Rumor: Several teams competing for limited defensive options.

With several teams in need of defensive help and very few options available, it's starting to look like a sellers market.

According to a report from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the two most likely sellers are the Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Stars with both teams having eight blue liners currently on their rosters. He also points specifically to two defensive prospects with NHL experience, Jarred Tinordi of the Canadiens and Jamie Oleksiak of the Dallas Stars.

According to Friedman the asking price for Tinordi is somewhere in the neighbourhood of two second round draft choices.

However the most coveted defensive acquisition may be a player who is currently overseas playing for the Kontinental Hockey League, 24 year old right handed shooting defenseman Nikita Zaitsev who currently plays for CSKA. It's clear from the sheer number of teams pursuing him that he may be true diamond in the rough when his KHL contract expires in march.

As of this writing the teams that are reportedly pursuing Zaitsev include Philadelphia, Toronto, Calgary, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Detroit, Edmonton and Arizona, although we wouldn't be surprised if that list included several other teams as well.

On a side note Los Angeles, reportedly one of the teams attempting to acquire a defenseman, was rumored to have been close to a deal for Toronto's Roman Polak, those rumors have since been dispusted.

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