The NHL's March 1 Trade Deadline is fast approaching and teams are making decisions on whether to buy, sell, and decide which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out today's trade rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.

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Are Avalanche, Bruins a match?

While the Colorado Avalanche spent Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn, losing 5-1 to the New York Islanders, their general manager was meeting with his Bruins counterpart in Boston.

The Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa reports that Joe Sakic spent the second intermission of the Bruins' 4-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens speaking with Don Sweeney.

The Avs - dead last in the Western Conference - are believed to be open for business and the entire roster is on the table outside of Nathan McKinnon. If the Bruins were to pursue one of the Avs' higher-end talents, big defenceman Brandon Carlo would be the player of obvious interest for Sakic. A native of nearby Colorado Springs, Carlo is on an entry-level deal taking him until the end of 2019. While Sweeney is loath to deal Carlo, Shinzawa speculates that the 20-year-old rearguard could help the Bruins land Gabriel Landeskog as left-wing cover behind Brad Marchand.

In 43 games this season, Landeskog - the Avalanche captain - has 11 goals and 11 assists. The 24-year-old Swede is in the third year of a seven-year, $39 million deal.

 

Ducks working the phones

With the NHL trade deadline now just over three weeks away on March 1, Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray is one of many gearing up work the phones.

The Ducks possess a surplus of young defencemen and The Orange County Register's Eric Stephens believes that Murray could use this glut to land some punch for an ailing offence. Their 94 even-strength goals are the seventh-fewest in the NHL and the Ducks sit 18th in goals and 19th in scoring offence.

The likes of Cam Fowler, Brandon Montour, Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson and Shea Theodore are all under the age of 25 and could help fetch scoring in any deal, but Stephens notes an issue of constraint when it comes to a potential trade - the Ducks are up against the cap. So if the team were interested in, say, Landeskog and four more years at $5.71 million per, the Ducks would need to find a team for Clayton Stoner or get Kevin Bieksa to waive his no-trade clause.

The Ducks currently sit on 68 points, five behind the San Jose Sharks for top spot in the Pacific Division.

 

Pens looking for help on D

After losing defencemen Kris Letang, Trevor Daley and Brian Dumoulin for extended periods this season, the need for blue-line depth has become obvious for the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

While the team got contributions in the trio's stead from five inexperienced players, The Pittsburgh Tribune's Jonathan Bombulie believes the team will look for more seasoned help as the deadline nears.

Derrick Pouliot, Brandon Gaunce, Steve Oleksy, Chad Ruwuhdel and David Warsofsky have played a total of nine playoff games among them, so adding experience will be foremost on the mind of Jim Rutherford.

Like the Ducks, the Pens are also up against the cap (the team already has over $65 million committed in contracts for next season), so their ability to land an impact defenceman is hamstrung from the jump. In all likelihood, if the team were to add another blueliner, the deal would be along the lines of the ones they've done over the past couple of deadlines that saw the Pens add the likes of Daley, Ian Cole and Justin Schultz.

From Darren Dreger: