With 15 days to go until the National Hockey League trade deadline, there will be much speculation as to who goes where and who goes there.
The focus will be on those who make and break the trades as well as the immediate impact of these acquisitions. Experts will breakdown these events as they unfold, while fans will be joyous or they will be crying as their favorite players are moved along.
Over the last five season there have been roughly 25 transactions/trade deadline, which is pretty significant considering the NHL has to double check each transaction before they can be official announced.
(See my article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/601113-nhl-trade-deadline-a-look-at-past-deals-from-2005-2010)
Many people will be needed to see that this flurry of activity is executed properly. All 30 NHL teams will have their hockey operations departments ready to go, their respective general managers making calls, e-mails and texts, scouts pouring over reports.
League officials waiting to check every transaction. Looking for any mistakes in salary cap situations and filing the proper paperwork needed to complete each deal. (And who said the fax machine is dead! in the hockey management world it’s still a must have).
While I could go on and on about the many people who will help make the NHL trade deadline a success, I’m often reminded of the thankless job of a team’s equipment staff and trainers.
It’s these people who help get the newly acquired players ready to don their new team’s jersey.
Let’s look at the how these people are so valuable to their teams. This is the one day, outside of the beginning of training camp that they are placed on high alert. At least when training camp comes they have months to plan for 60+ players.
On trade deadline day, they usually find out just before we, the fans do.
My hats are off to these people, the unsung hero’s of pro sports.