When the trade deadline passes, you can\u00a0probably hear\u00a0a collective exhale from 32 PR departments across the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The days leading into the trade deadline are some of the most intense,\u00a0stressful\u00a0and exhausting ones on the job.\u00a0Case in point: I had to set an alarm for 5:45 a.m. on Friday\u00a0morning in Seattle, after getting to my hotel around 12:30 a.m. from Calgary.\u00a0Being in the Pacific Time Zone for trade deadline\u00a0is\u00a0not a lot of fun\u00a0\u2013\u00a0especially\u00a0when it\u00a0comes\u00a0off the heels of a game the night before.\u00a0It makes for a short night\u00a0and\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0constantly checking your phone,\u00a0waiting for it to ring or light up with a text message.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0really strange\u00a0when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0on a road trip\u00a0and not around the management team. Last season, we spent the deadline at home, so it was easy for me to pop by the board room at Canadian Tire Centre and get a sense of what\u00a0was happening.\u00a0(Though I\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0in the room when Steve\u00a0Staios\u00a0pulled off the Fabian Zetterlund trade with about 20 seconds to spare before the 3 p.m. Eastern deadline).\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, I was\u00a0really disconnected.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had to rely on the\u00a0flow of information through our communications department, with my colleagues Sylvain St. Laurent and Erin Campbell back in Ottawa.\u00a0When reporters were asking me if I had any sense if we were active \u2013 especially as we crept closer to the 3 p.m. Eastern deadline \u2013 I\u00a0truthfully told them I had no idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We pulled off our\u00a0only moves on Thursday afternoon,\u00a0acquiring\u00a0Warren\u00a0Foegele\u00a0from Los Angeles and sending David Perron to Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The timing of the Perron deal was interesting because it pushed right up against our\u00a09 p.m. Eastern time game in\u00a0Calgary. The trade call to\u00a0finalize\u00a0the\u00a0deal\u00a0was happening in the moments leading up to TSN\u2019s broadcast\u00a0from\u00a0the Scotiabank\u00a0Saddledome\u00a0.\u00a0I thought\u00a0it would be great if we could get the scoop to Claire Hanna right as she was going to air, but I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to say anything until the trade call was complete. (If there was a snag or an issue,\u00a0you\u2019d\u00a0hate for that information to leak out prematurely).\u00a0<\/p>\n
As luck would have it, the call\u00a0concluded just as TSN was going to air. I was able to flip their producer Sam Cicirello a text with the details of the trade: David Perron to Detroit for a fourth-round pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The graphics team\u00a0inside the production truck\u00a0was able to build a quick note on the screen with the details of the trade and then Sam told Claire about the trade in her earpiece while\u00a0Dustin Neilson and Jamie McLennan were doing their segment from the broadcast booth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
TSN was able to get that scoop on the air, moments after the trade call\u00a0was\u00a0completed \u2013 and a minute or so before we posted the trade details online.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0feels impossible to break a trade on live television these days \u2013 getting a scoop ahead of social media \u2013 but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0happy we were able to execute it on Thursday in Calgary\u00a0with the TSN crew.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was also great connecting with Warren\u00a0Foegele\u00a0last week. Even though his head was spinning from the trade, he was very eager to help us on the media front.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He agreed to do his first interview with the Ottawa media on Friday afternoon, joining Graham Creech and AJ Jakubek on The Drive on TSN 1200. It was a really\u00a0fun and insightful interview<\/a>\u00a0and my favourite part was when Warren said he was\u00a0actually looking\u00a0forward to seeing some snow again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Then after doing a media scrum on Saturday morning in Seattle, Warren was\u00a0the\u00a0post-game guest on Hockey Night in Canada<\/a>\u00a0after our 7-4 win over the Kraken.\u00a0Just before the interview was about to start, he told the host Faizal\u00a0Khamisa\u00a0that he\u00a0was excited that his mom was watching back home in Ontario and would see him wearing the Hockey Night in Canada towel.\u00a0(Warren kept the towel after the game, as those Hockey Night in Canada towels are one of the rare souvenirs NHL players\u00a0actually covet).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday in Vancouver, Warren has agreed to wear a mic\u00a0and earpiece during warmup and be interviewed by the Amazon Prime\u00a0during the pregame skate at Rogers Arena.