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Deadline Day: Thoughts on Changing Teams |
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Depending on when you read this blog, the trade deadline will be over and many teams will think that they now have the team to make a push for the Stanley Cup. There is so much hype around this day, and it almost never lives up to expectations.
Sometimes, I think that the GM is just making moves for the sake of showing the team’s fan base that he is on top of things and the team is pushing for the playoffs or perhaps rebuilding for the future. It’s all about perception, because you know what shows up in the mail shortly after trade deadline - playoff ticket order form and your season ticket renewal application for the following season.
So far this year’s trade deadline day promises to be a bit more active with a few top players being moved already and several top names rumoured to be traded. As I said in a previous blog, trades are different today, there is no element of surprise or shock when a trade is made because of the no movement clause that so many players have.
A trade today quite often is the player talking to his agent, who in turn informs the team his client will go here or there but not to there or there or there. So gone is the threat that coaches and GM’s always made that they will send you packing to the worst franchise in the league. There is no emotion in trades anymore - I guess because it is a business and everyone involved has accepted that.
Here are my thoughts on what it's like to change NHL teams from my own experiences.
Flames to Flyers
My first trade was from Calgary to Philadelphia, I cried like a baby – no kidding. I was very upset and very hurt; I really did not understand it or understand why. Yes, I was told the reasoning for it but it didn’t sink in.
Why me? I kept asking myself. I was captain of the team, supposed to be one of the building blocks for the future. Why me?
My first trade did not happen at the deadline, it happened in November. The team was playing pretty well at the time, but expectations were high because of our success the previous year (losing in the semi-finals) so there was really no indication that changes were coming.
As usual, I got to practice early on the morning of the trade and the trainer told me that GM Cliff Fletcher wanted to see me in his office – no big deal, I told myself and off I went to see Cliff. I don’t remember his exact words, nor do I remember any thing that I may have said back to him. The conversation was short and to the point, I was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Mel Bridgman - the tears started and I excused myself and went for a walk.
Why me?
I called my parents from a payphone in the rink and told them the news; they were shocked. Once practice started I went back to the dressing room to get my hockey gear and then went home to pack my bags and leave town.
Doorbell
Before I left town, most of the team had come over directly from practice to say goodbye, it was funny to see how many of them stopped at the beer store prior to coming over; one last beer with the captain. At some time during the afternoon and between beers – yes my former teammates were still there -- Keith Allen, the GM of the Flyers called and welcomed me to the team.
This call was much needed. Mr. Allen lifted my spirits. My attitude soon went from Why me? to ‘they want me’. At some point later in the day, I talked to my agent. He didn’t know anything yet about the trade -- times were different back then -- but assured me everything was going to be just fine as Philly was a great organization.
Going by today’s standards for an agent not to know that his client was getting traded is unheard of, but back in my day you had an agent and not a babysitter.
So off to Philadelphia I went and as I have said many times it was the best thing that happened to me, as it was the first time that I really understood what it took to be a professional hockey player.
Flyers to Maple Leafs
I wasn’t traded from the Flyers to the Maple Leafs, I was released and put in the waiver draft – what an insult! The waiver draft at the time was viewed as a forum for washed up hockey players to hook on with another team before being bought out or sent down to the minors.
I did not think of myself as being washed up or done, nor did I think that the Flyers felt the same way. It was September, training camp had just finished and the season was about to get underway. Since we lost out in the first round the previous year and with the firing of coach Mike Keenan there was a lot of pressure on us a team.
We practiced that morning, all seemed good, I really cannot remember anything out of the ordinary that happened during camp that deemed me “expendable”. I was already at home when the call came in and once again details are a little fuzzy of exactly what was said. All I remember is being pissed, not so much feeling “why me” but “I can’t believe this is happening to me”. I was mad, I paced the house for what seemed like hours, I felt betrayed, after all I had done how could they do this to me?
