“Vegas, you were there from the beginning. We went through an outrageous tragedy. It was really just about being part of the community. We cancelled practice (after the shooting) and were like, we’ve got to get out there and do what we can, go to the blood drive. There were things like that. You’re going to miss that.

“The trade was really tough. It’s very emotional when it happens. It’s hard sometimes to see the bigger picture and the opportunity presenting itself in the (first few) hours after that. It was difficult. For me, I found out when it happened, and that was it. That’s the hardest thing to come to terms with. It takes time for that initial shock to wear off to (say), ‘Hey, this is where we’re going. This is what’s happening.’ That’s when you can start building that excitement, you can start thinking about what the next step is.”

-Nate Schmidt of the Vancouver Canucks. Iain MacIntyre of Sportsent has much more.