Remember also that even though we’ve been talking about free-agent defensemen here, Lombardi also raised the possibility last night of trading for a left-shot defenseman who would be able to fill a role for one season. So that opens the situation up tremendously. Here’s what Lombardi said last night on this subject:

“The other thing that showed up, before free agency and even today, as people spend money to get guys in, there might be a `soft’ deal there, so to speak. Maybe we could trade a `B-level’ prospect or a mid-round or late-round pick for a guy who can be here for a year.”