NHL Trade Deadline

Coming out of the All Star break is the time when the trade deadline talks heat up; and since at least two of our writers' teams are likely to be active, the Leafs and the Canes, we should be talking about it.  I will also not be surprised if the Bruins do something, for two reasons which I'll get to in a bit.

Suter and or Weber could be dealt

This excellent article in The Bleacher Report is a good starting point, as they point out the 12 teams most likely to be active before the trade deadline, including Carolina and Toronto; and it's their opinion that the big prize out there will be Nashville's Ryan Suter, followed by any one of three players from the Anaheim Ducks.  Suter would be one helluva get, one that would fit perfectly in a Bruin sweater; but he will come at a high price, a price that would cost the Bruins their chemistry potentially.
The Carolina Hurricanes need to rebuild and they do have pieces of value, Ruutu key among them.  They won't (or certainly shouldn't) trade Ward, Skinner or Staal but everyone else should be available.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are very much in the hunt for a playoff spot, their GM has a history of making blockbuster moves and they have to keep moving forward since they are the franchise with the most pressure to win in the league.
I'll leave it up to my colleagues to comment on their respective teams further.  I'll just close by making a couple of comments about the Bruins.  What has been different between the unbeatable team of December to mid-January and the team of the last couple of weeks?  Defense.  And it seems the Bruins always covet defensemen, especially puck-handling, power-play-leading defensemen.  Since the last two attempts to fill that void on this team have seemingly failed with the underwhelming play of Joe Corvo, I will not be surprised to see the Bs pick up that kind of player, especially if they can get that kind of guy without giving up a top guy from the current roster or a high prospect.
The other way the Bruins could get involved in a trade, and involved in a very big way, is if they decide now is the time to trade Tim Thomas.  Reasons not to trade Tim Thomas:  He's the best goalie in the league and the biggest reason the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last year.  Arguably they cannot repeat without him.  There are, however, many more reason to trade him, though I'm not so sure between now and the trade deadline will be the time.  What is going to push this more than anything else in my opinion is if Tuukka Rask says this is his last season in Boston unless the Bs become his team.  That would create a dilemma for the Bruins obviously but one I would prefer they address after this season.  I would keep Thomas, splitting time pretty much equally with Rask through the end of the season and then ride the hot goalie through the playoffs.  Now if a guy like Ryan Suter could be had for Thomas, I'd have to consider it.  That's not going to happen since Nashville doesn't need a goalie; but if someone overwhelmed the Bruins with an offer for Thomas, they'd have to consider it.  Rask needs to be resigned and if that means he has to be made the #1 goalie to achieve that, then so be it.  He's not quite 25 years old, is having arguably a better season thus far than Tim Thomas, has had a fantastic season as the starting goalie once before; and Tim Thomas is almost 38 years old, is not quite the goalie he was last year and will never bring you more in return than in the middle of the season when teams are most desperate, to say nothing about the possibility that he's becoming a locker room liability.  It would be nothing if not exciting to see what might be thrown at the Bruins in an effort to get a championship goalie.