Though we are in the midst of the NHL’s holiday trade freeze, rumors are still running wild on players like Andrej Sekera.

It’s been reported already that, if the Hurricanes can not come to an agreement on a contract extension with Sekera, he will be traded away for assets that will help the team in the future.

Eklund of Hockey Buzz suggests that three teams that could be in on him are the San Jose Sharks, Winnipeg Jets, and Los Angeles Kings.

The market right before the freeze apparently opened up for Andrej Sekera and at least three teams have shown interest already… San Jose(e3), LA (e4) and Winnipeg (e2). He will definitely be moved at some point here…

While you have to take things from Eklund with a grain of salt, these teams do make sense as possible landing spots for Sekera.

The Jets (7th) and Kings (8th) hold the bottom two playoff spots in the Western Conference. The Sharks sit in 2nd place in the Pacific Division.

The Jets have had serious injury trouble on the back end. The team traded for Jay Harrison last week, but that will not be enough to make up for their tough going on the backend.

With Jacob Trouba, Zach Bogosian, and Toby Enstrom all on IR, Andrej Sekera could play a key role as a rental player for Winnipeg as they look to make the playoffs for the first time since their return to Manitoba. The Jets view this year as a playoff year of bust.

The LA Kings placed defenseman Robyn Regehr on IR due to a hand injury on December 20 and he is expected to miss upwards of 2-3 weeks. Would that be enough for the Kings to pursue a guy like Andrej Sekera?

With the Kings looking to repeat as Stanley Cup champs, you’d have to think that they would do anything to help their chances, and Sekera would definitely help LA in a playoff run.

The Sharks are a team that has developed a reputation for choking in the playoffs. Case and point, they held a 3-0 lead over the Kings in the first round of the playoffs last season and ended up losing the series in 7 games.

With players like Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau closing in on what may be the end of their careers, it is hard to rely on them for much longer, so, ideally, the Sharks want to make their cup run now.

A guy like Andrej Sekera would help the team in all facets. He would come in and be an immediate top-4 defenseman, if not a top-pairing guy. He could man the point on the powerplay very effectively with the great skill that the Sharks have, and he could be a another piece on San Jose’s top-10 penalty kill.

It may be the NHL trade freeze, but that hasn’t stopped the rumors from spreading. It will be interesting to see what Hurricanes GM Ron Francis will do once the freeze ends at midnight of December 27 and beyond.