The Monday Before The Trade Deadline.

Well, it's a quiet one so far today, with only one trade taking place today whereThe Atlanta Thrashers sent Niclas Havelid and winger Myles Stoesz to The New Jersey Devils for defenseman Anssi Salmela. Not exactly a groundbreaking deal, but it was something. Aside from that, the only other trade within the last week was the one that saw Ryan Whitney and Chris Kunitz switch jerseys.

So which teams are poised to do something? There's all kinds of speculation, but here's what I'm thinking may happen...

- The Detroit Red Wings could make a play for a goaltender, sending a package of players out to either Minnesota for Niklas Backstrom or perhaps even Boston for Tim Thomas or Manny Fernandez. They might also send one of their many Top-Six finesse forwards for a Top-Six North American-styled Power Forward.

- The Phoenix Coyotes will likely be selling up to five veteran players and potentially more for whatever futures trades are made. The five veterans (in order of trade value) would be Olli Jokinen, Derek Morris, Steven Reinprecht, Mikael Tellqvist, and Ken Klee. While Jokinen will only go if they can get an NHL First-liner in return, the other four will likely fetch some combination of players, picks, and prospects. I really think Tellqvist will be going to either Calgary or to the Rangers by the end of the day.

- The L.A. Kings have waived Tom Preissing, so despite not being considered a buyer could still make a move before the deadline.

- The Florida Panthers probably won't touch too much, despite not having Jason Bouwmeester locked up beyond this season. If it ain't broke...

- The San Jose Sharks... uh... um... nevermind. I'll be surprised if they pull a deal off. Same goes for the Blackhawks.

- As for GM zaniness in the East, Brian Burke will do something that makes the hockey media go ZOMG, Brian Murray will trade broken parts for broke parts, Garth Snow will get more picks to go with his John Tavares selection, and Don Waddell will probably test his job security for the 13,425th time by making a deal that would get the most successful GM fired.

So those are my thoughts. I'll comment back tomorrow and Wednesday to comment on what actually happened.