NHL Trade Deadline

The Ottawa Senators are feeling that veteran defenseman Chris Phillips is a necessary cog for their future rebuilding plans.

The 32-year-old Phillips signed a three-year contract extension late Sunday night to remain a Senator. The deal is believed to be for close to $9 million.

It might not've been quite like last Friday's insane flurry of trades that truly resembled the trade deadline, but Thursday, February 24, four days before the deadline itself, has shaped us as another very busy day of deals.

The NHL trade deadline is right around the corner, and Bleacher Report is the place to be for up-to-the-minute trades and rumors.

I'll be the one to keep the B/R community up to date and give my thoughts on rumors and the wheeling and dealing.

So far we have had a few trades take place, some of the blockbuster variety.

Tomas Kaberle, Chris Stewart and Erik Johnson have all found new homes.

As we all know now, Ray Shero made a move yesterday sending Alex "Goose" Goligoski out of town for James Neal and Matt Niskanen from the Dallas Stars. This trade seems to work well for both teams, although the Penguins seem to have gained the most out of it.

It's no secret that Ray Shero has been trying very hard to find a true scoring winger to complement Sidney Crosby on the top line. 

With the reported news that Nicklas Backstrom suffered a thumb fracture in Monday night's win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Capitals will need to examine options in order to compensate for Backstrom’s injury.

When it comes to the NHL trade deadline, whatever happens might be hard to top the zaniness that went down last Friday.

Tomas Kaberle, Eric Brewer and the earth-shattering Colorado-St. Louis deal that involved Erik Johnson and Chris Stewart among others, were just part of a wild weekend that might've served as the trade deadline.

The Colorado Avalanche have made a big late-night move, trading Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and a second-round draft pick to St. Louis in exchange for Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and a first-round draft pick.

I'm not quite certain what to make of this trade, especially since the Avs were supposedly so determined to "build from within" after last year. 

The way things are going, by the time we get to the February 28 trade deadline, there may be no more trades left to make.

Another day of NHL trade rumors starts with another trade, albeit a small and puzzling one, as the Ottawa Senators are clearing out their inventory faster than Woolworth's.

Meanwhile the rumors continue to fly about the Los Angeles Kings and Ales Hemsky, who continues to put on a good show for his possible suitors with two more goals last night.

Who is the one? Who is the Neo in the NHL trade market that the Kings are after? 

Does he exist or will Dean Lombardi stand pat on the market because it just doesn’t make sense to tap into the family savings account for a rental player who may yield goal-scoring and help them secure a deep playoff run. 

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kris Versteeg has been traded to the Philidelphia Flyers in exchange for a first round pick and a third round pick for the 2011 draft.

Versteeg has 14 goals and 21 assists in 53 games with the Leafs.

This move is the second for the Leafs leading up to the deadline, the other being Beauchemin for Lupil and Gardiner.

Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com