Went into the office, so I had to do my old routine of avoiding spoilers since I'd be getting home when the game would be wrapping up in real time. Naturally I forgot my TV had last been on ESPN and what happens to the score on display when I turned it on.....I suppose I only saw "Devils 6" but felt pretty confident that would be enough.
Tonight's trivia question made me laugh since it sorta involved Trevor Kidd's unfortunate injury.
Rewind to the start of the 1999-00 season and Florida had incumbent starter Sean Burke plus new acquisition Trevor Kidd. Kidd starts the season on fire and they decide they can cut some budget by trading Burke. Eventually they flip him to Phoenix who were dealing with Nikolai Khabibulin's holdout. In return Florida gets backup goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov.
To promote the All-Star skills competition, the NHL required that each team do their own local one. Florida does theirs in mid-December and Kidd dislocates his shoulder during the rapid fire event. They think he'll be out 4-6 months. Shtalenkov is shaky as the de facto starter, so Florida suddenly is shopping for a goalie only weeks after dumping Burke.
Meanwhile in San Jose, they have Mike Vernon and Steve Shields plus Evgeni Nabokov in the minors. They take a calculated risk that Nabokov is ready and deal Vernon to Florida.
When Kidd is cleared, he struggles out of the gate and Vernon is deemed the playoff starter. Somewhat ironic since Kidd had made Vernon expendable a few years earlier in Calgary which eventually led to Vernon getting a Cup in Detroit.
Florida gave up a somewhat useful Radek Dvorak to get Vernon who they'd promptly lose in the Expansion Draft.
