Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,84
was a round of hand shaking before they settled in their chairs. Daniel grabbed one of the mini water bottles from the middle of the table, more for something to do than any actual thirst.
“Thanks for coming,” Mark said. “So, let’s not beat around the bush. I believe in just diving right into things. Is that okay with everyone?”
Daniel nodded, because what else could he do?
“Okay.” Mark turned to his assistant manager. “Vladimir?”
Daniel met Vladimir’s intense, dark eyes, and Vladimir tipped his chin.
“Daniel,” he started in his lightly accented voice, “we had very high hopes when we signed you last summer. Unfortunately for everyone involved, circumstances did not quite pan out the way we’d prefer. I am sure this does not come as a surprise.”
Daniel shook his head. No surprises here. He’d had high hopes himself and now they were so low they might as well be six feet under.
“We will not be re-signing you at the end of the season.”
Even though he’d suspected as much, the impact of those words was like taking a high stick to the face. A flare of pain and suddenly everything got real hazy. Except this time there was no blood on Daniel’s eyes. Just the sting of heat, embarrassment, and disappointment coiling tight in his chest. He refused to fucking cry here, but he had to focus on his water bottle and blink hard a few times to fight the sensation back. Failure was a jagged pill to swallow, and Daniel felt it shredding his esophagus on the way down.
“We realize this is difficult,” Vladimir continued when Daniel didn’t speak. “And we want to assure you that we’re not assigning any blame to you for the condition of this team.” He sighed, and Daniel looked up in time to catch the flash of frustration on Vladimir’s face. “To put it bluntly, you walked into a mess, and perhaps we didn’t do as much as we could have to support you. But the fact remains, there is no saving this team unless we rebuild from the ground up. You are far from the only player who won’t be getting a contract renewal at the end of the season. I know that might be a cold comfort, but we wanted to make that clear.”
Daniel had to swallow twice before he could answer. “I understand.”
“But, we respect you so much, Daniel, and you are the only player we’d like to speak to about a potential position as an assistant coach.”
Daniel straightened up in his seat. “What?”
Vladimir’s gaze slid to Clarke. “I don’t know how much your agent has told you, and we realize there might be offers yet to come, but if joining our coaching staff is something you’d consider, we’d like to have a serious discussion about it.”
Daniel turned to Clarke, who had a small smile on his face. “There might be more offers?”
Clarke nodded. “Nothing concrete yet, but teams have been putting out feelers, including the Venom.”
“What?” Daniel couldn’t have heard that correctly. But no, they wouldn’t joke about this. Not his career. His heart began to clamor in his chest.
Clarke reached over to squeeze his forearm. “We can discuss it after this meeting, but like I said, nothing’s official yet. I wanted us to hear what Mr. Hubbard and the Thunder have to say before we make any decisions or reach out to any teams ourselves.”
What. The. Fuck. Daniel couldn’t believe Clarke hadn’t told him about that little tidbit before they’d come in here today. Then again, if there wasn’t anything on paper yet, maybe he hadn’t wanted to get Daniel’s hopes up. Still, Clarke had been his agent long enough to know how much Daniel had loved being on the Venom.
Except...the situation wasn’t the same as it had been last year. He’d come to Miami to play for his old home team. The team that had inspired him to start playing in the first place. He’d thought he’d be here a few seasons, and then retire and find something to do with himself in Florida, near the rest of his family. He’d bought a house. Tabby had picked up and moved so his kids could be near him. But, beyond that, he’d started building a life here. His children were settled. There was the youth hockey organization and his volunteering. The time he got to spend golfing with his dad or cooking with his mom or taking Gretchen and Nathaniel to the theme parks whenever the mood struck. And, then, of course,