The rumour mill is picking up steam around some teams, though the likes of Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver aren’t likely to make their anticipated adjustments until January or February. Vegas, too, likely won’t determine its buyer/seller standing until closer to the deadline.

We’re already more than a third of the way through the 2017-18 season (time flies) and teams are beginning to really fall out of the playoff race, or pull away within their divisions.

This means that general managers now have a pretty clear idea of how their team stacks up to the rest of the NHL, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a result, we’re starting to get an idea of who will play the roles of buyers and sellers on this year’s market and, by extension, which players may be available to trade.

If big moves are to be made, odds are they’ll come closer to the Feb. 26 trade deadline, or the off-season around draft time, but there is another notable deadline coming up that may spur action. The NHL’s holiday roster freeze comes into effect on Dec. 19 and expires Dec. 27, so there are only a few days left for teams to move players between the NHL and AHL, or to make any kind of trade.

But there are a couple teams that could decide to spring into action before the freeze kicks in. Here’s a look at a few of them:

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
This stands to be an interesting stretch of games for the Penguins. Earlier this week GM Jim Rutherford was asked about his team not playing up to the standard of a back-to-back champion yet and what he might do to kick them into gear. He mentioned it was a critical part of the schedule where he has to decide whether or not to shake things up.

The Penguins would be in the market for a third-line centre as Riley Sheahan, who they acquired earlier this season, doesn’t have the scoring punch NHL teams need in that role right now. On the block is 28-year-old defenceman Ian Cole, who has been available for a couple weeks and has been playing between 15 and 19 minutes a night in seven games this month.

Whatever happens, Rutherford has a great track record of bringing in effective depth players who eventually played a key role on successful teams. Justin Schultz is a great example of one of those acquisitions who got his NHL career on track in Pittsburgh. Carl Hagelin was another good pickup who scored 16 points in the 2016 Stanley Cup run on the ‘HBK’ Line. Ron Hainsey played a subtle but crucial role in last year’s Cup run.

OTTAWA SENATORS
To be sure, if a Karlsson trade happens (and asking this group of players to provide a list of teams doesn’t mean he will be moved) it likely won’t be until much later, as something of that magnitude won’t come together so fast. But there are so many other moving parts here, and the team has struggled mightily with just two wins since the Global Series trip to Sweden, that perhaps a less substantial trade could come together.

The trick with any hypothetical Senators trade is the draft pick situation behind it. The Sens traded their 2018 first-rounder to Colorado in the Matt Duchene trade, with the condition that if it ends up as a top-10 selection Colorado would get a 2019 first instead. So the Senators need to be careful of not sliding too far into a rebuild and hand the Avs a top-10 pick anyway.

BUFFALO SABRES
Remember coming into last season when it seemed like the Sabres and Maple Leafs rebuilds would grow up together, possibly making for a great rivalry for years to come? Not happening.

The Sabres are once again at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and in line to be in contention for the first-overall pick. And because of that, there are plenty of trade rumours swirling around the team.

It seems the only one who definitely won’t be traded in Buffalo is Jack Eichel, but anything else could potentially be on the table. The Sabres’ last game before the freeze is Friday night at home to Carolina, so Botterill would have a couple off-days to work the phones and get to a deal. The Sabres have won just two of their past eight games, but a win against the ‘Canes might slow down trade talk for now as it would represent their second win in three games.