Players Are Humans Too

Lost in all the euphoria of NHL trading deadline day is the fact that these hockey players are human beings.

Can you imagine being told to be on a plane, forced to relocate to another city in a matter of hours, leave the family or pack them all up too and of course change the fortunes of an entirely new franchise and teammates, all with national and international media dissecting every angle, many of which don't even really exist?

I know if my boss came to me, told me I was traded for Jim in accounts receivable and a draft pick, and that I had to relocate without my family to Philadelphia or St. Louis or Miami and turn around the whole department in a matter of weeks all in front of cameras and live audiences, well that would be pretty damn overwhelming. I couldn't imagine being put in such a situation.

It's pretty easy to see how emotional such upheaval can be. And it's even harder on the player's family. No wonder why this aspect of the business leaves many players feeling disgruntled and down right bitter about the business.

But as a hockey fan we are all too eager to put anyone and everyone through that situation. Sports is a funny world sometimes.

Hockey players deserve my full applause for how they deal with all these pressures so professionally. They almost always say the right things publicly, which given the circumstances is nothing short of amazing.

Well, they almost always say the right thing.

When the Montreal Canadiens traded Jacques Plante, a bitter and resentful Plante sounded off to whoever was listening. One comment about former teammate Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion made its way back to Montreal, unfortunately for "Jake the Snake." Plante suggested the Boomer was over the hill, that his slapshot was no longer effective, and that "he lost it."

Needless to say, that didn't sit too well with Boomer. The first time he faced his former pal he was salivating at the chance to unleash a devastating howitzer on net. Let's remember in those days nothing was scarier than a Geoffrion slapper.

Geoffrion got his chance, and fired the puck right through Plante and into the back of the net. He then skated by the fallen netminder and yelled "Hey Jacques, if my shot is so weak how come you can't see it anymore?"

The moral of the story: Don't burn bridges. Or at the very least the moral is don't piss off Boom Boom Geoffrion.