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He seems\u00a0very\u00a0amenable to doing media stuff, which is always a huge plus on the PR side of things. I suspect\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0be a popular\u00a0interview target with our media group when we return home to Ottawa in a couple of days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As always, if you have any feedback on our handling of the trade deadline\u00a0\u2013\u00a0or other topics\u00a0\u2013\u00a0please\u00a0fire us an email to\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Trivia time:\u00a0Tim\u00a0St\u00fctzle\u00a0scored his 30th\u00a0goal of the 2025-26 season on Saturday night in Seattle.\u00a0In doing so,\u00a0St\u00fctzle\u00a0became the\u00a0eighth player in franchise history to have multiple 30-goal seasons. (St\u00fctzle\u00a0also scored 39 goals in 2022-23).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Can you name\u00a0the only other player\u00a0\u2013 like\u00a0St\u00fctzle\u00a0\u2013 who has exactly two 30-goal seasons for the Senators?\u00a0<\/p>\n Answer at the bottom of this column.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Next Absolute\u00a0Non Sens\u00a0podcast guest: Jordan Spence\u00a0<\/p>\n When we rolled out our podcast back in the fall, Jordan Spence was one of the players I was really excited about bringing into our studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jordan has\u00a0one of the most unique backstories for a player in NHL history. He was born in Australia, grew up in\u00a0Japan\u00a0and finally moved to Prince Edward Island as a teenager so he could pursue his dream of playing hockey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0episode will drop on Wednesday this week and it\u00a0includes some\u00a0really fun\u00a0highlights:\u00a0<\/p>\n Jordan confirms he\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0really speak any English until he was a teenager\u00a0and tells us how he picked up the language when he moved to Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n How has he adjusted to the winter in Ottawa after living the past\u00a0couple of years in Los Angeles?\u00a0<\/p>\n He shares an unbelievable anecdote \u2013 which he labeled \u201ccringe\u201d\u00a0\u2013\u00a0about\u00a0how he named his childhood dog after a future Los Angeles Kings teammate.\u00a0<\/p>\n And he gave us\u00a0perhaps the\u00a0most unique answer of any guest when asked whether he takes Terry Fox or Palladium exit to get to the arena.<\/p>\n Me and Jackson had a lot of fun doing this interview and we suspect you\u2019ll love listening to it. As always, send any podcast feedback over to\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Dylan Cozens has been on an offensive tear to open this road trip, scoring a goal in four straight games.\u00a0NHL.com\u2019s\u00a0Derek\u00a0Van Diest\u00a0had a chance to\u00a0connect with Dylan in Edmonton last week<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0chat about his comfort level in Ottawa \u2013 as he hits the one-year mark with the franchise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The trade deadline has passed, but leading into Friday our Andrew\u00a0Wilimek\u00a0took a fun trip down memory lane by looking at the\u00a0biggest trades in franchise history around the trade deadline<\/a>.\u00a0It was such a big project it\u00a0required\u00a0two instalments and you can\u00a0read Part 2 here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Random thoughts:\u00a0I wanted to share two quick anecdotes from our visit to Calgary last week. First, I had the pleasure \u2013 if\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0the right word \u2013 of taking Stephen Halliday up to the press box at the Scotiabank Saddledome.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0the most precarious,\u00a0awkward\u00a0and\u00a0dangerous walks to a press box in the NHL \u2013 as\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0on a catwalk suspended above the stands. As we started walking on the catwalk, Stephen was freaked out \u2013 just like I am every time\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0taken that walk. It was\u00a0somewhat comforting\u00a0to see an NHL player be as anxious about that walk as the rest of us in the media world.\u00a0<\/p>\n And I\u2019d like to take a moment to shout out the aforementioned Dustin Neilson\u00a0in this space.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0been a terrific voice on TSN\u2019s CFL coverage over the past few years and on Thursday, he lived out his childhood dream of calling an NHL game. If you missed his\u00a0video talking about how special this day was, I highly encourage you to\u00a0watch it here<\/a>. Dustin nailed his first ever NHL broadcast and we received a lot of positive feedback about his work.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0always so cool when you can see broadcasters reach their\u00a0ultimate goal\u00a0of\u00a0calling an NHL game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Trivia answer:\u00a0Shawn McEachern also had two 30-goal seasons with the Senators,\u00a0accomplishing\u00a0the feat in\u00a01998-99 (31 goals) and 2000-01 (32 goals).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Here is the complete list of Sens players with multiple 30-goal seasons: Alexei Yashin (5 times), Dany Heatley (4), Jason Spezza (4), Daniel Alfredsson (4),\u00a0Marian Hossa (4), Brady Tkachuk (3), Tim\u00a0St\u00fctzle\u00a0(2) and Shawn McEachern (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the trade deadline passes, you can\u00a0probably hear\u00a0a collective exhale from 32 PR departments across the NHL.\u00a0 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-525322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}