With only about a month to go until the NHL trade deadline and All-Star weekend coming up, idle minds and vindictive, surreptitious minds will attempt to accrue page views and entice readers with speculation both big and small, and almost none of it will be based in fact.
Player movement and trade speculation are the equivalent of celebrity gossip in the hockey world and "Eklund" is like "TMZ." The even-keeled, sane individual has the desire for neither.
Imagine my surprise when I get back from church on Sunday afternoon to find emails and tweets a plenty with people panicking about some big blockbuster trade rumor thrown out there by the most disreputable source imaginable: "Eklund".
Don't read that site. Don't read "Dallas Dave." Just. Don't. Do It.
With Brad Richards on the roster and possibility of re-signing him a huge question mark, he's going to be at the center of the bulk of the Dallas gossip. Don't worry about it. Joe Nieuwendyk is focused on seeing this team do well this year. The emphasis is on this season. They want to get back to the playoffs, they like what they have, they're going forward with what they have. If the Stars lose every game between now and the end of February then things could change, but don't count on it.
This one set such a brush fire that the Morning News (Mike Heika) even asked the Stars about it:
A couple of people I talked to on the Stars said it was ridiculous and that no such trade was in the works.
Mike then laid out the common sense reasons why such a trade with Toronto was stupid to begin with (why would Toronto give up so much to get him? Why would Richards waive his NTC to go to a terrible team like that? etc...) but really said it all here...
I think Jamie Benn might really be the very last player this team would trade.
Bingo.
Just be on your guard as the deadline nears, and come by and discuss it here to see if it passes the smell test with all of us if you're really unsure.