By Chris McKeage, Assistant Equipment Manager, Toronto Maple Leafs

Another NHL trade deadline has come and gone. This year, our schedule had us (the Toronto Maple Leafs) on a three-game trip to Las Vegas, Denver, and Utah.

In preparation for the deadline on the road, we typically pack hockey bags with extra stock gear from all our suppliers, hoping it will cover us until we return home. With this year’s deadline falling on a Friday, we didn’t have the luxury of shipping in extra gear from Toronto, so as a staff, we made sure to cover all our bases while packing. It was important to have a variety of models and sizes from all vendors.

Our team made three moves at the deadline – sending two players out and adding two to our group. After packing up the gear, steel, laundry, shoes/sandals, and other personal items for the players heading to Pittsburgh, we shifted our focus to the two new additions. One player from Philadelphia and another from Boston. We worked with the other team’s staff to gather equipment and sizing information, getting a jump on their arrival in Denver later that night.

Once jersey numbers are assigned, it’s my job to crest the sweaters. We have the option to do this in-house, or, if time allows, we’ll sometimes use a local vendor. In this case, we were fortunate that only minor modifications were needed to get our new players ready for the game against the Avs. Both players will use stock gear until their custom equipment arrives.

Being one of the teams that uses the Elite Sharpening System, we’ll profile and sharpen each player’s new steel to their liking once we return home. Luckily, Colorado also uses the Elite machine, so we were able to sharpen each player’s existing set of blades from their respective teams, setting us up for the final game of the trip in Utah. In a pinch we could also use our Elite portable and sharpen the blades by hand if needed.

Ultimately, our goal is to provide the best possible service and a seamless transition for both the players leaving our group and our new additions. Another deadline in the books.