Once upon a time, there was a player with whom I’d been pretty close (translation: he was a reliable source of information), who previously had been in New Jersey. Then, without so much as a hint, he was traded back to the Devils. Only after the deal was announced did his number pop up on my caller ID. What?
“Sorry,” he said. “But Lou told me that if he read about this in the New York Post before it happened, the trade would be off.”
(Presumably, Lou Lamoriello had received permission from the other general manager to speak with this player, likely to gauge his interest in returning to New Jersey.