The NHL Trade Deadline can sometimes feel mechanical and cold. These are names on the transaction wire, additions to rosters. What gets lost is that these are moves that interrupt lives and affect families.

Thanks to Jordyn Leopold, we’ve all been reminded about the human side of the trade deadline.

Jordyn Leopold is the 11-year-old daughter of Jordan Leopold, a defenseman who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season. In January, she wrote a letter to the Minnesota Wild front office asking the team to trade for her father, a University of Minnesota product who was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

"My dad is very lonely without his family," the letter reads. "We are living in Minnesota right now and I am lost without my dad and so is my mom, my 2 sisters and my brother. My dad is on a team with young guys and is very lonely and is not playing because the Jackets got him because they needed a D-man. I has been since November and we can not take it anymore.

“Please, please, please ask the Jackets if you guys can get him.”

On Monday, they did: The Minnesota Wild traded defenseman Justin Falk and a fifth-round pick for Jordyn Leopold’s dad.

Here’s the letter, which KFAN.com acquired:

Wild letter, via KFAN.com More

Sorry. Got a little dusty in here all of a sudden …

Did it have a major impact on the trade? Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said it was a sweet coincidence:

“The deal was done already when we saw it, almost simultaneously I guess, but that’s a touching letter,” Kekalainen said. “He’s a great pro. We wanted to do the right thing with Jordan Leopold. That’s what we had talked about the whole time, we knew that his family was in Minnesota. There is a human side, believe it or not, to our business.“I think that it’s great that he can go home, join his family. I see that letter and it’s really touching.”

Amazing moment for Leopold and his family, and the highlight of the NHL trade deadline. And, perhaps, the start of Jordyn Leopold’s path to becoming an NHL general manager…

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