A little trade rumor news..

From Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun:

Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson has been busy working the phones, but he's got big demands. While Columbus has gotten off to a terrific start, coach Ken Hitchcock still wants a centre and a puck-moving blueliner. It's believed the Jackets have to talked to the Oilers, who wouldn't mind moving W Raffi Torres, but the club has its own problems on the blue line and can't satisfy the Jackets' needs there ...

I would imagine Howson is active and looking for a deal...but as Garrioch also talks about in his article its real hard to make deals in the NHL anymore due to the fact most teams are at the cap or against their internal budgets. Most moves would need to be of the dollar for dollar kind but that really narrows down the assets available.

The rumor I like the best so far with the Jackets is moving Fedorov to Dallas for Mike Modano. Dallas is off to a slow start, the fans are restless and that organization is probably looking to shake things up. Modano has been demoted to the 4th line and was stripped of his captaincy last season - he can't be too happy right now in the big 'D'. He makes 4 million this year and 2/5 million over the next two. Fedorov is on the last year of his 6 million dollar deal and if Dallas did not want to sign him after this season that frees up a lot of money to make some noise this summer on the free agent market.

Of course the Stars won't move Modano until he breaks the all time scoring record for Americans. Currently he is one point behind Phil Housley and should only be a matter of time until he ties and then surpasses it.

Still though, I can see good things with a Nash-Modano lineup. Heck even if Nash-Peca stays together how about a Modin-Modano pair? Also lets not forget the Hitch-Modano connection. Look at the next two years of his deal like picking up a 2nd or 3rd line center for 2.5 million on the free agent market next summer.....that would be a great deal.

-LTL