Trade spectre looms

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This article was published 25/02/2012 (4971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is the elephant in the dressing room everyone is talking about — Monday’s NHL trade deadline.

And so rather than shrink from it, Tanner Glass — a man who understands the business side of the NHL — will choose instead to embrace all the hoopla that has turned the deadline into a media event bordering on a national holiday.

“I kinda watch it as a fan,” said Glass, an unrestricted free agent who has had his name tossed out as possible trade bait. “I tune into the sports networks to see who’s been traded. I don’t really expect to see myself up there or my teammates — obviously it’s a possibility — but I watch it more for curiosity sake, for the kid in me. It’s always fun. It’s a fun part of the league.”

One man’s “fun,” however, can be another’s torture. And Glass, like most of his teammates, will tell you the Jets have a good thing going in their locker-room. But while chemistry and a good run of late may be factors, Jets management has made no secret of its desire to sniff around the market looking for help — both for the short and long term.

And that likely makes at least half the locker-room vulnerable to change.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it,” said Chris Thorburn. “But it’s really nothing we can control as players. Our main job is to play hockey and to try and stay in the lineup and try to stay here. There’s something special going on here in Winnipeg and it’s an awesome organization to be a part of. Whatever happens Monday or before Monday, that’s up to management.

“It’s a tight-knit group and very rarely do you get that. Everyone gets along. It’s just a fun, fun dressing room to be around. And so if it was up to me, I would never want to see one of these guys leave and I would never want to leave. We started training camp here and we want to see where we can take this. Hopefully, that’s the playoffs.”

That’s a development that may come into play over the weekend as GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who is always preaching a long-term vision, may also contemplate augmenting a roster that has gone 6-3-1 in its last 10 games and is dominant at home. Those are two trends that every team would hope to carry into April.

“Our play speaks for itself,” said Blake Wheeler. “We put management in a tough spot kinda dancing around the (playoff) line — obviously that doesn’t make their job any easier, whether we’re ‘buyers’ or ‘sellers.’ But we’ve put ourselves in a position where we’re competing for a spot and that’s their decision to make. They’ve made the right calls this year and so whatever they do down the stretch is going to be in the best interest for the team.”

The recent turnaround, not-so coincidentally, was sparked around the same time Andrew Ladd made his ‘best players have to be our best players’ speech. And all of this — his message, the desire of so many who want to stay here and the good feel in the room — have been factors in the recent run. And so what does the inspired play of late say to management, Ladd was asked?

“It probably sends a message that we want to win this year,” he said. “Definitely we as a group are confident in what we can do and we think we can be a playoff team and make a run.

“We know (the deadline) is around the corner and talked about every day. But as a player we know it’s out of our control and at the end of the day you really can’t waste time worrying about it.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait