from Scott Stinson of the National Post,

James Duthie remembers the point at which NHL trade deadline day officially became something of a farce.

It was three years ago, and Duthie was into his fifth hour of hosting TradeCentre on TSN when the first deal was finally consummated: Rob Flick for Maxime Sauvé. Two minor leaguers.

“I got one of them on the phone,” Duthie says, “and my first question was, ‘Who are you?’”

That year, 2013, there were 16 trades on deadline day, the most significant of which involved Ottawa dealing its backup goaltender to Tampa Bay. There had been just 12 trades a year earlier, as NHL general managers collectively realized that deadline day was not a great time to reshape a team. And yet here were the country’s two sports networks covering the event as though it was the Allies landing at Normandy.

They still are. On Monday TSN will have 10 hours of TradeCentre while Sportsnet will do the same with Trade Central. Wall-to-wall coverage of what is likely to be a lot of dead air and a bunch of middling trades.

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