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What an interesting read this was. I read the full article, but I thought Waddell was the frankest of them all. Very entertaining stuff:
From:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3946240
The Hossa Trade...Shero makes Waddell sweat bullets.
"At 2 p.m., I've got it narrowed down to three teams," said Waddell. "Pittsburgh was in, but they weren't leading. Detroit was the other team in the group with Montreal. Pittsburgh called me in the morning and asked me where I was, and [Pens GM] Ray [Shero] was pretty sure they weren't going to be in it. The price was going to be too high for him. Ray and I have a good relationship, so it was an open dialogue.
"I didn't hear from Ray for four hours or so. It was probably close to 2 p.m. when I heard from Ray again. At that point, I still didn't feel like he was leading the charge. If I had to make the deal at 2 p.m., it would not have been with Pittsburgh."
It would have been with Montreal, we believe.
"From 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., I touched base with the other two teams. Detroit told us, at this point, that they were done tweaking, this was the best they could do. So I knew where [Wings GM Ken Holland] was at. By 2:30, Ray touched base again. I told him, 'It's getting close to the deadline. If you're in, you better step up quickly.' He asked me exactly what it was going to take. We were at two assets at that point, but Esposito and Armstrong were not in the deal. He called me back around 2:35 p.m. and threw in Esposito's name. I said to him if he threw Armstrong in as well, we had a deal. That was about 2:40. He said, 'I can't do it, I can't do it.' I said, 'Are you telling me you're out?' He said, 'Give me five minutes.'"
Those were the longest five minutes of Waddell's life. By 2:50, Shero still hadn't called back.
"So, I called Ray back," said Waddell. "He said, 'Hang on, I'm on the other line with Mario.' He kept me on hold for five more minutes. Now it's 2:55 and I'm sweating bullets because I don't even know at this point if I have time to make the call to Montreal. I'm on hold, felt like forever, so I picked up a different phone line and got Ray's assistant and I said, 'Tell him to pick up the damn phone or I'm hanging up on him.'"
Shero came on, and was still unsure.
"I said to Ray, 'I know you're giving up good assets, but you're getting a hell of a player and a hell of a guy. He's going to help you get to where you want to get to.' He said, 'Alright, I'll do it.' I'm telling you, it was 2:57 p.m. at that time.
"If that deal falls through, I don't even know if I had time to dial [Habs GM] Bob Gainey and get that deal done. That's how far it went to the wire. I got to tell you, it was very, very nerve-wracking."
The final trade on Feb. 26, 2008: Atlanta traded wingers Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh in exchange for winger Colby Armstrong, center Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and Pittsburgh's first-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft.
From:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3946240
The Hossa Trade...Shero makes Waddell sweat bullets.
"At 2 p.m., I've got it narrowed down to three teams," said Waddell. "Pittsburgh was in, but they weren't leading. Detroit was the other team in the group with Montreal. Pittsburgh called me in the morning and asked me where I was, and [Pens GM] Ray [Shero] was pretty sure they weren't going to be in it. The price was going to be too high for him. Ray and I have a good relationship, so it was an open dialogue.
"I didn't hear from Ray for four hours or so. It was probably close to 2 p.m. when I heard from Ray again. At that point, I still didn't feel like he was leading the charge. If I had to make the deal at 2 p.m., it would not have been with Pittsburgh."
It would have been with Montreal, we believe.
"From 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., I touched base with the other two teams. Detroit told us, at this point, that they were done tweaking, this was the best they could do. So I knew where [Wings GM Ken Holland] was at. By 2:30, Ray touched base again. I told him, 'It's getting close to the deadline. If you're in, you better step up quickly.' He asked me exactly what it was going to take. We were at two assets at that point, but Esposito and Armstrong were not in the deal. He called me back around 2:35 p.m. and threw in Esposito's name. I said to him if he threw Armstrong in as well, we had a deal. That was about 2:40. He said, 'I can't do it, I can't do it.' I said, 'Are you telling me you're out?' He said, 'Give me five minutes.'"
Those were the longest five minutes of Waddell's life. By 2:50, Shero still hadn't called back.
"So, I called Ray back," said Waddell. "He said, 'Hang on, I'm on the other line with Mario.' He kept me on hold for five more minutes. Now it's 2:55 and I'm sweating bullets because I don't even know at this point if I have time to make the call to Montreal. I'm on hold, felt like forever, so I picked up a different phone line and got Ray's assistant and I said, 'Tell him to pick up the damn phone or I'm hanging up on him.'"
Shero came on, and was still unsure.
"I said to Ray, 'I know you're giving up good assets, but you're getting a hell of a player and a hell of a guy. He's going to help you get to where you want to get to.' He said, 'Alright, I'll do it.' I'm telling you, it was 2:57 p.m. at that time.
"If that deal falls through, I don't even know if I had time to dial [Habs GM] Bob Gainey and get that deal done. That's how far it went to the wire. I got to tell you, it was very, very nerve-wracking."
The final trade on Feb. 26, 2008: Atlanta traded wingers Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh in exchange for winger Colby Armstrong, center Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and Pittsburgh's first-round pick in the 2008 NHL draft.
