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There’s ‘very little trade discussion going on anywhere,’ says Canucks GM

Mike Gillis

Believe it or not, the NHL’s trade deadline is less than two months away. This year’s cutoff date is March 5, less than two weeks after the gold-medal game in Sochi on Feb. 23.

Unfortunately for fans (and purveyors) of trade speculation, at least one general manager, Mike Gillis of the Vancouver Canucks, is skeptical that much of anything will happen this year.

“I can tell you there is very little trade discussion going on anywhere,” Gillis said today on TEAM 1040 radio (audio). “It’s difficult to make trades when you have the cap lowered and teams’ financial resources under the cap have been used up.

“It’s tough to find trades that you can make that are going to improve your team. It’s tough to find anything but lateral moves and changing the deck chairs.

“But we’ll see. We’re trying. We’re always trying to improve and we’ll see if we can.”

While the Canucks have expressed strong disinterest in acquiring rental players at the deadline (Derek Roy and Samuel Pahlsson didn’t exactly pan out for them in recent years), the list of pending unrestricted free agents isn’t without some compelling names for those teams looking to bolster their rosters for a playoff run.

Thomas Vanek, Marian Gaborik, Mike Cammalleri, Ryan Miller, Matt Moulson, Steve Ott, David Legwand, Ales Hemsky, Dan Girardi, and Tom Gilbert are a few that come to mind.