Buyers and Sellers ponder their options as February moves along

First will come Valentine’s Day, a celebration of undying love and fidelity, where many a special relationship is cemented for good under the augurs of the heavens.

But for the NHL, the other shoe will drop shortly after the festive celebration of St. Valentine. The NHL Trading deadline fast approaches, as on the dawn of the 27th of February, many of those Valentines delivered on the 14th crushed like so many lost love affairs.

Addresses will change as fast as an exchanged Valentine, as the NHL’s 30 General Managers decide if they’re in the market or on the market by the end of the month. They will spend the next nineteen days looking for that one player, the one missing ingredient that will lead their squad past the pack and into the playoffs and beyond.

The Trading deadline is the thing of high drama on the sports talk shows and television networks, already the major sports networks are trumpeting their comprehensive coverage of what effectively becomes the NHL version of the Chicago Stock Yards for a day, a massive moving of beef that could pay dividends in mid June.

But will this year be like those in the past? Teams must deal with any number of concerns as the trading deadline approaches, team chemistry, and current roster commitments and how it all fits into the salary cap, a financial instrument that is giving many a GM Grey hairs as the deadline approaches.

Some suggest that the fever pitch of trading of years past won’t be repeated this year, the cap rendering wild stabs at fancy a thing of history. Others feel that the GM’s will find creative ways to build the perfect mix to head into the playoffs.

We’ll find out on the 27th, bright and early on the West Coast as the coastal GM’s sit down to a working breakfast, a day of work that will get under way shortly after the first coffee break of the day in the East.

Pierre LeBrun of the Globe and Mail, has put out the first look of who is looking for what and whom, expect the names to change as well as the requirements by the time the deadline approaches.

Sportsnet Deadline day ticker
TSN's Trade Centre