Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet reports the Edmonton Oilers have placed defenseman Sheldon Souray on re-entry waivers, so another team could pick him up at half the price tomorrow.

There is clearly a high level of demand for defensemen at this time of the year, and yesterday was a good example of that. Tomas Kaberle and Ian White were dealt to contenders, while St. Louis and Colorado sent shockwaves through the NHL with a four-player swap that included Erik Johnson and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Souray, who will turn 35 in July, has one more year left on his contract. He's set to make $4.5 million next year, but his cap hit is $5.4 million, so a team that claims him would owe a pro-rated portion of $2.7 million this season and a full $2.7 million next year.

Whether or not another team will put in a claim for Souray remains to be seen. The Oilers loaned Souray to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League when they decided he didn't fit on the opening-night roster and didn't want to use up a roster spot with their own AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City.

He has 3 goals and 11 points in 26 games for the Bears. Souray missed time with multiple injuries, including a broken hand from a fight.

The New York Rangers were reportedly interested in Souray, but reports from earlier this month said that is no longer the case.

All season long, the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens have been the two teams battling it out for supremacy in the Northeast Division, so when the Bruins made a pair of big trades Friday, landing standout defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Toronto as well as forward Rich Peverley and defenseman Mark Stuart from Atlanta, the natural question became what, if anything, the Habs will do in response prior to the Feb. 28 trade deadline.

"If you look at it, there's a couple teams in the [Eastern] Conference that have tried to add and really bolster their lineups here in the last few weeks," Montreal forward Mike Cammalleri said. "Time tells. I say it all the time but that's how we play sports, that's why we drop the puck and play. We never know how things are going to unfold. Managers make these moves to try and strengthen their rosters, but we’ll see."

The Canadiens did make a significant roster move in the past several days, reacquiring defenseman Paul Mara from the Ducks. Their blue line has taken hit after hit this season, losing power-play quarterback Andrei Markov and emerging talent Josh Gorges to season-ending knee injuries. James Wisniewski, brought over from the Islanders in late December, is day-to-day after taking a puck to the face in Thursday's loss to the Oilers -- a gruesome-looking injury the team hopes doesn't involve any facial fractures.

"Paul's an experienced defenseman," coach Jacques Martin said. "We had Paul last year. Unfortunately he got injured three-quarters into the season and missed the last stretch of the season and the playoffs. But he's an individual that is well-received by his teammates, well-appreciated by his teammates, has got good size, brings a physical presence to our blue line and I think will help us in the stretch here."

TSN is reporting the Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired St. Louis Blues defenseman Eric Brewer. Brewer had a no-trade clause, but he's apparently waived it to move from the West's 13th-place team to the No. 2 team in the East.

Brewer has 8 goals and 14 points in 54 games, and has been St. Louis' captain since the 2007-08 season.

Much attention has been focused on the rebuilding going on in southern Ontario, but there's another reconstruction effort that's taking shape in the eastern part of the province.

As the Senators have sunk to 15th in the Eastern Conference, GM Bryan Murray has begun to dismantle his team. He's said there are very few players off limits, a list that likely includes All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson, rookie goalie Robin Lehner and team captain Daniel Alfredsson.

In the last eight days, he's bid farewell to forwards Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly and Jarko Ruutu, and today goalie Brian Elliott. In return, he's gotten first-, second- and sixth-round picks in the 2011 Entry Draft (plus a conditional 2012 pick) plus a goaltender Murray thinks could start for the team next season in Craig Anderson.

And with 10 days left before the Feb. 28 deadline, he might not be done.

When Murray made the Fisher trade, he said he wanted to start moving out veteran players to make room for a number of youngsters he expects to be arriving on a full-time basis next season.

"I feel we have some real top young players coming," Murray said then. "Robin Lehner, Erik Karlsson, Jared Cowen, David Rundblad, a couple forwards I could mention. We are going to have to open the door for some of these younger players to play come September. To do that, the hard part of the business is saying goodbye to some of the veteran players."

Other veteran players rumored to be on the move are forwards Alex Kovalev and Chris Neil and defenseman Chris Phillips, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, but will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK

The San Jose Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes already have made one trade today; could another be coming?

