February started with a work trip to sunny California, although it ended up being almost as cold as it was in Toronto (Toronto had a heat spell with almost double digit positive temperatures). I brought a light down jacket down south with me and it was almost not warm enough. Thankfully there is heating in the hotel – who would have thought it would be that cold? My trip was the week right before Super Bowl 50, which means that 2 out of the last 3 years I visited the Super Bowl host city the week before the game (2014 was in NY).

When I came back from my trip, it was Chinese New Year. We did the usual family meals but there weren’t a lot of other activities for the kids (they had some carnivals at Chinese school too). After the Chinese New Year period ended, we actually made it out to playground (once) because it was decently warm. However, the typical weather was still pretty cold – this winter was really light on snow (only time we had snow around for a couple of days, kids were sick so couldn’t play outside) but the temperature varied wildly. By the end of the month, it looked like the winter was ending, but it actually sounds like it might snow a bit in March.

February was exciting in terms of the hockey season, because it was time for the annual selloff! At the beginning of the season, we signed a lot of expiring (and middling) deals and it was time to reap the benefits. There was one blockbuster (Phaneuf trade) and we accumulated a lot of draft picks over the next few years, so the management team got their job done. Now we’ll have to see what happens in the season because a lot of the regulars are on the IR/LTIR, or traded; and the Marlies are doing so well that you don’t want to disturb a good thing.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: hockey, recap