“All right. But that’s a trade pool of three teams. Look, I’m going to be straight with you. If you want to push for a trade based on personal conflicts with the coach, we can do that. But it’s going to be messy. Teams will ask questions. They’ll want to know if you’re a locker room problem, if you can’t handle coaching, if you’re going to be difficult to manage.”
“I’m not difficult.”
“I know that. But optics matter. And ‘star player demands trade because he doesn’t like the coach’ doesn’t play well, especially when the coach is a respected veteran who just took a struggling franchise and...” He pauses. “Okay, he’s not exactly turning things around. But he’s not making them worse either.”
He’s right again. I hate that he’s right. “So my options are to suck it up and hope we collapse so badly they move me at the deadline, or...” I trail off.
“Or you find a way to make it work until the summer,” Tom finishes. “Which might actually be more appealing than you think.”
I sink back onto the bed. “How do you figure?”
“Because if Buffalo doesn’t make the playoffs—which, let’s be honest, is the most likely scenario—you’ll be done by mid-April. That’s three and a half months from now. Then you’ll have the entire off-season to make a good impression. What do you think about spending the summer on the west coast and being visible there with your training?”
I grin. Tom couldn’t have teed me up better if I asked him. “Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan.”
“And in the meantime, play your ass off tonight and tomorrow—put on a show for LA and Anaheim. Make them want you. Keep your head down with Wilson unless he crosses a line. And trust that this situation will work itself out one way or another.”
I think about Frankie coming to the game tonight and my chest literally puffs out. I can put on a show, all right.
“You’re right,” I admit.
“I’m always right. Is there anything else I should know? Any other bombshells you want to drop?”
I got married in Vegas.
And I’m planning to move to LA this summer regardless of where I get traded because I’m not living apart from my wife.
“Nothing urgent,” I say.
And that’s true…for now.
MEN’S HOCKEY NEWS: THE SCOREBOARD RECAP
Logan Granger: the hardest working forward in the league?
January 5— The Granger family is an interesting and unique data set across the NHL. Four brothers, all power forwards (seriously, Dad, you didn’t want any D-men on your own squad?). But one statistic that jumps out when you compare them side by side is the fact that Logan Granger has twenty percent fewer O-zone starts compared to his brothers.
And he’s still on track for forty goals this season.
The 30-year-old has been a bright spot on a struggling Buffalo roster. His two-assist performance in Buffalo’s New Year’s Day victory over Vegas demonstrated the offensive creativity that made him a first-round draft pick over a decade ago, creativity that could make the difference for teams in the hunt at playoffs, if Buffalo doesn’t go on a heater between now and the trade deadline.
But there’s a big question mark on thatcould, as Granger’s entire career so far has been with Buffalo, which hasn’t made the playoffs since he was drafted.
“When you have a player with that kind of offensive talent struggling to fit into your system, you have to ask whose responsibility it is to find a solution,” one scout said on condition of anonymity. “Sometimes a change of scenery can benefit everyone involved.”
While no formal trade discussions are believed to be underway—Buffalo remains technically within striking distance of a wildcard spot—the optics of a frustrated star player on an underperforming team rarely improve as the season progresses.
Especially when people start talking about the fact thatif given more O-zone starts, his point production might be even higher.
Granger’s contract runs through next season with a $6.5 million cap hit, making him an expensive but potentially valuable acquisition for a contending team looking to add offensive firepower.
He’s playing tonight in Los Angeles, and tomorrow in Anaheim, before returning to Buffalo for a home stand where he’ll go toe-to-toe with St. Louis, and then two teams that he has close ties to: Hamilton and Minnesota. If those two teams are buyers at the deadline, expect them to be very interested in Granger as the missing piece for a playoff push.
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