Duhatschek notebook: Will it be a seller’s market at the trade deadline? Plus All-Star choices and snubs

Trade chatter has picked up again this week, the NHL holiday roster freeze is now well behind us, and midseason is just around the corner. It doesn’t get talked about enough, but the break represented a useful time for teams to consider the proposals they’ve been kicking around; to let them breathe a little; and then see what might actually develop into something tangible in the new year.
As always, the salary cap looms — maybe even too large — in every possible move. Think of it operating like an old-fashioned taxi meter but in reverse. It clicks down instead of up. As of this…