from Frank Seravalli of TSN,
When the bell tolls three times on Monday afternoon, that’s it.
There is no leniency.
At the NHL’s headquarters in Manhattan, the clock on trade deadline day is monitored using the United States government’s official website. Any deal filed to the league by 2:59:59 p.m. ET is valid. One second later and the player(s) traded aren’t eligible for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s the one assignment NHL general managers can’t turn in late.
Amid the annual flurry of activity that is the final hour of TradeCentre, it’s amazing that no team has ever missed the deadline with a deal – at least not in the two decades that NHL senior counsel Daniel Ages has been on staff.
“We’ll get calls right up to the last second,” Ages said last week. “But not once 3 p.m. has elapsed. I don’t recall that happening before.”
Over those two decades, technology has changed immensely. Trades can officially be filed to the league by phone, e-mail and yes, still via facsimile.
The NHL actually makes sure someone is standing by the fax machine as the deadline nears, just in case a team decides to send in details of a trade under the wire. They aren’t yet set up to accept a trade over text message.
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