NHL Trade Rumors: Extreme Parity Makes Deadline a Bore

The Feb. 27^th trade deadline is on the horizon and the rumor mill is quiet as a mouse.

It’s not that contending teams aren’t looking to bolster their roster for a late season run; it’s that far too many teams consider themselves actual contenders to make that run.

As play begins on Tuesday, all but two teams in the entire league are more than 10 points away from a playoff spot and that means hope has draped over essentially the entire league.

Teams like Colorado and Montreal know they have glaring holes that need to be patched up, but being within 3-to-4 points of the eight seed means all it takes is one hot streak to vault up into the mix for a home playoff series.

It’s an odd time right now for hockey as the game flirts with conference realignment and is still dealing with how the new scoring system has affected the game. It has had a direct impact on keeping teams hopeful well past the halfway mark of the season. With one-point now awarded for an overtime loss, it’s not rocket science why the NHL is as wide open as it’s been in a very long time.

Evgeni Nabokov of the New York Islanders has been teetering on the market, but so has his teams belief they can make the Eastern Conference playoffs. The 36-year-old is the ideal rental considering the small cap hit ($575,000) and because he will be a free agent this summer.

So despite being one point away from dead last in the conference, the Islanders front office seems to be under the belief they can erase the nine-point deficit and leap frog five teams to reach the postseason.

While the dead-last Columbus Blue Jackets may be dangling Rick Nash (per Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com), it makes sense because they are in dead last in the NHL by 11 points and are in a league of their own.

So the majority of fans have yet to throw in the towel in one of the more exciting seasons to come along in recent memory, it’s creating one incredibly dull trade deadline.