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The Trade Deadline Zen of Kris Newbury

When there’s an elephant in the room, do you…

A) Ignore it

B) Confront it

C) Ride it to another city?

When that elephant is the NHL Trade Deadline, Kris Newbury, veteran of 808 AHL and 78 NHL contestsand two deadline swapshas come to a peace. “As far as worrying about it, losing sleep over it, it’s not something I do.

“It’s a business. At the end of the day, every business is trying to get better.”

It is serenity well earned for the only Reign player who has experienced an NHL Deadline move. That happened on March 3rd, 2010, when he was playing for Grand Rapids. “Found out when we were eating lunch,” remembered Newbury. “I believe we were going to Chicago on a road trip.” Instead, he was re-routed to Hartford for Jordan Owens. “It was off to my apartment, pack up, and I was on my way.”

There was no trace of emotion in this recollection. Perhaps because at that point, the then 28-year-old had already been a part of the San Jose, Toronto, Detroit, and now, New York organization. Or perhaps because the plucky pivot had already been dealt before at a trade deadline, a decade earlier, when the Belleville Bulls shipped him to the Sarnia Sting.

If anything, seeing the Deadline circus in Toronto helped Newbury almost enjoy it. “It’s cool, all the [coverage]…I was lucky enough to play in Canada for a bit. They carry it for probably a week before the Deadline.”

Of course, not everybody gets to have fun with it. “I have been around guys…you have kids, and they’re in schools, and your wife’s pregnant.

“You’re adjusting to a new city, new doctors, new schools, new teachers, stuff like that. It can definitely be hard when you have your family with you.”

And Newbury had to admit, “When I was younger, I used to worry a little bit more about it.” So how about 19-year-old Adrian Kempe then, whose name is featured prominently in trade rumors for the first time in his career?

The 34-year-old counseled, “Just take it in stride. If it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen.

“There’s two ways to look at it: You can be disappointed or you can be happy another team wants you.”

This calm in the storm will certainly be a welcome refuge in any locker room. “We [the coaching staff] don’t touch on it at all,” noted Assistant Coach Chris Hajt. “The veterans on the team, for the guys who haven’t been through it before, will help them through it.”

So perhaps in a few seasons, these youngsters will, like Newbury, come to marvel at the thunder and the lightning of the Trade Deadline. But once again, such a steady hand in choppy seas must be earned. For kids like Kempe and Valentin Zykov and others, the ride will probably be a little rockier from now to Monday.

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