When Anton Stralman got traded to Columbus from Calgary on the eve of the 2009 NHL season, he figured it’d mean an opportunity for more playing time. A fresh start in the United States.
Little did he know it would lead to the weirdest marriage ceremony you’ll ever see.
“It was our wedding story,” said Stralman, now a Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman.
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Stralman, a native Swede, had no issue getting a work visa to move from Canada to the U.S. The problem? When his long-time then-girlfriend, Johanna, tried to procure hers from the embassy, she was told she “didn’t have strong enough ties” to Anton. Johanna was pregnant with the couple’s second child. They had met in 10th grade at a Swedish health care high school, their first date a lunch in the cafeteria after an autopsy.
“Not like dinner and a movie,” he joked.
They had made the life-changing move from Sweden to Toronto, where Stralman was originally drafted, and then to Calgary. But now the growing family of four couldn’t be together?
“We couldn’t believe it,” Stralman said.
They had two choices. Johanna could move back to Sweden while they applied for a visa. Or get married.
They tried for three weeks to fight the system, with the help of the Blue Jackets. It didn’t work.
So with the Blue Jackets set to play in Calgary on Oct. 20, with two off days in between, they planned a makeshift wedding. They had wanted the fairytale one, once they could afford it, with all their friends and family back in Sweden. But Johanna was miserable, all alone, with 2-year-old daughter Liv and a newborn.
“The month in Calgary felt like a year,” she said.
So Stralman called a local marriage commissioner, Bruce Arlington, to set up a ceremony. They said “I do” in a no-frills, 20-minute ceremony in their Calgary apartment. At 10 a.m. In front of a non-working fireplace. Stralman, who had the team’s rookie party (“my bachelor party”) the night before, was in a sweatshirt and jeans. Johanna was in her nurse’s gear. Liv was crying because she dropped a toy behind the TV.
Then-Columbus GM Scott Howson served as both best man and wedding photographer, jokingly asking Stralman to keep the ceremony moving as they had practice that day. There were no pre-written vows.
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“It was casual, super short,” Stralman said. “It was, ‘Do you take her? Yes. Yes.'”
Stralman played the next day.
They got a marriage certificate and a visa. When they returned to the consulate, the supervisor apologized, telling them they never should have had to go through the saga they did. Columbus sent a private plane a few days later to bring Johanna and the kids to town.
“The plane couldn’t take off — there was an issue,” Stralman said. “It was fitting.”
The Stralmans made up for their low-budget wedding with a spectacular redo on July 25, 2015. They renewed their vows at a countryside castle called Bjertorp in Kvanum, a tiny town in southeastern Sweden. It was a three-day affair that featured golf, British-style tea and skeet shooting.
The Stralmans renewed their vows several years later in a Swedish castle. (Courtesy of Anton Stralman)This ceremony included a three-course dinner, with Stralman reciting a poem he wrote about their roller-coaster ride. The band, “The Happy Makers,” played until 2 a.m. They sang karaoke until 5, with Stralman stealing the show by doing Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
Stralman still laughs when he thinks back to his original wedding, the one sparked by an unexpected trade.
“Not the way I drew it up,” Stralman said. “But looking back now, it’s something you’ll remember forever.”
With the NHL trade deadline coming next Monday, we asked Lightning players to share their crazy stories of how they got traded, revealing the human side of these life-changing transactions.
Dealt at 30,000 feet
J.T. Miller was traded from the Rangers to the Lightning on Feb. 26, 2018, as part of the Ryan McDonagh deadline blockbuster.
Miller doesn’t know what state he was in when his life-changing deal to Tampa Bay went down.
He was midway through the New York Rangers’ charter flight to Vancouver, so probably somewhere above the Dakotas or Montana, when his card game with teammates was interrupted. President Glen Sather broke the news at roughly 30,000 feet.
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Miller couldn’t believe it.
“They had told me before the deadline that I wasn’t getting traded. It had to be perfect,” Miller said. “So I had my guard down and wasn’t expecting anything. I was shocked.”
It was around 3:15 p.m. ET, so the deadline had already passed. And Miller thought he was in the clear. The rumor on the plane was that McDonagh, the Rangers star and captain, had been dealt in what turned out to be the same deal. Miller ended up part of it, with the Lightning sending Vladislav Namestnikov, prospects Libor Hajek and Brett Howden and a couple of picks. The Lightning wanted Miller.
“I guess I was the piece that made it work,” Miller said.
From that point on, it was a blur. Miller’s wife, Natalie, was eight months pregnant, so he was worried about her. Once Miller landed and said his goodbyes to the team, then-Lightning GM Steve Yzerman said he could stay an extra day in Vancouver if he liked and not hurry down to play in Tampa’s home game against Buffalo.
