When the trade deadline passes, you can probably hear a collective exhale from 32 PR departments across the NHL.
The days leading into the trade deadline are some of the most intense, stressful and exhausting ones on the job. Case in point: I had to set an alarm for 5:45 a.m. on Friday morning in Seattle, after getting to my hotel around 12:30 a.m. from Calgary. Being in the Pacific Time Zone for trade deadline is not a lot of fun – especially when it comes off the heels of a game the night before. It makes for a short night and you’re constantly checking your phone, waiting for it to ring or light up with a text message.
It’s really strange when you’re on a road trip and 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 was happening. (Though I wasn’t in the room when Steve Staios pulled off the Fabian Zetterlund trade with about 20 seconds to spare before the 3 p.m. Eastern deadline).
This year, I was really disconnected.
I had to rely on the flow of information through our communications department, with my colleagues Sylvain St. Laurent and Erin Campbell back in Ottawa. When reporters were asking me if I had any sense if we were active – especially as we crept closer to the 3 p.m. Eastern deadline – I truthfully told them I had no idea.
We pulled off our only moves on Thursday afternoon, acquiring Warren Foegele from Los Angeles and sending David Perron to Detroit.
The timing of the Perron deal was interesting because it pushed right up against our 9 p.m. Eastern time game in Calgary. The trade call to finalize the deal was happening in the moments leading up to TSN’s broadcast from the Scotiabank Saddledome . I thought it would be great if we could get the scoop to Claire Hanna right as she was going to air, but I didn’t want to say anything until the trade call was complete. (If there was a snag or an issue, you’d hate for that information to leak out prematurely).
As luck would have it, the call concluded 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.
The graphics team inside the production truck was 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 Dustin Neilson and Jamie McLennan were doing their segment from the broadcast booth.
TSN was able to get that scoop on the air, moments after the trade call was completed – and a minute or so before we posted the trade details online. It’s feels impossible to break a trade on live television these days – getting a scoop ahead of social media – but I’m happy we were able to execute it on Thursday in Calgary with the TSN crew.
It was also great connecting with Warren Foegele last week. Even though his head was spinning from the trade, he was very eager to help us on the media front.
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 fun and insightful interview and my favourite part was when Warren said he was actually looking forward to seeing some snow again.
Then after doing a media scrum on Saturday morning in Seattle, Warren was the post-game guest on Hockey Night in Canada after our 7-4 win over the Kraken. Just before the interview was about to start, he told the host Faizal Khamisa that he was excited that his mom was watching back home in Ontario and would see him wearing the Hockey Night in Canada towel. (Warren kept the towel after the game, as those Hockey Night in Canada towels are one of the rare souvenirs NHL players actually covet).
On Monday in Vancouver, Warren has agreed to wear a mic and earpiece during warmup and be interviewed by the Amazon Prime during the pregame skate at Rogers Arena.
He seems very amenable to doing media stuff, which is always a huge plus on the PR side of things. I suspect he’ll be a popular interview target with our media group when we return home to Ottawa in a couple of days.
As always, if you have any feedback on our handling of the trade deadline – or other topics – please fire us an email to [email protected]
Trivia time: Tim Stützle scored his 30th goal of the 2025-26 season on Saturday night in Seattle. In doing so, Stützle became the eighth player in franchise history to have multiple 30-goal seasons. (Stützle also scored 39 goals in 2022-23).
Can you name the only other player – like Stützle – who has exactly two 30-goal seasons for the Senators?
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Next Absolute Non Sens podcast guest: Jordan Spence
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.
Jordan has one of the most unique backstories for a player in NHL history. He was born in Australia, grew up in Japan and finally moved to Prince Edward Island as a teenager so he could pursue his dream of playing hockey.
The episode will drop on Wednesday this week and it includes some really fun highlights:
- Jordan confirms he didn’t really speak any English until he was a teenager and tells us how he picked up the language when he moved to Canada.
- How has he adjusted to the winter in Ottawa after living the past couple of years in Los Angeles?
- He shares an unbelievable anecdote – which he labeled “cringe” – about how he named his childhood dog after a future Los Angeles Kings teammate.
- And he gave us perhaps the most unique answer of any guest when asked whether he takes Terry Fox or Palladium exit to get to the arena.
Me and Jackson had a lot of fun doing this interview and we suspect you’ll love listening to it. As always, send any podcast feedback over to [email protected].
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
Dylan Cozens has been on an offensive tear to open this road trip, scoring a goal in four straight games. NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest had a chance to connect with Dylan in Edmonton last week to chat about his comfort level in Ottawa – as he hits the one-year mark with the franchise.
The trade deadline has passed, but leading into Friday our Andrew Wilimek took a fun trip down memory lane by looking at the biggest trades in franchise history around the trade deadline. It was such a big project it required two instalments and you can read Part 2 here.
Random thoughts: I wanted to share two quick anecdotes from our visit to Calgary last week. First, I had the pleasure – if that’s the right word – of taking Stephen Halliday up to the press box at the Scotiabank Saddledome. It’s the most precarious, awkward and dangerous walks to a press box in the NHL – as you’re on a catwalk suspended above the stands. As we started walking on the catwalk, Stephen was freaked out – just like I am every time I’ve taken that walk. It was somewhat comforting to see an NHL player be as anxious about that walk as the rest of us in the media world.
And I’d like to take a moment to shout out the aforementioned Dustin Neilson in this space. He’s been a terrific voice on TSN’s 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 video talking about how special this day was, I highly encourage you to watch it here. Dustin nailed his first ever NHL broadcast and we received a lot of positive feedback about his work. It’s always so cool when you can see broadcasters reach their ultimate goal of calling an NHL game.
Trivia answer: Shawn McEachern also had two 30-goal seasons with the Senators, accomplishing the feat in 1998-99 (31 goals) and 2000-01 (32 goals).
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), Marian Hossa (4), Brady Tkachuk (3), Tim Stützle (2) and Shawn McEachern (2).
