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Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson spent his second day at the GM meetings in sunny Naples, Fla.

Meanwhile, in snowy Toronto, where the Blue Jackets played the Maple Leafs last night in the Air Canada Centre, coach Ken Hitchcock made a plea for Howson to avoid a fire sale heading into the trade deadline next Tuesday.
"I know we're not in the playoffs (as of) today, but this is the best season this franchise has ever had," Hitchcock said. "To even talk about being in the race toward the end of February is a feather in the players' caps.
"The feeling in the dressing room is that we've started to build some chemistry and we'd like to keep it together."
Heading into play last night, the Blue Jackets were 12th in the Western Conference, three points out of eighth. But the Blue Jackets have played three more games than 11th-place St. Louis, two more than 10th-place Colorado and eighth-place Calgary and one more than ninth-place Phoenix.
"We know we have to play better," Hitchcock said. "But from where we were a year ago to where we are now, it's a good sign.
"What the players are saying is, they don't want to see it broken up."
The Blue Jackets have seven unrestricted free agents: defensemen Adam Foote, Ron Hainsey, Jan Hejda and Dick Tarnstrom, and forwards Sergei Fedorov, Michael Peca and David Vyborny.
If Howson decides the Blue Jackets, who are just 2-5-3 since the All-Star Game break, are out of the playoffs, he could trade any or all of those players, along with other players, too, to add prospects and draft picks heading into the offseason.
"At this time of year," Hitchcock said, "it's really easy for people to say 'get rid of this guy, or get rid of that guy.'
"But when you're talking about the names that people are talking about, you're going to have to replace them (through free agency) on July 1. And that's not going to be easy."
Howson said he had yet to determine whether the Blue Jackets were buyers or sellers. The Jackets play two more games before the deadline.
"We might be neither," Howson said. "It could be a situation where we make a only a couple of moves that wouldn't make a huge impact on the team."
He said he was having "lots of interesting conversations" but that nothing was imminent.