“We’re going to be open to discussions, yes,” Howson said. “There’s nothing imminent right now; I don’t have anything on the burner right now. But certainly between now and over the next couple of months, we’re going to be very active, yes.”

Rick Nash likely isn’t going anywhere but what about Jeff Carter?

“I have no intention of trading Jeff at this point,” Howson said.

Derick Brassard will be in play, as well as rental players like Vaclav Prospal, Sammy Pahlsson and Kristian Huselius. LeBrun thinks the Kings and Red Wings will be interested in Ales Hemsky if he becomes available. The Predators are now able to negotiate with Shea Weber and GM David Poile is expected to chat “sometime in January.” Ryan Suter is a more pressing need as he’s a UFA at the end of the year. From Suter agent, Neil Sheehy:

“David and I continue to talk, but there’s nothing new to report at this point.”

The Bruins will have 6 UFAs: Chris Kelly, Shawn Thornton, Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Joe Corvo and Johnny Boychuk.

The Hurricanes have 5 UFAs that may be traded: Tim Gleason, Bryan Allen, Jaroslav Spacek, Tuomo Ruutu and Alexei Ponikarovsky. The Hurricanes are about $3 million over the salary cap, so they can’t just dump salaries. By the trade deadline the cap numbers may not have as much of an impact as it would if they made a deal soon.

“I’m not worried about it (trade or new deal). You guys can talk about this,” Hemsky said. “Whatever happens, happens.

“If it happens here or somewhere else, it’s out of my hands.”

“(Trade talk) just kind of comes with the territory with what’s going on with the season. But I’m trying to focus on what I’m trying to do here.”

Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has said that Staal and Cam Ward won’t be going anywhere.

“To be honest I wasn’t that worried about it,” said Staal, who has a cap hit of $8.25 million US on a contract that runs through 2015. “Those are things that are out of my control. If it comes to me, I’ll deal with the situation when it arises.

“It’s obviously nice that Jim said what he said. He’s a guy I have the most respect for and someone I won a Stanley Cup with.”

“Every day that they don’t skate makes them less probable that they will play the next game,” Trotz said. “It’s still day-to-day with no definite time frame. He didn’t skate today, so at this point, it’s looking doubtful for Friday.”

“Pretty close, I think,” Lombardi said when asked about a possible return date following the Maple Leafs’ spirited and physical practice on Tuesday. “Just waiting on the OK to go. We’ll see what the medical staff says and go from there.”