From ESPN's Joe McDonald:

Drew Stafford hadn't seen his wife, Hali, who is pregnant with twins, or his 2-year-old son, Mason, for more than a month when he was traded from the Winnipeg Jets to the Boston Bruins on March 1.

Less than 24 hours after the trade, he left Winnipeg and had a brief layover at the Minnesota airport, where he was able to see his wife at the gate for 20 minutes before Stafford, 31, continued his journey to Boston to play for his third NHL team.

"She's about 33 weeks now, so she's coming down to the wire," Stafford said after he arrived in Boston. "She can't travel, so she's back home in Minnesota. She met me at the airport to say 'hi' quickly because I haven't seen her in a while. It was nice to catch up. She's doing good, and I'm obviously monitoring that. The family stuff is extremely important to me."

The NHL trade deadline is an stressful time for players, but the personal pressure and anxiety they deal with often goes unnoticed because their teams are busy fighting for a postseason berth.

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