Mike McKenna has seen some uncertainty over the last couple of days. Just days ago, he was the backup goaltender for the Ottawa Senators, until the team traded him to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, upon which he was informed that he would be assigned to the AHL’s Utica Comets. The Canucks’ plan, however, was disrupted by the Philadelphia Flyers, who claimed McKenna off waivers — and that appears to be where the dust will settle.
While it may seem ordinary to fans to see a fringe NHLer bounce around from team to team, Rachel McKenna, wife of Mike, took to Twitter with a lengthy thread to offer her perspective, and the perspective of her family, on the trade’s fallout. It’s a thoughtful, and measured, inside look at life around the NHL.
Player movement is a reality in the NHL. On a surface level, we know that it can be hard for families to pack up and to move around constantly, but at the same time, we don’t really know it, not in the specific ways that the McKennas can attest to. While the league will still function the way it functions, perspectives like these aren’t often heard, and in that way they’re pretty valuable.
For the injury-ridden Flyers, McKenna would be their league record-tying seventh goalie to be used this season — and with so much season left to go, they might just shatter that record outright.
Meanwhile, the Canucks will have to find someone else to fill the position in net at the AHL level, but it isn’t going to stop them from calling up a prospect that fans hope to be the goalie of their future: Thatcher Demko.
