NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell and his office set the agenda for the general managers meetings, including the one that begins Monday evening in Palm Springs, Calif., and runs through Thursday.

The league's top item for this quarterly get-together is a discussion about rule changes. But the real agenda and focus for the GMs will be player movement.

Playing by the rules

The "official" meetings will focus on discussing possible rule changes. Canucks GM Brian Burke against any major changes in the game right now. "There's a group of us that feel we shouldn't make changes too frequently," Burke said. "It confuses the fans." Topics like eliminating the red line and evaluating the four-on-four overtime will receive the most attention. "I like the game the way it is," Bruins GM Mike O'Connell said. "But if we could speed it up somehow, eliminate some of the faceoffs and stoppages in play, I'd like to see more continuous play." How to do that is the $64,000 question. The dialogue begins with the general managers. Once NHL Players Association representatives arrive later in the week, they will sit down with team management and the league office for further debate. -- Brian A. Shactman

Plenty of it.

With only a week until the trade deadline and a few big deals -- Rob Blake and Teemu Selanne -- already completed, it's the coffee-talk conversations that will yield the most results.

"The backroom huddling is constant," said Canucks GM Brian Burke, who has been on both sides of the agenda because he used to have Campbell's job. "Guys are meeting at 7 a.m., throwing ideas around. There will be a lot of that."

Usually, trade offers are pitched over the phone, then general managers huddle with their in-house people to consider things more closely. The GM meetings provide an opportunity for the principals involved to sit down face-to-face and be more proactive about a possible deal.

"You might see a few close down there," Burke said. "Trades aren't made in a day, but some that have been discussed for a while might get done there."

Every general manager finds his team in a different situation this time of year. The elite teams are trying to stock up and keep with the league's best. Other playoff-caliber teams will attempt to upgrade without sacrificing the team's core talent. The lower-end teams look to dump veterans and build for the future.

Burke's team is young and has only one pending unrestricted free agent (Murray Baron). Burke would like to make a deal, but he's not operating with a win-now attitude. The Canucks have young talent, some draft picks and some free cash, but no overriding mandate to obtain a high-caliber player.

"I don't intend to change our blueprint," Burke said. "I'm not looking to add rental players or someone not signed through next season."

In this summer's draft, the Canucks hold a first-round pick, a compensatory second-round pick from Mark Messier's signing with the Rangers and Atlanta's second-round pick. Burke may deal a package of picks to get a good player from a non-contending team looking to rebuild.

Sharks GM Dean Lombardi says he didn't feel pressure to acquire Teemu Selanne before the meetings. However, if the deal wasn't done before hand, it would have been easier for other teams to jump in at the slightest breakdown in negotiations.

"It's been off and on for a couple of weeks in general discussions," said Lombardi. "It kind of started heating up Friday afternoon."

With two of the biggest names off the market -- Selanne and Blake -- are there any big deals left?

"I think the Blake deal probably took a lot of thunder out of what would happen between now and the deadline," Burke said. "There's certainly still a lot of speculation about Lindros, as well as what will happen with Phoenix."

There is speculation that Bruins GM Mike O'Connell is interested in pending unrestricted free agent Jeremy Roenick of Phoenix, who is in the process of negotiating an extension with the Coyotes. O'Connell is in a position similar to Burke's: He doesn't want to deal any of his core assets, but would like to upgrade at forward.

"I'm going there to listen," said O'Connell, who is in his first year of attending these meetings as the Bruins GM because in the past, Harry Sinden handled them. "I have some ideas. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

"I'd like to get a forward if possible. I'll listen to anything."

Brian Shactman is a staff writer at ESPN.com