from Dave Stubbs of NHL.com,
The 44th player who changes NHL jerseys Monday -- should that many be traded -- will become a footnote in history, the 1,000th to relocate when push came to deadline shove.
A whopping 956 players have changed teams on NHL Trade Deadline day since the League began charting these transactions in 1980. A total of 520 trades have been made, with 330 draft picks among the bodies shuffled between teams.
Of course, this doesn't include the flurry of trades made in the days and weeks leading up to the final day, which in itself has become a multimedia feeding frenzy as clubs buy to bolster their playoff chances or, if they're headed to an early offseason, sell in a bid to improve their future and shave a few dollars from the salary cap bottom line.
Forty-four players changing teams on Monday before the 3 p.m. ET deadline would make this the busiest deadline since 55 were traded on March 3, 2010, the most hectic day ever. It would be one more player than last season and the fourth busiest ever.
The quietest day -- thankfully, sports television wasn't covering it around the clock -- was in 1983, the only trade sending Ken Solheim from the Minnesota North Stars to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations.
There have been players who, through experience, were wise enough to keep their suitcases packed with the deadline at hand:
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