“They’re happy with the situation in net.When it comes to defense, they’ll probably bring up a couple of guys from the Inferno and let the free agents go.”
That would mean keeping me and Coop and Crash.If we kept the top guys on D, I didn’t have to worry about a trade.“So they plan to make moves with the forwards other than Ducky?”
“They’re looking for scoring.They can’t rely only on your first line to get the puck in the net.I haven’t heard about anything too major.”
“Shut down line staying?”
He nodded.“They get the job done, and none of them are big-ticket contracts.”
That eased some of my tension.Coop would be happy, and it should make for a good season.I picked up a fry, thinking I might be able to enjoy this lunch after all.
“But…”
I looked up, fry forgotten.His voice told me this was the main purpose of stopping by.“What?”
“They need to know they can count on you.”
Suddenly my appetite disappeared.“What do they want?”
“First, that your hand will be okay and you can still play.They’re setting up more workouts to assess you, see how you’re doing before the trade deadline.”
Fuck.“As soon as this cast is off, I’m training hard.”I should go back to Toronto then, so management could see I was serious.“Is that something to worry about?”
He shrugged.“I expected that.And if your recovery trajectory is going well, that will ease minds.”
“Okay.”If something wasn’t healing well with my hand, there were no indications, and nothing I could do.So the other thing they’d worry about… “The second thing is the mental side.”
“Yep.If you went off on Denny because of your sister and the money history, then it’s a one-off and everything is good.It spices up your image a bit.”
“What the hell?”What was wrong with my normal image?I was a damned good defenseman, and last time I’d been near the end of my contract, Joel had several teams making inquiries.
He held up a hand.“You’re a boring guy, JJ.Which I’m happy about.But if the team is going to sell Cooper’s idea of keeping the band together, they want something for the fans to talk about.This incident provided that, as long as you aren’t going to get aggressive on other players.”
I couldn’t even be aggressive with Alek, not without pissing off my sister.“How do I convince them I’m okay?”
“Get into condition.Live, breathe and talk hockey and nothing else.Show up in July for Cooper’s camp-slash-retreat-slash-winner’s circle or whatever the hell it is.”
I could promise that, no problem.
“And don’t punch anyone in the meantime.”
Mia
“Who is that?”Tonya hissed at me as she helped me arrange the snacks I was responsible for at today’s tournament.
I looked to where Erik was talking with Arne, who was hopping from one foot to the other.“That’s my ex.”
Tonya cocked her head as she checked him out.“Not the hockey player.”
I huffed a laugh.“No, the ex-husband.”
Tonya watched him for a moment.“He’s better looking than your hockey player.”
“He’s not mine, and how do you know?”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Right.I forget how hockey-crazy people are around here.Erik is an actor.”I held back thewannabethat wanted to come out.He had credits, maybe not a lot, and he was here for a series that seemed a level above his usual stuff, so I could rein in my skepticism.