Adzija responds to trade like the professional she is

Technically, the Lexie Adzija trade to Boston was the third in PWHL history.

But when history looks back on the inaugural season of the PWHL and all the firsts that occurred, this will be the trade they point to where the business side of sports became real.

It speaks to the 23-year-old St. Thomas, Ont., native's ability to endear herself to a fan base and a willingness of a fan base to fully adopt a player to whom they previously had no allegiance, that Adzija's trade caused such an emotional reaction around the league, particularly in Ottawa.

Adzija came out of the gate strong in Ottawa, scoring early for a team that was having plenty of problems finding the back of the net but also striking a chord with her willingness and openness to connecting with the community.

Adzija, like others around the league (Emma Maltais in Toronto is another perfect example), is one of the league's young players who arrived having already mastered the world of social media.

Adzija was an Instagram personality long before she arrived in Ottawa and once there used her social media platform and skills to fully immerse herself in her new community.

Her popularity spiked — or we at least assume this was the spike based on the reaction it got — when she answered an Ottawa mother's online request to have her daughter's favourite PWHL Ottawa player attend her daughter's birthday party.

That post alone had more than 72,000 views on X.

To say Adzija shocked the family and the partygoers when she showed up at the door complete with autographed hockey stick does not do the scene justice.

A month and a half later, social media again told the story when Adzija was dealt to Boston along with a reserve player for veteran forward Shiann Darkangelo.

The outpouring of grief was like few other partings in professional sports.

Adzija was caught completely off guard, explaining after Wednesday's game with her new team that she didn't learn of the trade until 4:30 p.m. Monday, a full half-hour after the deadline.

It wasn't just the fan base the trade hit hard.

“Very busy, very crazy, a little unexpected,” Adzija said following her debut with her new team in a loss to Toronto at Mattamy Athletic Centre.

“No, no idea,” she said of what was coming. “Complete shock and really not much processing time. I still don't feel like I have processed it yet. It's just kind of go, go, go and just get here and try to do my job on the ice.”

Rather than dwell on the unfairness of it as others in her position might do, Adzija, true to form, has been all action since learning her life as she knew it had been flipped.

The team was in New York when the trade occurred. Adzija's response was to jump on a plane, get back to Ottawa, get her apartment packed up with the assistance of some nearby family members and then jump in her car and drive herself to Toronto to join her new team.

Boston head coach Courtney Kessel was impressed with how quickly Adzija is making the adjustment to her new normal.

“We're excited to have her,” Kessel said. “She brings such great energy and she plays with an edge and I thought she did great (in her Boston debut Wednesday).

Adzija, while admitting getting a full grip on this whole thing may still take some time, is going at it the only way she knows how — at full speed and with tremendous positivity.

“There are certain things you can't control and being traded is one of them,” Adzija said. “... I got traded and you know, I loved Ottawa, but I'm going to do my best to give my 100 per cent to Boston now that I'm here.”