in simpler times... photo c/o Sporting News

The past five days have shown signs of life around the NHL, first with the Arizona – Montreal trade, and then with the Barry Trotz contract blunder which leaves him a ‘free agent’ of sorts. A straight trade and a forgetful front office should be enough to keep us busy as fans, but neither of these are as interesting as the trade that occurred yesterday.

If you’ve taken the summer off from hockey (except for your beloved Blue Seat Blogs, of course), you might have missed the trade between the Ottawa Senators and the San Jose Sharks today:

To the average hockey fan, this trade looks awfully one sided in favor of the Sharks (who flipped Mike Hoffman to Florida for trade picks shortly after the acquisition). To the gossip monger, or anyone who follows Canadian media, you know that this trade was a requirement for the sake of the locker room, and that Hoffman had to go. Why? Glad you asked!

Back in March, news broke that Melinda Karlsson, wife of Senators captain Erik, lost their son only one month before he was due to be born. This kind of loss is monumental and overwhelming, and the city of Ottawa rallied around the Karlssons to show them love and support as best as they could. However, there was one person continually trolling Erik and Melinda, making statements that the baby wouldn’t stand a chance with its mother “popping painkillers everyday” and wishing someone would end Karlsson’s career by taking out his legs.

This all came to a head when Melinda Karlsson was granted an order of protection against Hoffman’s fiancée, Monika Caryk, who is allegedly behind these troll moves. An investigation was also launched based on Caryk stalking Karlsson. What seemed like innocent petty drama is certainly not.

In light of some pretty serious accusations, the Senators really had to trade Hoffman; Hoffman vehemently denied these claims, but short of some Gone Girl ish, one doesn’t go to the court in Canada for nothing.

This brings me back, way back to Kris and Anna Benson of MLB and reality television fame. Kris was a highly touted and skilled pitcher whose wife became such a liability that it essentially ended his career. Sure, it’s hilarious that a WAG would threaten to “f-ck all of [Benson’s] teammates” if she found her husband cheating, but it gets less funny when you realize this person was charged with murder, assault, and violated her 15 years probation. Thanks for the knowledge, Wikipedia.

In light of the circumstances, I turn this over to you, reader. Do you find this trade to be justified given the situation, or do you think something else could have been done? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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