make inquiries about getting Martin Gerber out of Edmonton or Scott Clemmensen out of Florida.

4. Radek Dvorak - The veteran winger has been to two Stanley Cup Finals and would love another chance at hoisting the cup. Teams in need of a depth forward who can kill penalties and score the odd goal will be well-served to give up a late round draft pick for his services. I would expect him to be moved.

5. D-Men - While I expect the volume of trades to be on the low end, I expect a high percentage of them involve defencemen. Teams like San Jose, Washington, Vancouver, Detroit, Boston, Columbus, Minnesota, and Montreal could all use bottom pair blue liners.