February 26, 2010 :: 6:25pm ET Horton, Vokoun among tradable assets By David Pagnotta, TheFourthPeriod.com

[TORONTO, ON] -- With teams returning to practice this week, trade speculation surrounding a number of clubs and players has picked up significantly over the last 48 hours.

The Florida Panthers own a number of tradable assets that could be on the move before the Mar. 3 trade deadline.

Among the players grabbing the most attention, center Nathan Horton, defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and goalie Tomas Vokoun are doing their best to block out the chatter.

"I know I'm on the trade block and could be out of here in a couple of days," Seidenberg told the Miami Herald earlier today. "But I want to stay, I want to be part of the solution. I would like to stay. It's a tough situation knowing I could be gone. It's weird, but that's how it goes in the NHL. You just deal with it."

Seidenberg has attracted plenty of interest from around the league, and Panthers GM Randy Sexton indicated -- prior to the Olympic break -- that more changes are likely (the team already dealt center Dominic Moore to Montreal for a 2011 second-round pick).

Horton, meanwhile, continues to rehab his broken leg and admits: "It's getting better every day. It's real soon."

Horton has also been the subject of a variety of trade rumors, and the Herald suggests only Michael Frolik, David Booth and Dmitry Kulikov are untouchable on the Panthers.

Vokoun has also heard the rumors, but he has a no-trade clause and can dictate his future.

A source close to the situation told TFP that Vokoun has not yet been asked to waive his no-trade clause and Sexton did not broach the subject earlier today.

Teams have a 63-hour window from when the Olympic roster freeze is lifted to the Mar. 3 deadline at 3pm ET to completed deals.

The Chicago Blackhawks have been constantly linked to Vokoun this past week, however the speculated trade involving Hawks goalies Cristobal Huet and Corey Crawford, and forward Kris Versteeg, has been dismissed by several sources.

Another rumor -- albeit (and I stress) unconfirmed -- floating around ties the Washington Capitals to Vokoun, with Jose Theodore, one of top prospects John Carlson or Marcus Johansson and a draft pick packaged the other way.

While there's plenty of time to workout a trade, the fact remains Vokoun has not been told by the club that a deal is in the works. Until that happens, everyone will continue to speculate.

David Pagnotta is the Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Period Magazine and covers the NHL for TheFourthPeriod.com. He is also a contributing writer for NBCSports.com and MSNBC.