This year’s NHL trade deadline day is March 2nd, and unlike the trade deadline day in the NBA, NFL and MLB, hockey’s version provides fans a reason to call in sick. While it doesn’t receive nearly as much coverage in the United States as it probably should, trade deadline day is like Christmas in March for hockey fans in Canada. Although the introduction of a hard salary cap following the 2012-2013 lockout makes it harder for big and complex contracts to be moved on the last day trades can be made, there seems to be no sign of the television ratings or the transactions slowing down any time soon.
Perhaps the biggest reason for that is that die hard sports fans dream of being their favourite team’s general manager someday, and trade deadline coverage gives us some insight into what it’s actually like without ever being in our team’s boardroom as the deadline approaches. Especially in this day and age with the latest breaking news being posted on Twitter almost immediately, allowing fans to keep track of rumours and break into debates in an instant. Debate fuels adrenaline in the average sports fan more than anything else.
The curiosity and intrigue also stems from what one’s favourite team will do next. Are they buyers or are they sellers? Will they be the big winner in this year’s blockbuster deal for the latest disgruntled or impending free-agent superstar? With questions like that left to be answered as the deadline approaches, it’s easy to see why the media coverage associated with it is basically a man’s version of an afternoon soap opera with the added kick being that it’s actually based on reality and not a dramatic, fictional script.
It seems that no matter what prognosticators and analysts predict as far as how much activity is expected on trade deadline day, things pick up at the last minute and when all the math is done, hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts have changed hands and the future of a fan’s favourite franchise has been changed forever, though seldom in the ways that most experts and fans expected once a few months or even a few years have passed.
For every skilled superstar winger like Marian Gaborik that gets traded on deadline day and helps his new team win the Stanley Cup, the way he did last year with the Los Angeles Kings, there are a handful of stars that get moved and never produce a championship. That reality might not be appealing to fans of contenders, but at the end of the day it’s what makes the trade deadline such a big day for the NHL and so compelling to follow.
The good news is, whether your favourite players and teams are contenders or pretenders this year, you’ll be able to sport their new jersey after all the trades are complete thanks to the gear available here at Sports Jerseys Canada.