Seven things you should know about the weekend in the National Hockey League:  Six weeks before the Feb. 28 N.H.L. trade deadline, few teams have emerged as obvious sellers of veteran talent. In the Western Conference, only the last-place Edmonton Oilers are out of the race for the eight playoff berths. With the possible exception of defenseman Jim Vandermeer, the rebuilding Oilers have few older players of value to deal. Calgary, in 14th place, is only 7 points behind Colorado for the final playoff spot.  The Devils and the Islanders are long shots to qualify for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, but both teams have already moved primary trade chips. The Devils sent Jamie Langenbrunner to Dallas and the Islanders shipped James Wisniewski to Montreal and Dwayne Roloson to Tampa Bay. Between the two teams, Devils center Jason Arnott may be the only player available for whom a playoff contender would relinquish a valuable asset. Lamoriello has stated that he will not trade his franchise goaltender, Martin Brodeur.  Of course, a lot can change in the next six weeks, but the parity in the standings should result in a quiet trade rumor mill during the All-Star break at the end of January.  Spin-o-ramas in the shootout may be all the rage, but watch this 360-degree spin and pass from behind the net by Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu to Andrew Brunette for a goal in the Wild’s 3-1 loss to Calgary on Friday.  The most important hockey game played on a North American rink on Wednesday will not feature N.H.L. players. The annual Top Prospects game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto features 40 of the top-ranked players for the 2011 Draft from the Canadian Hockey League.  Gabriel Landeskog, the No. 1 prospect according to the midterm rankings by N.H.L. Central Scouting, will miss the showcase with an ankle injury. However, other top draft-eligible talents like forwards Sean Couturier of Drummondville of the Quebec League and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of Red Deer of the Western League, along with No. 1 defenseman Dougie Hamilton of Niagara of the Ontario League, will participate in the skills competition on Tuesday and game on Wednesday.  The two-day event is catnip for team scouts. N.H.L. teams usually dispatch two to four hockey operations staffers, including some general managers and assistant general managers, to Toronto. This is not a no-hitting, free-wheeling all-star game, but a fierce competition between teenagers looking to improve their position in the draft in June.  Always looking for ways to bring something different and fun to the long grind of the regular season, Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette sprung a surprise on his team Saturday. For the Flyers’ practice before their game Sunday night against the Rangers in New York, Laviolette took them to Lasker Rink in Central Park.  The team took the ice shortly after 1 p.m., after waiting patiently for a girls’ 10-and-under tournament to end. The Flyers, leaders in the Eastern Conference, took it easy during their Saturday in the park, wearing sweatpants with shinpads instead of full gear. The brisk skate paid off; the Flyers beat the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 3-2.  Colorado center Ryan O’Reilly lost an edge while attempting to play the puck and crashed awkwardly into the boards in the second period of the Avalanche’s 4-1 win in Minnesota on Friday. O’Reilly lay motionless on the ice until he was taken off on a stretcher.  Although it was feared that he had sustained a head or neck injury, O’Reilly was cleared to travel with the Avalanche after the game. The team announced Saturday that he had a shoulder injury. The news got even better Sunday.  “He’ll miss a couple of weeks, no surgery required,” Colorado Coach Joe Sacco told Adrian Dater of The Denver Post. “We’re all relieved and thankful, because it looked worse.”  The 19-year-old O’Reilly, the team’s second-round pick in 2009, had played in each of Colorado’s first 45 games of the season.  The Avalanche got one of its best players back in the lineup Friday when right wing Chris Stewart returned after missing 21 games with a broken hand sustained in a fight with Minnesota’s Kyle Brodziak on Dec. 27. Stewart has 11 goals and 14 assists in 24 games this season.  Jordan Staal is so overshadowed by the star of Sidney Crosby, and to a slightly lesser extent the all-world ability of Evgeni Malkin, that you forget he is a former third overall draft choice. With Crosby still sidelined by a concussion, Staal has received added responsibility from Coach Dan Bylsma and was the game’s best player when the Penguins won in Boston, 3-2, Saturday.  Staal scored the game-winning goal in the third period, added an assist and was a force on defense throughout his 20 minutes of ice time.  “A lot of my game is being in position and not doing anything too crazy,” Staal told Rob Rossi of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review after the win Saturday. “It wasn’t pretty. I’m just getting to the net.”  At the other end of the rink, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has been stellar after a poor first month of the season. Since Nov. 12, Fleury is 19-5-2 with a 1.95 goals against average and .935 save percentage. The Penguins are 2-2-1 without Crosby.  Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, the second overall pick in the 2008 draft, nailed the 2010 first overall pick Taylor Hall of Edmonton with this legal but bruising hit into the boards Saturday in Los Angeles. As happens way too often lately, Hall and the Oilers responded immediately to the clean hit with pushing, shoving and a lot of talk. It used to be when a player was hit hard but cleanly, he acted as if he wasn’t hurt or bothered. The Kings won, 5-2.  Christopher Botta is the senior N.H.L. writer for AOL FanHouse and managing editor of the blog Islanders Point Blank.  This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:  An earlier version of this blog post misstated the year Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was the second overall pick in the draft. It was 2008, not 2009.
Monday Morning Skate: Why the N.H.L. trade deadline isn't creating more buzz; Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly's scary crash turns out O.K.; Jordan Staal helps Penguins survive Sidney Crosby's absence.