After Monday’s snoozer of a trade deadline day, anyone who took the day off had no excuse for being tired at work Tuesday morning. After all, they most likely would have fell asleep watching a bunch of guys break down the Toronto Maple Leafs war room and look ahead to who could be on the 2014 Canadian Olympic team. In other years, the network shows would try and cover up dead spots during the day, but not this year. Even hosts and panelists couldn't contain how silly things were getting.
As I watching nothing unfold Monday, I started to think more and more. It's what happens when you have some time on your hands and nothing to fill it with. I started thinking about whether or not this could be the norm and that we could be seeing the start of the death of Trade Deadline Day frenzy in this country. Sure, there might be some deals here and there, but I think there are too many things going against the networks to allow them to continue the countdown shows and gigantic panels.
The first thing is the increased comfort level with the salary cap. We all know that in a lot of ways, the NHL is still run by an old boys club that doesn’t adapt well to change and does more to fight it than embrace it. Unlike the NFL and NBA where trades are few and far between, the NHL has stayed true to their pre-lockout traditions despite the system being completely different.
However, as time goes on and GM’s are falling by the wayside because of their inability to embrace the new system or just not comprehend it, the GM’s that remain have clearly noticed the mistakes of the fallen and have to realize how powerful the salary cap can be against you.
But the biggest thing that could change the complexion of trading in the NHL could be a trend that was set this year by the most successful teams in the month of February. The teams that accomplished the most on trade deadline day actually did very little on February 28th.
Canadian teams like the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs made most of their moves a week before and are now being applauded for it. Professional sports is a monkey-see, monkey-do business and the teams that weren’t able to get anything done Monday will no doubt be thinking about changing their strategy for next season’s trade deadline.
I really hope that things don’t change and that we have ourselves an exciting day to look forward to in the middle of February. After all, the only thing we have to look forward to at this point is the reward for a successful Valentine’s Day and the light at the end of the tunnel for winter’s end, but I have a sneaky feeling that we're losing grip on our beloved "Trade Deadline Day".