The trade rumours started with Vincent Lecavalier, and now they've hit Chris Pronger and Daniel Briere.

It's funny, I keep hearing how the salary cap and the fact many NHL teams are up against it will lead to fewer trades this season at the deadline.

Yet with each passing day I hear about a star player that is being shopped by his team.

First it was Vinny Lecavalier, then Chris Pronger and now it is Daniel Briere...

... Why would the Anaheim Ducks trade Pronger?

This one is not a money issue. Pronger, who remains one of the best defenders in the game, earns $6.25 million a season and has one more year left on his deal. The problem is, the Ducks are not convinced they have what it takes to win a second Stanley Cup in three years and as the trade deadline gets close, they may decide to be sellers rather than buyers, in an attempt to get younger moving forward.

It is looking like Scott Niedermayer may be interested in extending his career after temporarily retiring last season and he is a favorite of coach Randy Carlyle. So that means Pronger, who is 34 years old, could be sacrificed. And there are any number of teams that would be interested in acquiring him.

The Florida Panthers, for example, may find they are unable to re-sign impending unrestricted free agent Jay Bouwmeester and could inquire if the Ducks would be interested in swapping the blueliners. The St. Louis Blues would love to have their former captain back if only to increase the value of the franchise in case it is put up for sale. The neighboring Los Angeles Kings are being nicely built up from scratch by GM Dean Lombardi who may decided to accelerate the process by bringing in a savvy veteran to help tutor his young defencemen.

The Chris Pronger situation bears watching.

Mike Brophy@ sportsnet.ca