"The bland yet benign 2012 NHL All-Star Game is out of the way now, which means that we can focus on the second "half" of the 2011-12 season. (I put half in quotation marks because, technically speaking, NHL teams have played more than 50 percent of their games already. Still, it's halfway done in spirit.)

With that in mind, here's an interesting player to watch per team; I'll try to stay away from too many obvious choices, although they'll be a few here and there.

Anaheim: It's likely that you know about the Ducks' big guns, so let's skip past them (although Jonas Hiller ranks as one of the biggest wild cards in the NHL). Instead, Lubomir Visnovsky is interesting to watch, especially with his play picking up lately. He has one goal and four assists in his last five games, so it might be a good time to attempt a trade.

Boston: Tuukka Rask's situation is interesting to watch. He's in the last year of his current contract while Tim Thomas' deal runs through 2012-13. Will that force the Bruins to make a trade or will they end up with the priciest goalie duo in the NHL next year?

Buffalo: Can the whole team be under the microscope? This might be the best time ever to try to get Ryan Miller for a low-ball deal; perhaps the All-Star break did him some good."