The Sharks sent defenseman Derek Joslin to the Hurricanes earlier this afternoon, but a bigger move for a blueliner reportedly is being talked about, which would involve veteran Ian White going west to San Jose.

TSN is reporting a deal is in place that would send White to the Sharks, but there's no word on what might be going back to Carolina.

A trade involving White shouldn't be a surprise. GM Jim Rutherford alluded that he was considering an offer for White, and he was held out of Wednesday's game against the Devils.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @NHLAdamK

The Boston Bruins are ready to contend for the Stanley Cup and the Toronto Maple Leafs are ready to rebuild.

Boston made a pair of trades today to beef up the roster with the hope of claiming the Cup for the first time in three decades, while Toronto finally embraced reshaping the organization with youth and building for the future.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli identified two needs -- veteran help at center and a puck-moving, offensive-minded defenseman -- and filled both voids. He's added centers Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley in a four-day span, and finished his shopping spree by landing defenseman Tomas Kaberle.

Boston had lots of depth at center, but Marc Savard is out for the season with a concussion and rookie Tyler Seguin has been inconsistent. By adding Kelly and Peverley, coach Claude Julien has plenty of options in the middle and could have to move a couple of guys to the wing.

Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci should continue to center the top two lines, with Kelly or Peverley in the middle on the third line. Either Kelly, Peverley or Gregory Campbell will likely shift to the wing. Seguin will either move to the wing, or be sent back to the Ontario Hockey League.

Kaberle becomes Boston's leading scorer among defensemen, and should immediately slide onto the top power-play unit. Zdeno Chara should see a lot of passes from Kaberle, and goaltenders around the League should look forward to plenty of one-timers from Chara in the coming weeks.

If Philadelphia, Vancouver and Detroit were clearly the top three Cup contenders as of this morning, it might be time to add Boston and make the group a foursome.

Toronto general manager Brian Burke has retooled his franchise in the past two weeks, and the emphasis on prospects and draft picks is a new approach for a franchise that has been trying to compete and rebuild at the same time.

Burke has added a pair of prospects in center Joe Colborne and defenseman Jake Gardiner that are recent first-round picks. He's picked up two first-round choices and a third-rounder in the 2011 Entry Draft, and a second-round selection could be party of the Kaberle bounty if he re-signs with Boston or the Bruins make good on their push for a run to the Cup final.

The Maple Leafs now boast an intriguing collection of young talent -- something that has long been missing in Toronto. Luke Schenn, Keith Aulie and Gardiner could be the foundation for a solid defense corps, while Colborne and Nazem Kadri could eventually be Toronto's top two centers.

How the Peverley deal works in Atlanta should also be interesting to monitor. GM Rick Dudley was looking to shake up his roster with the Thrashers on the verge of falling behind both Carolina and Buffalo in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

Peverley has been one of Atlanta's top two centers for much of the past two-plus seasons and a bargain at $1.325 million. He had been dropped to the fourth line recently. Both Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart played for coach Craig Ramsay when he was an assistant coach with the Bruins, and both should play key roles in trying to get Atlanta back into the postseason.

According to TSN, it's shaping up to be a pretty busy day for Boston GM Peter Chiarelli.

He's already got the Tomas Kaberle deal with the Leafs about to happen. But in order to keep some salary cap flexibility, he's apparently got another trade brewing.

The Bruins would send forward Blake Wheeler and defenseman Mark Stuart to the Atlanta Thrashers, in return for forward Rich Peverley and defenseman Boris Valabik.

Wheeler and Peverley are near-washes, stat-wise. The Bruins would get the older player in 28-year-old Peverley, vs. the 24-year-old Wheeler.

Stuart has just 5 points this season, his second straight subpar season, but he's just 26 and two seasons removed from a 17-point season and back-to-back 82-game seasons.

Valabik, the 10th pick of the 2004 Entry Draft, has yet to earn a full-time NHL job. However, he could be another Zdeno Chara -- he's 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds, and hails from Slovakia. He had 2 points in 23 NHL games last season, but has spent all of 2010-11 in the AHL, where he has 9 points and 165 penalty minutes in 49 games.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @NHLAdamK

Tomas Kaberle has been pretty steadfast in the past few seasons about not wanting to waive his no-trade clause. However, as he nears the end of the final year of the deal, and with the Leafs on the fringe of playoff contention, could he have softened his stance?

