Trade to Kings was tough, coming six days after premature birth of twins

LARRY WIGGE Sporting News

LOS ANGELES – We could wait to see who wins the Stanley Cup to declare which team was the big winner at the NHL's trading deadline. But two little girls named Madison and Alexis Deadmarsh already have helped convince me which team deserves that title.

Regardless of how far they go in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings clearly made the best deal in acquiring rightwinger Adam Deadmarsh and defenceman Aaron Miller from Colorado for all-star defenceman Rob Blake and center Steven Reinprecht.

The Kings already have become kings of the playoff upset. They rallied to beat the Detroit Red Wings in the first round and then stole Game 1 from the Avalanche in Round 2. That explains the decision to eliminate all the other candidates.

Candidates such as the Avalanche and Blake; the Blues and left-winger Keith Tkachuk; the Devils and defenceman Sean O'Donnell; the Maple Leafs and defenceman Aki Berg; the Sabres and forwards Donald Audette and Steve Heinze; the Penguins and goaltender Johan Hedberg; the Stars and defenceman Grant Ledyard. These deals won't compare with the Kings' acquisition no matter how far the other teams go in the playoffs.

Deadmarsh's twin daughters, Madison and Alexis, still don't understand what happened the night of Feb. 21, when the Kings were six points out of a playoff position and looking for excuses because of Blake's impending free agency and imminent trade. Regular feedings and dry diapers are more important to the youngest members of the Deadmarsh clan than power plays and penalty killing right now.

Madison and Alexis were born six weeks prematurely – only six days before the Avalanche traded their father to Los Angeles. The twins had no vote in their future when their dad said a tearful goodbye to his infant daughters in incubators at the intensive-care unit of a Denver hospital. The girls are now 8 pounds each, and they know how special their daddy is to them – and to the Kings.

It's not popular to trade a star like Blake, but in this case the Kings made the right choice because the team was out of the playoffs when the deal was made. Before the deal, the players say, they looked to Blake to get them through every difficult situation. Now that he's gone, the Kings have become self-reliant – and adding Deadmarsh and Miller as leaders has helped show the players they can fend for themselves.

That stick-together attitude, plus reliable goaltending from Felix Potvin, helped the Kings make a great run – a 13-4-5-2 record after the trade – for the seventh seed in the Western Conference – and they have put on a good run so far in the playoffs.

“It's been a hard year. But my prayers have been answered,” Deadmarsh said. “The babies are both healthy. Everything else is trivial.”

Well, almost. Deadmarsh had three goals and two assists in the six games against Detroit, including two game-winning goals. He set up Nelson Emerson to tie Game 1 against the Avalanche at 2-2.

He carries the smiles of his daughters with him in a photograph in which the girls are wearing the Kings' team colors.

“It's tough to take a dad away from his kids any time, never mind under desperate circumstances like this,” Kings coach Andy Murray said. “But he hasn't wavered in his dedication to his new team.

“His attitude for the team has been contagious. It's always that extra effort, that extra battle. And I think everyone has learned it takes that extra effort to win in the playoffs.”

“The guy goes all-out every second he's out there,” left-winger Luc Robitaille said. “He and Miller play hurt, they play hard, they play tough. They come from a team expecting to win it all – and they didn't lose that attitude coming to a team that wasn't even guaranteed a playoff spot.”

Christa Deadmarsh was sitting in a chair at the hospital holding Madison when she got a call from her mother, who had just heard about the trade.

So much for the fun of sports.

Officials of hockey teams like to talk about how their team is a family experiencing highs and lows together -players, wives and kids. But sometimes these families aren't so kind to each other, such as when a guy who has been with the same team for seven years is traded, as Deadmarsh was.
And it's all done in the name of winning a trophy – the Stanley Cup.

“ft seems like a long, long road trip for me,” Deadmarsh said, “but I've got this picture of my wife and daughters smiling as I left them what seems like months ago. I fall back on that snapshot. I feed off of it – every day, every practice, every game.”

Deadmarsh knew he was going to come back to Denver one way or another after the Detroit series – either the season would be over or he would be returning to play, ft turned out to be a business trip, but what a homecoming.

After a split in the series, Deadmarsh headed 1,000 miles away from his loved ones again. But he'll be back tomorrow for another visit with his twins – and another shot at a Stanley Cup.