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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Trade deadline, the clock ticks....



I sat at my desk yesterday bouncing from the report I was supposed to be doing for work, and the NHL trade deadline tracker, feeling quite guilty that I couldn't really think about work at all. As much as I tried.

Why?

Well something was bound to happen, it was trade deadline day, the day that my husband calls his favorite day of the year. The day that the rest of the fans had been looking for. Surely by the end of the day, quite a few Caps, would be known as Ex-Players, and we would be welcoming new ones. Players that would not only help us get into the playoffs, but ones that would also help us go deep into the playoffs. Well hopefully anyway. And while my focus is always on what the Caps do, I have to admit the trade deadline is not only fun to see what we do, but what others do. Who goes where, who trades what. Yes in terms of the hockey season I have to admit that trade deadline does, ranks right up there as one of the best days.

We had discussed the subject on the way into work, feeling that as we are on the verge of the playoffs, something big was going to go down. Semin for should would be gone, or maybe Vokoun, or Schultz, or Hamirlik. Or maybe a combination of something none of us would expect. We weren't sure, but we knew it was just going to happen. Even more  certain when they announced that they had put Backstrom on long term injured reserve. Freeing up a whole lot more salary than we once had.

Yes something was going to happen. Just you wait.

By lunch time nothing had happened. Not with the Caps, not with the Penguins. Not with anyone. Sure there a few minor trades here and then, mainly for draft picks in the future. But nothing earth shattering. But that was ok, it was still early and we knew that most of the trades don't happen til last minute.

There was still this anticipation of what we were going to do. I pictured George McPhee, locked in his office with a do not disturb sign hanging there. I was pretty sure he was working hard, and any minute we would hear something. What would follow would be media coverage, and twitter announcements. There would be fans that would be thrilled, ones that weren't. Because this is after all DC and apparently no body can be happy with a team for to long. Yes any minute now something big would happen.

And then it became 1:30, and nothing....And then 2....

An hour to go, and nothing. Hmm, well this was strange. Still there was an hour and that was plenty of time I suppose to make a deal.

Except by 3, nothing had come out. And I watched as the numbers on the clock ticked by, and by 3:30, the realization that we had done nothing slowly sunk in.

Nothing.

I could almost understand if we had done a minor move. But nothing?? I totally wasn't expecting that.

Yes, to be honest there wasn't a lot of movement from any team. Unlike the past couple of years where there has been on average 15 plus trades, this years measly 9 just seemed to state that no one was really doing anything. The Caps weren't alone.

Still, I felt like something was going to go on, I lived through my husbands words as he spoke and told me that we would. And I had fully expected and looked forward to the changes. And when nothing came of it, there was just this deep sinking feeling.

Where do we go from here? Are we admitting defeat?

It was the same questions I have been asking myself for some time now. Sad as this may be.

I am sure George had his reasons, maybe nothing truly was out there. Maybe the deals just weren't what he wanted. They wanted someone we weren't willing to give up, the price was to much or they weren't interested in what we had to offer.

Would it have been better to trade just for the sake of trading? And then it not working out in the end and having people pissed off at you for that? I mean there is such a thing as a bad trade...

Or...

Maybe he knows something more about Backstrom than he wants to lead on. There really is no explanation, and the only one that knows anything is George himself. We can speculate all we want. But for whatever reason he had a reason for sticking with the team, and the guys that he has.

Only time will tell, if his reasons were enough.

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