Separating Buyers From Sellers as Trade Deadline Nears The N.H.L. trade deadline is 3 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 27, but if form holds, the really big deals will happen in the days and weeks leading to it. Last season, the trades got going Feb. 9, when Toronto picked up forward Joffrey Lupul from Anaheim for defenseman Francois Beauchemin. A few days later, the Boston Bruins acquired some keys to their title run: forwards Chris Kelly from Ottawa and Rich Peverley from Atlanta, and defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Toronto. The Bruins were loading up for a shot at the Stanley Cup; all their trading partners considered themselves out of playoff contention and were looking to the future. Similar situations will probably arise this month. Teams will categorize themselves as buyers or sellers, but more precisely as those shooting for a playoff run or those giving up on this season and looking to the future. General managers of teams on or off the bubble will have to make that call soon. Surely Columbus, last in the N.H.L., will be a seller. But are Montreal, Tampa Bay and Anaheim far enough out of the playoff hunt to become sellers? Will Buffalo concede, or did Wednesday's 6-0 rout of the Bruins convince the Sabres that they still have a shot at the postseason? The Canadiens, with several salary-cap-busting veterans on their roster, certainly seem to be in the sellers category. Last Sunday against Winnipeg, they showcased Hal Gill, their 6-foot-7, 36-year-old defenseman. Scouts from 12 N.H.L. teams were in Bell Centre's press box and saw Gill play more than 19 minutes; in the previous 14 games, he had averaged 13 minutes. The young Islanders are a long shot for the playoffs, giving General Manager Garth Snow a tough choice to make. Entering the weekend, one of his goalies, Evgeni Nabokov, had a .924 save percentage, seventh best among the league's 46 regulars. Nabokov, 36, will become an unrestricted free agent July 1. That would usually make him trade bait for a contender in need of a starter, like Chicago or Philadelphia. But last week, Nabokov, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, said, "I like what I see around here" and added that he had not asked to leave. Snow may decide instead to deal Al Montoya, the Islanders" other regular goalie. Montoya, 26, had a .913 save percentage, 26th in the league. He could be a good fit for a contender looking for a backup, like Detroit. The Free-Agency Factor Players who are headed for unrestricted free agency can present interesting quandaries at the trade deadline. Two of the most prominent ones this year are Devils forward Zach Parise and Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter. If a team thinks it will not be able to re-sign a player who is eligible to walk away, it may entertain offers rather than lose him for nothing. The team that acquires a pending unrestricted free agent may hope that a taste of playing in the new environment could entice him to sign. Or it may not want to sign him beyond the playoffs, as was the case last year, when the Rangers acquired Bryan McCabe, a power-play specialist, then declined to sign him when his contract expired. The situation can become complicated, however, as it did when Florida's star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester headed for free agency in 2009. With the Panthers hoping he would help them make the playoffs for the first time since 2000, and in the absence of an offer they could not refuse, they kept him at the deadline. But Florida missed the playoffs (and Bouwmeester played poorly after the deadline), then traded him to Calgary for Jordan Leopold, a solid defenseman but a lesser talent. The Panthers might have gotten a better deal in February than in June. Similarly, Dallas was fighting for the playoffs last year and decided to trade Brad Richards, but only for equal or better value. It was a gamble because the Stars" ability to re-sign him would be compromised by the bankruptcy of their owner, Tom Hicks, with the club put in the hands of his creditors. Richards also had a no-trade clause, and a concussion was keeping him out of action. Those factors probably dampened the enthusiasm among interested clubs. In the end, the Stars heard no proposals they considered attractive, kept Richards and missed the playoffs. He left for the Rangers as a free agent in July. Parise and Suter are impact players, yet each plays for a club that could be financially challenged to re-sign him. But the general managers, the Devils" Lou Lamoriello and the Predators" David Poile, want to keep their stars. "Our plan is to sign Ryan, and I will continue to do that up until the trading deadline or past the trading deadline," Poile said. The only real deadline we have is July 1.