TSN and the Boston Globe are reporting that he has, and a trade of the blueliner to the Bruins is imminent.

Going back to the Leafs, if the rumors are true, would be top prospect Joe Colborne and the Bruins' first-round pick. For clarity's sake, it's the Bruins' own pick, not the one they got last season from the Leafs in the Phil Kessel deal.

If that's truly the deal, it would be a win/win deal. Boston gets an elite offensive defenseman that will bring desperately needed punch to their blueline -- Kaberle has 38 points this season; only Zdeno Chara has more than 25 among Bruins defensemen.

In return, the Leafs would get a real solid center prospect in Colborne, the 16th pick of the 2008 Entry Draft currently playing with AHL Providence. The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder has 26 points in 55 games in his first pro season.

Two teams outside the playoff picture made an interesting goalie swap this morning as Colorado has sent slumping netminder Craig Anderson to Ottawa for Brian Elliott.

Both goaltenders were surprising successes last season. Anderson was a No. 1 for the first time in his career and helped the Avalanche to the playoffs. He led the League in saves and shots against after playing 71 games. This year he has an .897 save percentage and a 3.28 GAA.

Elliott moved in front of an injured/ineffective Pascal Leclaire on Ottawa's depth chart and started 55 games with a 2.57 GAA and a .909 save percentage. He struggled in the playoffs against Pittsburgh and it carried into this season. He's 13-19-8 with a 3.19 GAA and an .894 save percentage.

Anderson is an unrestricted free agent at season's end, while the soon-to-be 26-year-old Elliott is a restricted free agent. Both goalies could have a chance to earn a new contract, either with their new team or to catch the eye of a scout from another club, in the final few weeks of the season. This could end up being a classic "change of scenery" trade, or it could end up not mattering much in the grand scheme of things for either franchise.

It would seem this trade is a clear move in Robin Lehner's direction as Ottawa's goaltender of the future. That future could be as soon as opening night in 2011-12, because Leclaire is a pending UFA as well. Colorado's future at the goaltending position remains in question. The Avalanche have prospect Calvin Pickard, but he's nowhere near ready for the NHL.

If anything, the trade of Anderson signals Colorado will be shopping for a goaltender this summer. There could be some interesting options available. Tomas Vokoun, Ilya Bryzgalov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere are all pending UFAs. So is Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard, and Colorado making a run at him would certainly add some spice to that rivalry.

Vancouver is down five defensemen (six if you include minor-league call-up Lee Sweatt), but there are a myriad of reasons why GM Mike Gillis isn't likely to make a big splash into the blue-line waters come 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 28.

Prior to the hockey world learning of Kevin Bieksa's foot injury, which could keep him out a month, Gillis told Mark Spector of Sportsnet.ca that the Canucks have enough salary cap space to add a $1 million player. But, that's only for now because that money truly doesn't exist when you factor in the eventual returns of Bieksa, Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis before the end of the regular season.

The Canucks have to have cap space to bring those guys back in, which is why they probably won't add anyone of great significance, if they add at all, unless they are willing to subtract from the current roster. We could see them trying to deal Sami Salo, but he's their No. 2 defenseman behind Christian Ehrhoff until the injured guys return, which likely won't be until after the deadline.

"It probably doesn't cause me to rethink strategy," Gillis told Spector. "The fact is, we have to have space to get guys back into our line-up after the trade deadline. We may not have space to make any deals."

Gillis doesn't have to either. The Canucks have positioned themselves for a high seed, likely No. 1 unless these injuries cause a prolonged slump, so the GM can quietly sit back and watch all these other teams make moves while he waits for his guys to return.

Ballard (knee) and Hamhuis (concussion) are expected back before the playoffs. Alex Edler (back surgery) and Andrew Alberts (broken wrist), who are both on long-term injured reserve, could be back during the playoffs when there is no salary cap. Bieksa's status had not been updated by the team as of Thursday afternoon.

"I don't know why we would (trade a roster player)," Gillis said. "We're in first place, and we've lost maybe the most man games of any team in the League. I can't see a circumstance where we're trading a player off our roster at this point in time."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl