intermission, after deals were made with team broadcasting partners.ESPN hasn’t aired the NHL since 2004 on any of its channels but will have nine games a week on its ESPN streaming service starting this season. ESPN , which launched in April and just crossed over a million subscribers,

Thomas Vanek remembers waking up in Edmonton Philadelphia Flyers Hats Authentic , Alberta, and turning on the TV in his hotel room to find out where he was heading.It was March 5, 2014, the NHL’s trade deadline day, and Vanek’s bags were packed. He knew he had played his final game a few days earlier for the New York Islanders after rejecting the team’s bid to sign the pending free agent to a contract extension.It wasn’t until the deadline passed when Vanek’s phone started ringing. It wasn’t his agent, the Islanders or some other team’s general manager.“I got a message from a reporter saying, ‘The Montreal media wants to talk to you,” said Vanek, recalling how he found out he’d been traded to the Canadiens. “That was probably the hardest one because it was my first trade deadline deal.”It wouldn’t be his last.The 35-year-old Vanek, now in his second stint with Detroit, has been dealt twice more at the deadline. Red Wings GM Ken Holland informed Vanek he was being traded to Florida on March 1, 2017. And he learned through a friend’s text message that Vancouver had sent him to Columbus last Feb. 26.Though the one-year contract he signed with Detroit last summer includes a no-trade clause, there remains a chance he’ll move once again before this season’s deadline on Monday.“There’s a reason I came back to Detroit because I like it here,” he said. “But at the same time, who knows what’s going to happen? Kenny’s always talking. So if something comes up that makes complete sense, then we’ll take a look at it.”The trading has already begun Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys , with the most notable featuring Toronto’s acquisition of defenseman Jake Muzzin in a deal with Los Angeles on Jan. 28.Otherwise, the trade market remains bottled up with more prospective buyers than sellers. Of the 31 teams, 25 are either in contention or within six points of their conference’s eighth and final playoff spot entering play Wednesday.Among the more notable players considered on the market are forwards Artemi Panarin (Columbus), Derick Brassard (Florida), Gustav Nyquist (Detroit), New York Rangers Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello, and Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. And then there’s the Ottawa Senators, who are attempting to determine the trade status of forwards Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel, all of whom are eligible to become free agents this summer.Last year’s deadline featured 18 trades involving 37 players, including the Sabres dealing Evander Kane to San Jose, St. Louis sending Paul Stastny to Winnipeg and the Rangers moving Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay.Few of the deals made an impact in their team’s’ respective playoff runs. The Lightning reached the Eastern Conference finals, but they were defeated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, whose most notable late-season addition was defenseman Michal Kempny (acquired in a trade with Chicago a week before the deadline).The expansion Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final despite getting limited production from trade-deadline addition Tomas Tatar. San Jose made it to the second round before being eliminated, butre-signed Kane.None of the deals came close to matching what’s considered the NHL’s gold standard on March 10, 1980. That’s when the Islanders acquired Butch Goring from Los Angeles to spark what became New York’s run of winning four consecutive championships. Goring wasn’t happy about the deal that also sent forward Billy Harris and defenseman Dave Lewis to the Kings.“It was very upsetting because I was on the second year of a six-year contract and had made a commitment to basically spend my entire career in L.A. www.officialpenguinsproshop.com ,” Goring recalled.It didn’t take long to get over the shock for the then-30-year-old, who had scored 20 or more goals nine times during his 10-plus seasons with the Kings.With Goring, the Islanders closed the season 8-0-4 and lost just six times in the playoffs in winning the Final in six games over Philadelphia. The following year, Goring was named the playoff MVP.He called the adjustment joining a star-packed Islanders team as less intimidating than it might have been as a younger player.“I came into that dressing room and I didn’t have anything to prove. I had a pretty strong reputation about who I was and what I couldn’t do,” Goring said. “I wasn’t taking Bryan Trottier’s job. I was there to be who I was.”Now an Islanders broadcaster, Goring refers to the trade as the “icing on the cake” of his career.“Nobody knew much about Butch Goring, as I played all those years in L.A. There was no exposure,” he said. “And now everyone remembers who you are. The great thing about the trade deadline is everybody talks about Butch Goring.”DEADLINE DAYVanek wondered if the deadline falls too late in the season for players to become comfortable with their new surroundings.“The only thing you can control is being a good person, being a good teammate,” he said. “But at the same time, the team that gets you, they want you to be productive. And that’s the hard part.”Goring doesn’t think so, noting the trade deadline used to be 26 days before the end of the season and now is 40.“If you’re going to acquire a player that’s going to be a difference maker, he’s going to adapt in a hurry,” Goring said.Red Wings GM Holland backs the current deadline.