News is flying but none much is official yet. We’re about 24.5 hours away from the NHL trading deadline and a few moves have been made today. Some of them are being made in anticipation for moves tomorrow so things should get interesting.

- Sean Avery is officially back with the Rangers. I’m sure my hatred for the guy will boil over in about two weeks.

- The Minnesota Wild signed goalie Niklas Backstrom to a four deal with yanks him off the trade market. He is getting a significant pay raise to stay in Minnesota, which is a good deal for both sides.

- Last evening the New Jersey Devils beefed up their defense when they acquired defenseman Niclas Havelid from the Atlanta Thrashers.

- Brendan Morrison, Miroslav Satan and Gary Roberts were all placed on waivers today. Nothing surprises me about Satan. He is about as worthless as they come and I at least got a hearty laugh out of Pittsburgh signing him last off-season. Gary Roberts is a player, depending on his health, that I wouldn’t mind having in Buffalo for the remainder of the season.

- The Sabres are still trying to work out a deal with Tim Connolly but if they don’t, I see a very good chance of him being moved before the deadline tomorrow. He is an impact player, but at what cost? The Sabres have eaten quite a bit of the money from his last contract and they will be cautious in spending a ton on the guy. I’d like to have him back in Buffalo but only at the right cost. If he wants too much and the alternative is losing him in July for nothing, I’m not opposed to moving him if it means getting something worthwhile in return.

Be sure to check in as more stories develop over the next 24 hours.

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6:05EST Update

- Toronto forwards Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore are being held out tonight which almost guarantees that a trade is in the works. There is no information at this time as to what team(s) are involved.

- There is still no word on Bill Guerin and where he is going. He was held out last night for the second straight game so I'd be shocked if a deal didn't go down by tomorrow, although I expected it would've happened by now.

- There are some rumblings that Buffalo is looking to bring back goalie Martin Biron from Philly. I'm not sure if this would be for a rental or if they would eventually want Biron to be the back-up to Ryan Miller again and move Patrick Lalime (which I wouldn't understand).

The Rangers re-acquisition of Sean Avery is now very much in question. Earlier this season when he was jettisoned from Dallas, many hockey fans and experts predicted that he would go back to the Rangers.

Well he has since cleared waivers and is currently playing in the AHL for the Rangers affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. He is still property of the Dallas Stars but just about everyone is expecting the Rangers to bring him back into the fold. Even captain Chris Drury, who isn’t the biggest fan of Avery, is willing to welcome him back on the team which should tell you how desperate the Rangers are.

Well now that they have fired their coach Tom Renney and brought in former Lightning coach John Tortorella, the acquisition of Sean Avery is in doubt. Why? Well this is what Tortorella said right around the time of the Avery suspension from the NHL when he was working for TSN.

He's embarrassed himself, he's embarrassed the organization, he's embarrassed the league and he's embarrassed his teammates, who have to look out for him. Send him home. He doesn't belong in the league." (National Post)

Obviously I have no inside information on this story and Avery could be acquired today which would make my statements false, but I can’t see a guy who makes comments like this about a player then welcoming him on to his team.