Deadline day can be an unforgettable experience

Goalie Mike Smith was pulled aside as he was about to walk into the dressing room.

Winger Jamie McGinn was on an airplane the first time and then at home when it happened again. Same with winger Radim Vrbata.

As for defenseman Kevin Connauton, he was circling the ice with his teammates.

Although where they received the news varied, the message and the timing of it was the same.

These four Coyotes had been moved on the NHL’s trade deadline day, an experience that could happen to more players Wednesday before the trade window closes at 1 p.m. Arizona time.

“It was definitely a day I’ll never forget,” Smith said.

Getting traded can be one of the most significant mileposts in a player’s career, and yet it’s a decision many have no control over. But the initial reaction isn’t always surprise.

Vrbata expected the move in 2003 when he was with the Avalanche. The team was coming off a run to the conference final and with the likes of Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg still in the mix, Vrbata sensed the organization wanted to take another crack at the Stanley Cup and a veteran presence (winger Bates Battaglia) could help.

“I knew exactly what it was,” he said when he received a call that morning from Avalanche brass telling him to come to the rink. “It was just a matter of where am I going. Once I got there, they told me that they made the trade with Carolina and that was that.”

McGinn also anticipated being moved last season by the Sabres as he was on an expiring contract and was set to become an unrestricted free agent, setting up a crosscountry move to the Ducks. But he was caught off-guard in 2012 – getting word he’d been flipped from the Sharks to the Avalanche while flying back to San Jose from Minnesota at the conclusion of a nine-game road trip.

“That’s when Internet was starting to come out on the plane, and there was a trade announced,” he said. “You knew who was going to San Jose, but we didn’t know who was leaving. I got a tap on the shoulder (from the) PR guy saying, ‘Coach wants to talk to you.’ GM wasn’t on the trip. He was on the phones. It was kind of just a weird experience to go through (with) three hours left on the flight with my ex-teammates.”

Connauton had no idea a trade to the Stars involving him was in the works in 2013 when he was with the Canucks’ minorleague club, getting informed on the ice during a pregame skate after his coach was doing laps while on his cellphone. And Smith was “shocked” when then-Stars coach Dave Tippett told Smith he’d been traded to the Lightning by Dallas in 2008.

“I didn’t expect it, and I think when you’re that age (25) I’d played in the minors for a bunch of years and I felt like I was starting to get established and when you’re drafted by a team, you feel like you’re going to play for that team forever,” Smith said. “That’s not the case in many instances but I think at that point in my career, I didn’t feel like I was going to be traded.”

The transition to a new team begins almost immediately.

Vrbata played the next day for the Hurricanes, meeting up with the team in Buffalo. With Connauton in San Antonio for a road game, a member of the Stars' minor-league team drove to pick him up.

“I jumped in his truck, and him and I rode back to the hotel in Austin,” Connauton said. “I was on the ice for practice with them the next morning.”

Smith was in St. Louis with the Stars when his trade went down. He flew back to Dallas, had a friend pick him up at the airport and packed up before catching a flight the next day. The Ducks wanted McGinn to fly out the same day they acquired him last year, but he left the next day. He also was given a day to gather his belongings in his first goaround.

“You leave your car,” he said. “You leave everything. You kind of hope all the bills are paid. … You’re packing three suits, a few shirts, because you don’t want to over-pack. But you need the essentials, for sure.”

Staying at a hotel for the rest of the season is typical, although McGinn eventually found a house last season in Anaheim and Smith bunked at a friend’s apartment in Tampa.

Players accept the change as a normal aspect of the business side of the game, but it’s the emotion that comes with leaving a group of friends that still makes the move challenging.

“The hardest part is just the reality of these aren’t your teammates anymore,” McGinn said. “It’s kind of a shock. It happens so quickly.”

What seems to help, though, is the belief that this fresh start could lead to better fortune.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Smith said. “There’s opportunity there. Obviously, we’re not in a playoff position. People that potentially could get traded on this team will be going to a team that is in a playoff position. So I think you have a chance to win. I think any player that plays in this league, that’s all they want. They want to get a chance to compete in the playoffs, and I think it’s no different for anyone that’s going to be potentially moved here. There’s opportunity there for you to go win.”

Roster move

The Coyotes assigned goalie Adin Hill to the American Hockey League Saturday after recalling him Friday on an emergency basis to back up Louis Domingue with No. 1 Mike Smith unable to dress due to illness.

Minor-league trade

The Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona's AHL affiliate, acquired forward Jeremy Morin from the Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay's affiliate) in exchange for forward Stefan Fournier.

Something General Manager Ryan McDonough has noticed: Losing bothers the Suns. To him, this says something about their competitive fire, an essential ingredient to winning.

“I’ve been around teams or seen teams that it seemed to not really bother them that much or affect them,” McDonough said in a recent interview. “Our group, they’re competitive. And they take it hard.”

Guard Devin Booker mirrors this. After Friday’s loss, Booker – who hit two free throws to send the game into overtime but missed a third that might have won it – sat at his locker and spoke honestly.

“Just being inexperienced,’’ he said about how the contest got away. “Not getting stops down the stretch, dumb turnovers down the stretch. A lot of stuff we have to work on.”