Miller decided to stay overnight, take an early morning flight the next day and play against the Sabres. He ended up playing three games in four nights, including another game the following day in Dallas. Meanwhile, Natalie was moving their life from New York, packing their house to put in storage and shipping their car and dog down to Tampa.
“She’s a beast,” Miller said. “Couldn’t have done it without her.”
Natalie arrived that weekend after flying down with McDonagh’s wife, Kaylee.
“(Natalie) had found out about the trade before me,” Miller said. “She saw (news of the McDonagh) trade on TV and texted Kaylee saying, ‘I’m sorry to see you leave.’ And Kaylee said, ‘What are you talking about? You’re coming with us.'”
The Millers’ firstborn, daughter Scottyln Marie, was born in late April during the playoffs. They have a second, another daughter, due in May. With Miller signing a five-year deal in July, the couple bought a home in Westshore, putting down some roots.
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“It worked out great,” Miller said. “We’re happy we’re homeowners and can call Tampa home.”
Captain’s closure
Ryan McDonagh, the Rangers captain, was traded to the Lightning on Feb. 26, 2018, along with J.T. Miller.
McDonagh had a feeling he was going to be traded at the deadline last year, especially after the Rangers management announced to fans they were planning on rebuilding.
But to where? It drove him a bit crazy to see all the rumors on social media, as both he and Erik Karlsson were deadline targets of multiple teams around the league.
“That’s when I got rid of my Twitter account, a month before the deadline,” McDonagh said. “You get your head wrapped around the wrong thing and you can’t even enjoy going to the rink. That was my sanctuary, where I could get away from everything. When I was hurt (hand injury), I really couldn’t do much, so I was thinking about it a lot.”
McDonagh was still rehabbing from the injury on deadline day, and he decided to stay at the practice facility in case he got news so he could pack up his gear and leave. But as the deadline approached and no news came, he drove home, wanting at least to be with wife Kaylee and daughter Falan when they found out.
But on his way home, McDonagh got a call from agent Ben Hankinson that he got traded — he just didn’t know where. The Maple Leafs and Panthers were among the many teams in pursuit. McDonagh had some say in the matter, a 10-team no-trade list.
“You wonder where — if it is a team that’s going to contend or a team on the outside looking in,” McDonagh said.
McDonagh got home and Rangers GM Jeff Gorton let him know he was headed to the Lightning.
“When it was Tampa, it was like, ‘Oh, wow, they’re one of the best teams in the league,’ and you’re eager to be part of it.”
Despite being the Rangers captain, Ryan McDonagh figured he was likely to be traded at last year’s deadline. (Kim Klement / USA Today)Traded at the trainer’s table
Ryan Callahan was traded from the Rangers to the Lightning in the blockbuster Marty St. Louis deal — a swap of captains — on Mar. 5, 2014.
Callahan, the Rangers captain, figured there would be a chance he was getting traded at the deadline once contract-extension talks broke down.
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Callahan wanted to stay with the only organization he’d ever known, especially with his wife, Kyla, pregnant again with their second child. His camp and the Rangers made several offers back and forth, but with a no-movement clause a sticking point, those negotiations broke down.
“We lost contact with the team for two or three days before the deadline,” Callahan said. “So I figured something might go down.”
Callahan came off the ice at Madison Square Garden from a morning skate and was on the table in the trainer’s room. Everyone was watching “Trade Center” on television. Callahan’s name popped up at the bottom of the screen as part of the St. Louis deal.
A few moments later, the door opened, and then-GM Glen Sather asked to meet with his captain.
“You’re preparing for it mentally, but when it happens, there’s still shock and awe,” Callahan said. “I had never been traded before. My wife was pregnant and we had a 2-year-old daughter. The first thing I thought was how tough it would be to tell my family we are uprooting our lives and moving.”
But Callahan was calmed by how smoothly the Lightning handled it, with GM Steve Yzerman and owner Jeff Vinik reaching out to welcome him. Coach Jon Cooper was there waiting in baggage claim to pick up Callahan when he arrived in Tampa later that night.
“It was a nice touch,” Callahan said. “I thought they’d just send a service. But we had a good chat on the ride to the arena on what my role might be. It eased my mind.”
Callahan quickly found a month-to-month rental in Harbor Island, as he didn’t want his family in a hotel for long.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said.
The wake-up call
Braydon Coburn was traded Mar. 2, 2015, from the Flyers to the Lightning for defenseman Radko Gudas and first- and third-round draft picks.
Coburn was fast asleep when he got traded to Tampa Bay.
