"I'm sure that's why I'm an organized person," she says. "I'm the type of person who gets things done."

"But we've lived in some great places," adds Susan. "Quebec was great. Boston was great. I got to meet a lot of great people. You have to look at the upsides."

Much has changed since Brent Ashton kept a packed suitcase close to the door, and NHL teams are more on the ball when it comes to helping a players' significant other deal with the stresses of being traded during the season.

The wives are not abandoned for a minute.

"We're there for them," says Toronto Maple Leaf executive Bill Watters. "We help them in any way we can and then some more."

Leafs forward Tom Fitzgerald had just purchased a house in 1993 figuring he was going to be with the New York Islanders for a few years. But he was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was selected by the Florida Panthers. The Massachusetts native has also been traded twice in his career. He was dealt to Colorado from the Florida Panthers in March 1998, and then Nashville sent him to Chicago a year ago at the trade deadline. He signed with the Maple Leafs as a free agent last summer.

Fitzgerald says in both cases the Avalanche and Blackhawks were very accommodating with his wife.

"Anything we needed was there," he says. "Teams now are more accommodating."

"But I don't know if people realize how stressful being traded can be. When you're traded, sometimes you are leaving your wife behind and your kids behind because you don't want to pull them out of school. You're leaving friends and things that you've established. You head out and your wife has to carry on."

With the March 11 trade deadline looming on the horizon, Brent Ashton thinks about what players are going through as they filter through the rumors. And he's thankful that clubs learned from their mistakes of yesteryear and they now go the extra mile to make moves as seamless as possible for families.

"I can't imagine what my wife went through at times," says Brent, who had seven 20-goal seasons, but missed the hallowed 1,000-game mark by exactly two games.

"That's the one thing I regret, not hitting 1,000 games," he continues.

Maybe Brent Ashton would have achieved that milestone had he been traded a 10th time. A knee injury suffered in the minor leagues ended his career in 1993.

"You know, it's not so bad," he says about being dealt time and time again. "At least you're going to a team that thinks you can help them. Somebody wants you."