Whitney's trade tales evoke stories of mom's hospital room, personal toll

Ryan Whitney got the call twice in just over a year that he'd been traded, but there was a lot more to it than flying to a new rink and putting on a new uniform. The trades marked an upending of every element of his daily routine and the relationships he'd built.
"I just wasn't prepared for getting the news that I was traded and you're gone," said Whitney, an NHL Network analyst. "Like everything that you've known, it sounds so stupid, but it's all over."

Whitney, a defenseman who spent nine seasons in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, remembers his trades as complicated and life-altering, and even more so because they came so close together.
Whitney was traded by the Penguins to the Ducks for forwards Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi on Feb. 26, 2009. With defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski emerging at the time, Whitney had heard the rumors. He was also in his mother's hospital room when former Penguins general manager Ray Shero called to tell him the news.
Sue had surgery for a brain tumor a few days earlier and was in recovery when Whitney learned he was going to the Ducks.
"She's really good now, but it was really tough for her," he said. "She's thinking about me and how I'm doing."
Whitney didn't realize how much his life was about to change until he was trying to make new friends among teammates and recreate his routine with different support staff.

"You have all your little things to do with trainers and the equipment staff, and they know how you like your skates and the trainer knows that maybe you get a massage after games or something," Whitney said. "So you have to create this entire new, not just game day routine, but rink routine where you're around guys and they know your personality, and they know you'll joke around about one thing and you're kidding but new people maybe don't, so you can't be yourself right away."
Less than a year later, Whitney started to hear his name come up in rumors again, but he shook it off because he didn't think he'd be traded again so soon.
When the 2010 NHL Trade Deadline was minutes away, a prominent hockey journalist tweeted the Ducks weren't going to trade Whitney, and he went about his day. He checked into the hotel the players used to avoid traffic for home games.
"(Ducks general manager) Bob Murray called me and was like, 'I just traded you,'" Whitney said. "And I'm like 'What? The deadline was 30 minutes ago.'"
Turns out in hockey, it's not only goals that can sneak in before the buzzer. Whitney was traded with a sixth-round pick to the Oilers for defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky on March 3, 2010.
"I feel like a GM says, 'I'm not trading this guy,' and then three minutes later he gets an offer and he's like, alright I'm trading him," Whitney said.
After Whitney was traded the second time, he started to doubt his abilities but tried to stay positive and be a leader on a young team that needed direction.
"You have to remind yourself that when you get traded it's kind of a bad thing, but there is another team that does want you and does believe that you can maybe become that player that you were," he said. "You're traded twice in one year, you're highly paid and you're a good puck moving defenseman, and then all of a sudden you're questioning yourself and your game."
The circumstances with every trade are so different, Whitney said he couldn't lend any specific advice to other players who are dealt or are rumored to be on the move, except to get ready for lots of change if the general manager calls.
"It's a part of the business people love, talking about rumors, but people don't know how it can affect someone personally, not just hockey wise," Whitney said. "It's a fun day for fans, but it's a stressful day for players."