When Travis Sanheim arrived to the Wells Fargo Center for the Flyers’ 2022-23 regular-season opener, his first precedence wasn’t a pregame ritual.
Or to placed on his equipment.
Or to tape his stick.
Or to catch a crew assembly.
It was once: the place can I in finding a printer?
“The whole process was pretty crazy,” Sanheim stated with a relieved snigger Friday at Flyers Training Center.
A season opener at all times brings a other really feel to a sport day, with the anticipation of a new 12 months and the festivities main up to puck drop.
But for Sanheim, he will actually by no means overlook this sport day. And now not on account of opening evening jitters.
The 26-year-old defenseman inked a new eight-year, $50 million contract extension Thursday simply hours sooner than the beginning of the sport. Sanheim was once slated to turn into an unrestricted loose agent after the season. The Flyers view him as a basis piece to their construct again to rivalry. Both aspects did not want to see extra sooner than making a determination at the long run.
The membership introduced Sanheim’s new deal an hour and a part sooner than puck drop.
How shut was once it to sport time?
Sanheim may smile as he recalled the method main up to if truth be told inking the dotted line.
“I had gotten word the night before that we kind of agreed on the numbers and term, and they were just figuring out the structure,” Sanheim stated. “I thought it would be done in the morning.”
Not slightly then. But Travis Konecny made certain his teammates knew at morning skate.
“T.K. spilled the news to everyone else,” Sanheim stated.
Sanheim noticed Chuck Fletcher in the hallway. The basic supervisor confident him now not to concern.
“it kind of lingered on into the afternoon and into my nap, still hadn’t gotten a contract,” Sanheim stated. “I guess the league had to look at some of the no-trade [protection] to approve it or something like that.”
As Sanheim and Konecny made their manner to the world in combination, issues were given trickier.
“I left my house at 4 p.m. and I got my contract finally, but then I didn’t know how to sign it,” Sanheim stated. “I could not use DocuSign. Because it displays up sign by means of DocuSign. It could not have any of that, it simply had to have the signature. So now I’m freaking out with T.Okay. in the car, like how am I getting this executed, I used to be like, ‘I’ve were given to get this executed sooner than the sport, I’m now not letting this occur.’
“We finally got to the rink, I said, ‘You know what, they’ve got to have a printer.’ I go in there, get the printer and signed it in the locker room.”
Phew. Saved by means of the printer.
“Pretty crazy day for me,” Sanheim stated. “Happy to have it done, but happy to move forward and just focus on hockey now.”
After the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Devils, Sanheim expressed his love for Philadelphia and the group.
He desires to win in this town. The possible of taking part in in one position for his NHL profession approach one thing to him.
The Flyers decided on Sanheim seventeenth total in the 2014 NHL draft, which was once held on the Wells Fargo Center. Over 8 years later, he was once in search of a printer in the similar construction, in a position to keep for 8 extra.
“Once you put it into perspective that I could be here for the next nine years now, with this year and then eight more, you’re starting to get into your mid-30s,” Sanheim stated. “With the best way these days’s sport goes, and getting more youthful, guys are beginning to be on the tail finish of the profession towards that.
“It’s definitely come up in my thoughts. I think it would be really cool. I was drafted not only by Philly, but in Philly, in Wells Fargo Center. Would be pretty special.”
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