Dater’s Daily Links: Things heating up in NHL trade market; Will Avalanche jump in?

Things are happening out there in the NHL trade market, with several deals having gone down the last few days. The Avalanche have not been a participant – yet.

The good news on Mikko Rantanen’s MRI last night might mean the Avs won’t be as big a player by Monday’s official NHL trade deadline. Chris Kreider remains probably the biggest fish out there on the market, but he’ll cost a pretty penny.

The Avs have to ask themselves a question: should we go out and get some bigger-name guys, guys we might not have been in the market for, in order to better have a shot at the Western Conference title? Or, do we wait for our own guys to come back from injury and go into the playoffs with, hopefully, a healthy team and not worry so much about the seeding?

Some stuff from around the league:

• In addition to reportedly being “in” on Kreider, the Boston Bruins may also be looking over Ilya Kovalchuk and Tomas Tatar (Boston Hockey Now)
• (I think the Avs may also be taking a good look at Tatar. He’s having a good year and he’s got a pretty good contract – $4.8 million cap hit this season and next)
• There seems to be some mild – or maybe more than mild – panic going on in Toronto (Sportsnet)
• Milan Lucic almost retired early into this season (Ottawa Sun)
• The Capitals got a hard-hitting defenseman in Brenden Dillon. That will make the Caps a bit meaner for the playoffs (Ottawa Sun)
• The St. Louis Blues had to go out and get another defenseman, Marco Scandella, from Montreal in the wake of Jay Bouwmeester going on long-term injured reserve. They paid a pretty steep price, according to one columnist (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• The Hockey News weighs in on the Avalanche’s deadline scenario (The Hockey News)

Thanks to some recent Avs Travel Tip Jar donations. Some road trips upcoming, so anyone else who wants to chip in, I won’t say no. As always, 95 cents of every dollar goes to Avalanche travel expenses and five cents goes to the Thornton Food Bank. If you feel like contributing, here’s the place and thank you: (Avs Travel Tip Jar)