by Mike Haim

It’s as plain as day, contained in Article 16.10 of the current NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement.

We’ll dispense with the legalese, but in essence, it says that between December 19 and 27, there is a roster freeze which prohibits teams from making trades, waiving players, or shuttling players to the minors.

Players can be called up due to an injury at the higher level, but otherwise each team’s 23-man roster in place this Saturday will be the same one you’ll see the day after Boxing Day (or December 26 for you folks who don’t recognize our Canadian border).

The way things are going this year, the trade moratorium in the CBA probably wouldn’t have been necessary.

Since the season began, there have been only 10 players in the entire NHL who have played with two (or more) teams (the “more” applying to Andrew Ebbett, who’s been dealt twice already). None are marquee names, unless you’re a friend or relative of Daniel Paille, Kyle Chipchura, Chuck Kobasew, or Guillaume Latendresse.

It will take a flurry of trade activity in the next six weeks for the league to match the 22 players who changed teams by last year’s All-Star break.

Granted, there is no All-Star game this year for a good comparison, but the Olympic break in February takes place at around the same time as the usual All-Star festivities.

But with general managers more cognizant than ever about salary cap constraints, it’s become harder to make equitable deals. Many deals being placed on the table are merely salary swaps, with the players being bandied around generally falling into categories of similar skill, negating the possibility of each team considering the trade a “win-win.”

The stakes obviously get higher as the trading deadline in early March gets closer. It’s at that point that teams start to consider their needs for a playoff run, or admit that their post-season chances are going in the tank. Dumping salary or getting a little something in exchange for soon-to-be free agents suddenly becomes the priority for the “sellers.”

In the meantime, it’s crickets. It’s not much different from the first couple of months, but here’s hoping you enjoy the quiet anyway.

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The Washington Capitals had some travel difficulties last weekend and had to delay their trip to Toronto after hosting Carolina on Friday night.

The Caps’ plane had to return to the terminal after some maintenance issues prevented the craft from taking off. So the team stayed home for the night and left on Saturday morning, hours before their game against the Maple Leafs.

Since there was no chance for Washington to participate in a morning skate, media members asked Toronto coach Ron Wilson if he thought if it could have an impact on the game.

The outspoken Wilson dismissed the concept of either team having an edge before adding this gem about Toronto’s standard procedure when playing in Buffalo: “We bus up in the morning. Part of that is because Buffalo, the city itself, can be a little depressing. You can only eat so many chicken wings. (It’s) great for media but not for your players.”

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The next couple of weeks will see an increasing amount of attention being paid to Boston’s Fenway Park, the site of this season’s Winter Classic outdoor game on New Year’s Day.

But at the Board of Governors meetings this week in Pebble Beach, California, the owners have apparently approved the idea of playing a second outdoor game, with the additional contest featuring two Canadian teams.

Calgary’s McMahon Stadium is considered a front-runner to host the game, though Toronto has floated the idea of using BMO Field, a soccer stadium with a capacity of about 20,000.

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