Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

VOORHEES — The clock continues ticking toward Monday's 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline and Flyers general manager Ron Hextall is cool as a cucumber.

"Is it that close?" he joked.

As much as he smiles, his team may be making him re-think the possibility of "selling" assets at the deadline. With a win Thursday night, the Flyers are three points out of a playoff spot and if they win on Saturday and the New Jersey Devils lose Friday night, they'll be one point out, closest they've been in the calendar year.

What are the odds he pulls the trigger on a trade?

"I really don’t know. Kind of listening to everything out there," Hextall said. "We’re in a bit of a tough spot. We’re right there, but … everything I listen to on an individual basis and we’ll make decisions when things come to us. There’s some things going on, but we’ll see."

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Thursday night perhaps the first big domino fell in the league. The Winnipeg Jets traded their captain, Andrew Ladd, to Chicago for prospect Marko Dano, a first-round pick and a third-round pick on the condition that the Blackhawks repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

That might kick start more action around the league.

"Sometimes that happens because the market closes in," Hextall said. "You’re looking to see how many teams are in, how many teams are out. Right now there’s not many teams are out where you say they don’t have a chance. It’s tough. There’s hard decisions. There’s a lot of factors. It’s not just, ‘Do we want this for this?’ It’s like, ‘OK, the position we’re in…’ They’re hard decisions."

In the world of technology, it doesn't really matter where Hextall is physically. As long as his cell phone is on him, he has the ability to make a deal.

"It’s kind of been hit and miss," he said as to the volume of calls he's been getting. "A couple days ago they flooded in and then it quiets down. You don’t know. It’s hard. Everybody wants to do something but prices are high right now. You kind of talk and feel things out. Something will come at us. I know something will come at us that you don’t expect. It’s like, ‘wow.’ Sometimes you’ve got to process things a little bit."

Time to do that is running out.

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479;disaac@gannettnj.com.