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Preds GM: Gill trade could be “catalyst” for more trades

Hal Gill

Nashville general manager David Poile thinks the Predators’ acquisition of defenseman Hal Gill from Montreal could spur his NHL counterparts into action.

“I can tell you, as a manager, that it does work like dominoes,” Poile said. “So there are probably more things in the works now than there was 24 hours ago. Whether that leads to any more completed deals, I don’t know that. But it certainly acts as a catalyst to try to move things along.”

Today’s trade that saw Gill swapped for Blake Geoffrion and Robert Slaney was the biggest of the pre-deadline period and took a coveted rental player off the market.

The Feb. 27 deadline is still 10 days away, but if you’re one of the numerous GMs seeking a veteran depth defenseman for the playoffs, your options are dwindling. The Ducks locked up Francois Beauchemin a month ago. The Hurricanes re-signed Tim Gleason. Ditto for the Oilers with Andy Sutton. Nicklas Grossman went to the Flyers yesterday.

So, who’s left in the rental defenseman category?

Pavel Kubina, Bryan Allen, Jaroslav Spacek, Shane O’Brien, Marek Zidlicky, Chris Campoli, and…umm…yeah, it’s not a huge list.