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He and his wife, Nadine, had two toddlers, so he guesses he was in bed by 9 p.m. Around 5 or 6 a.m., Nadine got up to feed their 17-month-old son, Blair, and noticed that Coburn’s phone had been blowing up with messages.
“You need to wake up,” Nadine told her husband. “I think we’ve been traded.”
Coburn woke up to voicemails from Flyers GM Ron Hextall and Lightning GM Steve Yzerman. He scrolled through dozens of texts from buddies, teammates and media members trying to get him on their trade deadline TV show. But among the calls he’ll remember the most are conversations with late Flyers owner Ed Snider, who told him “how much he appreciated my time in Philly and how much he enjoyed watching me play.”
Coburn also received a voicemail from Lightning owner Jeff Vinik welcoming him to Tampa. “I thought that was really cool.”
Cooper planned on picking Coburn up from the airport, but his flights were delayed and he did not arrive until after midnight.
“It was a whirlwind,” Coburn said. “I came here, my wife came the next week. We checked out some places, sold our house in Philly the next weekend. Never set foot in that house again. It was an amazing new chapter in my career.”
“You need to wake up,” Braydon Coburn’s wife, Nadine, told him. “I think we’ve been traded.” (Charles LeClaire / USA Today)The lifeline
Louis Domingue was acquired by the Lightning from the Coyotes in a swap of minor-league goalies that saw Michael Leighton going to Arizona.
Domingue was at a career crossroads when the Lightning sent him a lifeline.
Domingue had been cut loose by Arizona in late October of 2017, catching him by surprise. Domingue had struggled on the ice, but the Coyotes were one of the worst teams in the league. Domingue cleared waivers without any of the other 30 teams making a claim.
Domingue said he paid for his own ice in nearby Scottsdale, at one point working out with former Coyotes captain Shane Doan and his son. Arizona had offered him an assignment to the ECHL while they tried to find him a new home, but for a couple of weeks, Domingue waited for a trade that seemed as if it would never come. He looked into opt-out clauses so he could play in Europe.
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“I almost quit hockey,” Domingue said.
Domingue was working out with a college team in Montreal on Nov. 14, 2017, when after practice he was told by some other players that he had been traded to Tampa Bay. The trade not only saved AHL Syracuse’s season but rejuvenated Domingue’s career. The 26-year-old came up huge this season when Andrei Vasilevskiy missed a month with a fractured foot.
“It sparked me up a bit because I was down,” Domingue said. “I didn’t think I would get traded. It caught me by surprise, and I scrambled. In a few hours, I was down (in Syracuse). But it was a good feeling.”
The Insta-trade
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was traded from the Canadiens to the Lightning on June 15, 2017, in the Jonathan Drouin blockbuster.
Sergachev was on vacation with his family in Cypress, taking a catnap around dinner time before he planned to explore the local nightlife.
When Sergachev woke up, he saw a couple of direct messages from fans on Instagram:
“Good luck in Tampa.”
“I’m like, ‘What?'” Sergachev recalled. “My first reaction was to be frustrated and shocked. But then I saw it as an opportunity.”
Sergachev got a phone call from Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman, and then the next day he received texts from stars Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, who welcomed him to Tampa.
Sergachev has fit right in and become a staple in the lineup. We analyzed Year 2 of the trade over the weekend.
“It worked out well though,” Sergachev said. “I’m happy.”
The hidden gem
Erik Cernak was acquired by the Lightning in the Ben Bishop trade with the Kings on Feb. 26, 2017. Backup goalie Peter Budaj also came to Tampa Bay along with a seventh-round pick and a conditional second-rounder.
Erik Cernak (81) is congratulated on Feb. 2 after scoring his first NHL goal against the Rangers. (Andy Marlin / USA Today)Cernak was just a footnote in the deal that sent Bishop to L.A., but he may end up being the centerpiece. The hidden gem.
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Cernak, 21, has quickly become a part of the Lightning blueline and seems primed to be a member of their top six for years to come.
But back then, Cernak was just a Kings prospect playing for Erie in the Ontario Hockey League along with Lightning prospects Anthony Cirelli and Taylor Raddysh. Cernak had just finished a game in Owen Sound three days before the trade deadline when he learned of the deal.
First, Kings assistant GM Rob Blake called Cernak. Then Lightning GM Steve Yzerman.
“I was excited,” Cernak said. “(Yzerman) told me he’s happy he got me here in Tampa and hopes I’ll be in the NHL really soon. And he was right.”
Cernak turned to Cirelli and Raddysh on the bus and told them he was now their future teammate thanks to the deal.
“They didn’t believe me,” Cernak said, smiling. “That was funny.”
Joe Smith can be reached at [email protected]. Follow @JoeSmithTB.
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