Off the Ice- Trade deadline, COVID, & Connor McDavid

It’s been a while. Oops. 

With the shortened season, the world of hockey was a bit of a snooze fest for a while. But things are starting to pick up again with the trade deadline and the playoff push. Most teams have between 15 & 20 games left and are starting to wrap up series’ with other teams. It’s a crazy one for Off the Ice this week, good luck.

I’ve never been more nervous in my life

Today, Monday, April 12th, is the NHL trade deadline. And so far, it’s been a little boring. Overhyped. Anticlimactic…if you will. Taylor Hall is on his way out of Buffalo which wasn’t surprising to anyone and I’d be very shocked if the Sabres let Jack Eichel go. It would have to be a block buster-earth shattering-the-league-will-never-be-the-same kind of trade. There are rumors that Laine could be on the move again but Columbus is asking for a pretty penny. 

With how much talk has been surrounding trades, I can’t help but pray to the hockey gods that none of my teams get ruined. Once this is over, all I’ll have to worry about is the Avs choking in the playoffs again, the Islanders losing the Eastern Conference Final again, and the expansion draft in July. Super stress-free, right? 

Van-COVID

In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Vancouver Canucks have COVID-19. And pretty bad. 25 people associated with the Canucks franchise tested positive for the virus. Of those 25 people, 21 of them are players. The team physician, Dr. Jim Bovard has said that there is no one to blame except for the virus itself.

The league expects the team to be back on the ice by April 16th and to finish their 56-game schedule. I would like to see Garry Bettman contract COVID and then go play a full game of hockey after spending 3 weeks off the ice. 

Playoffs  

As it stands right now, I think the playoffs look pretty much exactly how we all expected them to. Except that the Florida Panthers popped up out of…well, Florida. And have been in the top 10 all season. Excuse me? Also, Winnipeg? Didn’t really see that one coming either. 

East Division:

WSH (1) vs. BOS(4), NYI (2) vs. PIT (3) 

Central Division:

CAR (1) vs. NSH (4), TBL (2) vs. FLA (3) 

West Division:

COL (1) vs STL (4), VGK (2) vs. MIN (3) 

North Division:

TOR (1) vs MTL (4), WPG (2) vs. EDM (3) 

On a more serious note…

Yesterday, April 11th, was the one-year anniversary of the death of Colby Cave. Last spring, he suffered obstructive hydrocephalus. His spinal fluid was leaking into his brain. Colby played for the Edmonton Oilers for one season after being put on waivers by Boston. His wife, Emily held a celebration of life for Colby yesterday. Unfortunately, the league scheduled the Oilers to play last night and they took a massive 5-0 loss to Calgary. 

In post-game media, Connor McDavid stated,

“Some days are about more than just hockey…today was about Colby, his memorial, and his celebration of life…I thought everyone did a great job speaking…I thought Caver’s family was so strong and obviously Emily to stand up there and get through her whole speech was remarkable…we’re obviously thinking of him today.” He later went to question the league’s decision to schedule a game after the memorial. “You’re asking a lot for guys to sit through that and remember their teammate and then go out and perform that night. I don’t really know what the league was thinking there” 

Connor McDavid, Oilers captain

As if that wasn’t proof enough, I hope Emily and the entire Cave family know that the hockey community stands beside them through this journey. Bruins fans, Oilers fans, and everyone in between. Sometimes it is about more than just hockey. 

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