(Rogie VACHON and George MAGUIRE look at the last photo and are perplexed.)
MAGUIRE: "Who the hell
is that guy???"
(J.T.'s on his way out the door, but he answers.)
"You'll find out before the day is over, I assure you. I need to go to the airport. See you guys."
(About eight hours later, J.T. calls VACHON from JFK airport in New York.)
"Rogie, I'm waiting for my flight to Stockholm to board. I've made a deal with Pittsburgh. Can you do me a favor and let me know when the league approves it?"
VACHON: "This is the mystery man you were telling us about?"
"Yep. I think the fans in L.A. are going to love him."
(After another flight and about six hours of sleep, J.T. is ready to look for Jens Ohling in Stockholm in the afternoon of July 4.)
"So Ohling's club, Djurgårdens IF, plays in a barn called 'Hovet'?"
(At 6 PM Stockholm time, J.T. calls VACHON again.)
VACHON: "Good evening out there. How's everything going?"
"Better than expected. Saw Ohling on the ice for almost an hour. Thank goodness one of his teammates spoke some English. Turns out he's wanted to play in the NHL for some time, but no one really took the time to come out and see him play, or made him a serious offer."
VACHON: "How serious an offer did you make?"
"Wasn't a lot of money at all. Also talked to Anders Eldebrink on the phone about a half hour before calling you. He's interested in signing with us as well. I won't even have to visit him in Fredericton. Both guys combined will probably cost us less than $50 thousand."
VACHON: "Sounds great. Anything else going on?"
"I'm making another deal. It should shore up our defense quite a bit."
VACHON: "Oh?"
VACHON: "George mentioned that he wanted Engblom pretty badly, as I recall. In fact, he was ready to trade Larry Murphy for him."
"The hell? Why on Earth would he trade away Murphy???"
VACHON: "I have no clue. I was just as shocked as you when I heard about it."
"No wonder this franchise has been struggling. Is he in the office with you now?"
VACHON: "Nah, he didn't want to be around here so he's gonna watch the guys work out in Culver City all day."
"Lucky you."
VACHON: "Definitely. Have a safe flight home. Good work out there."