Feb
26
It’s NHL Trade Deadline Day!
February 26, 2008
There is no more proof than the NHL trade deadline to show just how deeply hockey has woven itself into the fabric of Canadian culture. The McGuinty Liberal government may just as well have declared the NHL trade deadline a holiday instead of the new Family Day. In office settings, the water cooler chat is centred around the trades or non-trades, people have their ear close to their desktops listening to online reports from radio stations and some people even get a mysterious 24 hour virus.
It’s addictive. It is amazing how your ears perk up, a chill climbs your back and the hair on your neck stands up when guys like Dreger, McKenzie or Duthie utter those magical words, “We have a trade.”
I remember two years ago I was in Florida for the trade deadline, and I was going through serious deadline news withdrawal. I knew that news wouldn’t be forthcoming at Disney’s MGM Studios, and quite frankly watching ESPN when we got back from the park really didn’t shed a light on things either. The next day I picked up a copy of USA Today from a box outside the restaurant at the Disney resort where we were staying – and not a whole lot of news there. It wasn’t until we were in Downtown Disney the next night that I stumbled upon an Internet cafe in DisneyQuest and was able to go to TSN’s web site to view a quick overview of the trades.
That all said, I am not expecting a very busy trade deadline this year. There are far too many teams in the hunt for a playoff spot – a result of the parity that the cap has created. There will be a few ‘rental players’, but there is more chance of good old fashion ‘hockey trades’ as more teams are trying to improve themselves at both ends of the deal.
In any case, it will still be an interesting day.
Updated 7:30PM: Hmmm, I guess I read that one wrong. Lot’s of teams stocking up on players for their playoff run, resulting in 25 transactions today. Some of the surprising buyers were teams that are currently out of the playoffs and looking for some muscle to help them get in.
Tags: Sports Stuff
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