“For those teams that are buyers, you still have 20 games to get that player acclimated to your system. For the teams that aren’t sure if they’re buyers or sellers Pittsburgh Penguins T-Shirts Authentic , it gives them more time,” Holland said.PLANES, UBERS AND FLAT TIRESRyan Hartman won’t soon forget what happened when traded by Chicago to Nashville at last year’s deadline.With a stop-over in Toronto, it took him 8 hours to fly from Chicago to Winnipeg, where he would join the Predators. And that was after beginning the day contending with a flat tire.He used Uber to get to the Blackhawks practice and then had to use it again — this time with all his equipment — to return home and pack before heading to the airport.“I had an issue with it all year and someone told me at the beginning of the year, ‘You’re going to end up getting a flat tire at the worst time possible,'” Hartman said. “Sure enough.”LEADERS (through Tuesday)Points: Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), 99; Goals: Alexander Ovechkin (Washington), 42; Longest point streak: Patrick Kane (Chicago) 18 games (Jan. 3 to present); Rookie points: Elias Petterson (Vancouver), 54; Wins: Marc-Andre Fleury (Vegas) 29.GAME OF THE WEEKThe Colorado Avalanche visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday in a game between two Western Conference wild-card contenders. Hockey fans have often criticized NBC’s coverage for not showing more of the NHL’s young stars and the up-and-coming teams.That changes when the season opens Wednesday as the network goes with a new approach.NBCSN’s “Wednesday Night Rivalries” has been replaced by “Wednesday Night Hockey.” As part of the repackaging, the network’s studio crew will occasionally report on site, starting on Wednesday from Washington when the Capitals begin defense of their title against Boston.“We’re now showcasing the brightest team and stars. We think it’s a great way to add new teams and stars to a big night,” NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood said. “The intent on Wednesday nights has always been to make it the destination night for hockey. Now we can really take advantage of that.”Much like the NBA does on Thursdays, the NHL has tried to make Wednesday its night for must-see TV.Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer, said “Wednesday Night Rivalries” proved how special that night can be for the league.“We’re going to make Wednesday night feel special and we want our players to once we get into this to say Pittsburgh Penguins Hoodies Authentic , ‘Wow, we’re playing on Wednesday night.’ We know that in football, for example, playing on ‘Monday Night Football’ is a big deal,” Mayer said. “Well, why can’t playing on Wednesday night hockey be a big deal? And that’s what we’re striving for.”The biggest beneficiaries of the change are the Western Conference teams. NBCSN will air 18 doubleheaders on Wednesday nights — up from five last season — and 67 of the scheduled 110 games on NBC and NBCSN will have a team from the conference.Winnipeg, which has not made a regular-season national appearance since 2014, will make five this season, including an Oct. 24 game against Toronto that will see NBCSN’s studio show going on the road.NBC’s Mike Emrick said the Jets are one of many teams that deserve the increased exposure.“That matchup could be a Stanley Cup final. There is going to be plenty of excitement with that game early in the season,” he said.Other teams receiving increased exposure are Tampa Bay and Nashville. Both teams will make 12 appearances, which is almost double what they had last season. Defending Western Conference champion Vegas (9), Anaheim (8) and Edmonton (7) also have nearly twice as many appearances as last season.Colorado, which was on only once last year, will be on six times.“We feel it’s time and vital that, given the parity of the league throughout, that we start to develop other teams Pittsburgh Penguins Hats Authentic ,” Mayer said. “If suddenly the Nashvilles and the Tampas and some teams that haven’t had the grand exposure get exposure, what’s to say that they’re not going to be the higher-rated teams? … We really believe that our audience is into great hockey played by the best teams and the way we present the games and the stars will lead to great ratings.”The traditional teams will still get plenty of exposure. Chicago will have the most appearances with 19 despite not making the playoffs last season. One of those games will be the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 1 against Boston. Washington will make the first of its 18 appearances followed by Philadelphia (17) and Pittsburgh (15).The only teams not scheduled to appear on NBCSN are Ottawa and Vancouver.“Certainly from a kind of talent standpoint, a competitive standpoint, showing more clubs is better,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “The fact that NBC is prepared to engage on that basis where we don’t necessarily have to have major U.S. markets for their national games says a lot about how far we’ve come as a sport.”The All-Star Game, which will be held in San Jose on Jan. 26, will be broadcast in prime time on NBC, which is the first time that has happened on a major broadcast network since 1997.Flood thinks the three-on-three format could draw even more fans. It also will be the week before the Super Bowl, which should allow the league to reap increased exposure.The league is also focusing on improving its digital offerings through its deal with BAMTech, which began as a spinoff of Major League Baseball Advanced Media before becoming its own entity. The Walt Disney Co. took a controlling stake in BAMTech in 2017.The NHL.TV offering will include more pregame and postgame coverage, as well as being able to view programming during intermission, after deals were made with team broadcasting partners.ESPN hasn’t aired the NHL since 2004 on any of its channels but will have nine games a week on its ESPN streaming service starting this season. ESPN , which launched in April and just crossed over a million subscribers, had at least one baseball game a day. ESPN will also air a nightly hockey show.“We know there is a big opportunity to grow the subscriber base with both products,” said Disney Streaming President Michael Paull. “One thing we learned is that fans want more video. They want more coverage before and after the games.”