New Year’s has come and gone, a World Juniors champion has been crowned and the playoff races are starting to take form. You know what that means, don’t you?

It is the start of the trade talk season! Between now and the Feb. 28 deadline, you will hear 1,001 trade rumors and, if the “insiders” maintain their batting average, one or two might come to fruition.

But that doesn’t mean the league’s GMs won’t be working furiously. The hardest working man in the business should be Don Sweeney, and the Bruins GM surely is gauging not just the rental market but the real trade market for deals that could significantly impact his team for the future.

Sweeney’s team is grinding its gears halfway through the season, and he is sitting on a stack of future assets, mainly young defensemen, that should be appealing to every team in the league. Thanks to his franchise-altering trades involving Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton, Sweeney has so many young blueliners in the pipeline, in fact, that it is almost imperative that he move one to help his team now and for the future.

Let’s do a quick analysis of the defensemen prospects:

• Charlie McAvoy: There’s no such thing as an untouchable, but the 19-year-old Boston University Terrier is as close as you get. Picked No. 15 last June, McAvoy lived up to the hype in Team USA’s World Juniors gold medal performance. He’s the Bruins’ best hope to be a No. 1 and it would be a surprise if he’s back at BU next season. He could even join the B’s in April.

• Brandon Carlo: He’s in Boston ahead of schedule and getting big minutes, but he’s still very much a prospect. He hit a little bit of a rookie wall but with his confidence level, he’ll bounce back. He’s going to be a good NHLer, but what exactly is his projection? The guess here is he can anchor a second pair. You don’t throw away guys like that, but if they could land a true star, Sweeney has to listen. It was rumored last week that the Avalanche wanted Carlo for Gabriel Landeskog. The former No. 2 overall pick is the kind of return you’d need to move Carlo.

• Matt Grzelcyk: The former BU captain is having a strong rookie season in the AHL with Providence. He’s not quite ready for the NHL, but the Charlestown lad has a future in the league as a puck-mover and power-play specialist. Grzelcyk is undersized, so there is a question as to whether he’ll be able to coexist in the same lineup with smallish Torey Krug, who is at the start of a four-year, $5.25 million deal.

• Rob O’Gara: While not as smooth a skater, O’Gara frankly didn’t seem too far behind Carlo when he was sent down to Providence after three NHL games to start the season. Adding to O’Gara’s value is that, much like Dennis Seidenberg, he can move seamlessly from his natural left side to the right. I’m a little partial to players who win, and O’Gara won a prep title at Milton Academy and an NCAA championship at Yale. He’s a good defender without a ton of offensive upside.

• Jeremy Lauzon: Taken with one of the Hamilton picks (No. 52 overall), Lauzon is a talented puck distributor with good instincts in the offensive zone. He notched 10-40-50 totals and was plus-40 in 46 games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season. He demonstrated his grit last year when, after suffering a serious neck laceration late in the season, pushed hard to get back in the lineup for the Memorial Cup.

• Jakub Zboril: Taken with one of the Lucic picks (No. 13 overall), Zboril had some maturing to do, and still does. But after a so-so season in Saint John last year, he appears to be back on track this year. He’s got decent offensive skills and is one of those hard-to-play-against players, when he’s on his game. He, too, had a good World Juniors for the Czech Republic. Though he’s the highest pick of this bunch, there are differing opinions on his value.

• Ryan Lindgren: Taken with the No. 49 pick last June, the University of Minnesota freshman projects to be a rock-solid, physical stay-at-home defenseman who brings more than a little edge to his game. Along with McAvoy, he was part of the gold medal USA team at the World Juniors.

That is quite a deck of prospects from which to deal — including five picks in the top two rounds — and it doesn’t even count the forwards such as Jake DeBrusk, Peter Cehlarik, Zach Senyshyn (and BU’s Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, who could join teammate McAvoy on Causeway Street by the end of the season.

Whatever and whenever something goes down is anyone’s guess. But given all the Bruin circumstances, you have to believe that something will.

This week’s B’s timeline

Today, at Carolina, 5 p.m. — This is the kind of defensive-minded team that has given the Bruins trouble. The B’s have scored three goals in two games against the Hurricanes (not counting shootout goals).

Tuesday, at St. Louis, 8 p.m. — Provided he’s healthy, this will be David Backes’ first time playing in the city in which he established himself as a player.

Thursday, at Nashville, 8 p.m. — So far, the Canadiens have won the Shea Weber-for-P.K. Subban deal. Subban, a minus-11, has been out with a back injury.

Saturday, vs. Philadelphia, 1 p.m. — With the Flyers falling back in the Metropolitan Division, this could be a battle of two teams vying for the final wild card spot.

Schmidt was a legend in more ways than one

About 25 years ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Milt Schmidt for the first time, for a Memorial Day piece on his time in the service during World War II.

I’d never seen him play, but his name was legendary and his handshake was that of a man 50 years his junior. While I’d heard what a terrific guy he was, I was a little nervous. The man was a legend.

But after I addressed him as “Mr. Schmidt” a second time, he put up his hand to briefly halt the interview.

“I appreciate the ‘Mister,’ ” said the player who deserved as much respect or more as anyone in he vast Boston sports galaxy, “but I’m Milt.”

And with that, he regaled me with stories for over an hour, both about his time in the service and his playing days. When we got around to the fact that he not only missed some of the best years of his career to the service, but a possible Bruins dynasty died on the vine (they’d won Cups in 1939 and ’41), he just shook his head. He spent his war time in England preparing pilots for survival in the case of being shot down. Some of those young men he never saw again.

“Believe me,” said Schmidt with hard determination in his eyes, “I gave up nothing.”

For me, that pretty much summed up the grace and humility of Milt Schmidt. He will be dearly missed.