This time of year, I have two guilty pleasures. One is looking at the list of NHL scouts at games and trying to guess why they’re in the building. Then imagining super complex trade scenarios that led to them showing up at a Tuesday night game when the answer is probably pretty simple. Like, there was a nearby AHL game the night before and it’s been planned for months.



The second? Coming up with “Who Says No?” trade scenarios. Writers next to me in the press box have to hear the worst ones. A few days ago, I asked one executive, who isn’t yet a GM, whether or not his colleagues do the same thing. He laughed and said, yeah. Sometimes.



“The real question is, ‘Does it go to your GM?’ What ideas actually get taken to your GM?” he said. “You don’t want to look like you’re trying to trade your players all the time.”



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