Doorbell
Yes, it was my not only my teammates but because I had in Philly for so long, it was friends and many, many family members and yes, they all brought beer. Soon we had a full-fledged party going on. I received two phone calls that afternoon, one from a sheepish GM Bob Clarke and one from owner Ed Snider.
Clarkie wanted to stop over and say goodbye but wanted to make sure it was okay, of course it was okay - he was my teammate and friend before he was my boss. Besides that, he had signed me to my first million dollar contract so how could I be mad at him! (It took me 4 years to earn that million dollars – I just thought I would add that!) The phone call from Mr. Snider was very special. He called just to thank me for all I had done as a Flyer and wish me success with my new team.
My new team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, was my team as a kid growing up. I was still pissed and I was still hurt, and maybe somewhat embarrassed that I went through the waiver draft but I had a new determination about me. I was determined to prove the Flyers wrong.
Things went very well in Toronto until November of the 1990-91 season, the Leafs made a coaching change. I was not part of the new coach’s plans, as in I did not play at all. I did not understand this, as I had just signed a new three-year contract that summer.
Once it became very apparent that I was no longer in their plans, I quietly asked to be traded – I did the ask, not my agent. It was me who asked and I did not care where I went.
Toronto to Detroit
I was finally traded to Detroit in February, this trade was very different from the other times. I was happy, thrilled, and very eager to get my hockey career back on track. The Leafs GM at the time (the Leafs changed GM’s as often as their coaches) Floyd Smith told me the news in the coaches office, which was attached to the dressing room and for the first time I can remember the conversation!
Floyd said, “Brad, we have traded you to the Detroit Red Wings”
I said as I was reaching out to shake his hand “Thanks a lot Floyd. I really appreciate it.”
Floyd said, “Brad, I just want to thank you for all you have done and especially for how you have handled this situation….”
I interrupted him.
“No problem, thanks again!”I said, and I was out the door. I did a quick lap around the dressing room to say bye to me teammates.
It was a funny thing as I did this, all were very happy for me but I got the sense that some of them wished that they were the ones leaving with me. I should mention here that just before running out of the coaches office, I did stop by the coach's desk and have a very brief conversation with him but that is a story for another blog.
I couldn’t wait to get home and pack my things and get to Detroit. For those of you not familiar with geography, Detroit is just a short four hour drive down the 401 highway, so I was packing my car up and getting on the road.
Doorbell
No it wasn’t any of my teammates, it was a photographer from the Toronto Sun. He told me that he was there to take a picture of me leaving town, so he asked if I wanted to pose for it or he would take it anyway as I was driving down the road. I was happy, so what the hell – I posed for the picture.
Driving to Detroit was great, for the first time in a long time I felt like a NHL player again and yes I was determined to prove the coach of the Leafs wrong! Not so much the organization, but the coach. And I did - he got fired before I retired!
Detroit to Ottawa
So how did I end up in Ottawa? A long story but I will try and make it short – not many people know this story. When I was traded to Detroit from Toronto, I had the current year plus another year remaining on my contract plus an option year.
The deal was that if Detroit did not want to exercise the option year of my contract, my playing rights would revert back to the Leafs. Detroit had waived their option, so here I was Toronto Maple Leafs property again. No worries, they had changed coaches and GMs again.
Cliff Fletcher was the GM in Toronto (if you remember Cliff was the GM that drafted me in 1978 and was the GM that traded me from Calgary to Philadelphia). Cliff told me right from the start that they really had no plans for me, I would be the 7th defenseman, but he also said that he would not send me down nor would he buy me out. He also said that if I wanted to see if there was another team interested in me he would do his best to make it happen.
The Ottawa Senators showed interest but they had a very limited budget, they could not seem to find room for my $250,000 dollar a year salary. That amount seems so insignificant based on today’s salaries but at the time it was big money. So here is where Cliff comes in and that old saying never burn your bridges is true: Cliff and the Toronto Maple Leafs paid half my salary that year in order for me to play for the Ottawa Senators.
Thanks, Cliff!
Enjoy deadline day and I hope that your team made all of the correct moves today.
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