Kyle Dubas has the biggest office on the fortieth floor of Toronto Maple Leaf tower. He is there late in the evening of the first Tuesday of the year playing Star Wars Battlefront on his PS4. He only plays the Walker Assault mission and is currently on a massive twenty-five kill streak. Kyle is on the Imperial side for this round and he lucks out, finding the Walker power up, giving him control of an AT-AT, one of the greatest killing machines from a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Suddenly a snow speeder latches a cable onto his Walker’s legs and Kyle knows he is doomed. “Nooo!” he yells.

“Ass?” The speaking tube Lou Lamoriello has had installed between their offices blares into life. “Ass, is that you?”

Lou calls every assistant GM in the NHL ‘Ass’, so Kyle no longer takes it personally. Still, Kyle was not expecting Lou to be in Toronto. He should have been with the Leafs on their road trip through California. Kyle is tempted to ask Lou why he is still around, but knows the best option is to pretend he’s not there. Kyle places the O-P volume of an encyclopedia in front of the speaking tube to block any more sounds. He would have turned off the lights in his office but he needed to focus on the game. With one Walker down, the Imperials were going to be hard pressed for the win.

Kyle tunes out all distraction and becomes a one man wrecking crew, swatting rebel scum away with ease. Just as a ten-kill streak ends in a hail of blaster fire from two directions, Kyle’s office door is thrown open and Lou walks in.

“Ha! I caught you. I knew that encyclopedia was a scam. Who only buys O-P? I better not find you blocking your speaky again or there’s gonna be real trouble.” Lou stomps over to Kyle’s desk and picks up the encyclopedia. He spends a frustrated moment trying to rip it in half, then settles on throwing it to the ground and jumping on it. Lou growls as he hops.

“Shh.” Kyle says as he re-spawns into the game. “We are winning. It shouldn’t take long.”

Lou finally stops hopping and slumps into one of the couches. The effort of attacking the book has exhausted him. The encyclopedia is dirty, but otherwise unharmed.

“Are you playing a video game?” Lou looks at the 72 inch screen hanging on Kyle’s wall. “Are you a Storm Trooper right now? Oh my God. This is beautiful. You’re in Star Wars. You are in Star Wars. Holy crap, there are X-wings in the sky. Wait. Stop. Just look up for a second.”

Kyle does his best to ignore Lou until finally, just before it is destroyed, the second Imperial Walker blows up the Rebel transport and the round is over. Kyle has won the top player honours for the round.

“DubStep420? Is that you?” Lou asks.

“I made this account when I was in high-school. I don’t want to change it. Everyone fears the Dub.” Kyle laughs as he says this and reaches for his beer.

“You got any more of those?” Lou asks.

“Sure, even if I don’t have a bar in my office like some people.” Kyle is referring to the full service bar that Lou demanded be built into his office before he agreed to take the job of GM in Toronto. “The fridge is just beneath the T.V. Help yourself.”

Lou pulls out three beers. One he throws Kyle’s way without much warning. Kyle is forced to drop his controller to catch the bottle.

“Hey, can I try this game out?” Lou asks.

“No.” Kyle answers as he picks up the controller and starts another round. He is on the Rebel side this time. “If you want you can watch and roll joints, but you have to be quiet.”

“Oh my god! Are you a Sullustan?!” Lando Calrissian’s Sullustan co-pilot in Episode VI always made Lou laugh. “This game is amazing!”

For the next hour Lou watches as Kyle destroys his online opponents. After the first twenty minutes, and the first joint, Kyle starts to relax. He has never spent so much time bonding with Lou one on one. The nature of their relationship was a challenging one. The whole world, Lou included, knew that Kyle was going to take Lou’s job at the end of his contract. Kyle knew he had a lot to learn from Lou, but he had always thought that Lou didn’t like him. Maybe Kyle was so busy projecting his own insecurities that he failed to notice Lou was just as scared. Anyone who loved Star Wars and rolled tight joints had to be a decent person. This revelation shocks Kyle with its simplicity.

Lou’s phone begins to ring. “It’s Stan over in Chicago.” Stan Bowman is the GM of the Chicago Blackhawks. “This asshole is gonna try to pull some bullshit. After we finally made nice, even.” Lou puts the phone on speaker then holds a finger to his lips, indicating that Kyle should be quiet. “Hey Stan, awful late for a social call. You know there’s no backsies right?” After many years and many failed attempts, Lou and Stan just negotiated their first trade together yesterday.

“Hello Lou, Don’t worry, I am still happy with our trade. I was hoping we could do a little more business.”

“Of course we can.” Lou winks at Kyle. “I’m always open for business. You know that. What do you want?”

“I am in a real bind and I need a favour. Trevor Van Riemsdyk really wants to play with his brother, but Coach Q thinks he has promise.”

“I won’t give you James.” James Van Riemsdyk is Trevor’s older brother and he is having a good year for the Leafs.

“No, I know.” Stan says. “What if I give you Trevor for, maybe, Polak and a second rounder.”

Kyle is shocked at the ask. Trevor is a promising young player, but a solid veteran and a draft pick is way too steep a price. Kyle shakes his head ‘no’ immediately.

Lou agrees and stifles a laugh as he answers.“You’re dreaming. How about TVR for Marincin. Straight up.” This counter offer is part of the dance. Lou hopes to get Stan to admit what he really wants.

Stan is quiet. The silence goes on for a long while. Finally the Chicago GM speaks as if the words were a spell. “You will trade me for Trevor Van Riemsdyk.”

“I will trade you for Trevor Van Riemsdyk.” Lou answers in a monotone voice.

“You will give me Roman Polak and Scott Harrington for Trevor Van Riemsdyk.”

“I will give you Roman Polak and Scott Harrington.” Lou repeats.

Kyle is worried now. His GM seems to be under some kind of spell. If this trade actually happens, it would be a disaster. No one would understand the logic of two players for one half decent young defenceman. How was Bowman doing this? Kyle is on the verge of smashing Lou’s phone when the wily old GM flips the whole scenario on it’s head.

“You’ll never learn will you Bowman.” Lou laughs. “Your feeble little mind tricks have no effect on me. You think because we made one deal I would be vulnerable? Ha!”

“Damn! I really thought I had you that time.” Stan ends the call with a curse.

“And that’s how you deal with that asshole.” Lou sparks another joint, then takes a swallow of beer. “Are you gonna keep playing? I want to see you fly a tie fighter again, that was awesome.”

Kyle smiles, in awe of his mentor. As always, Lou is completely unreadable. Kyle believed he was totally under Stan’s control, but he had shrugged it off as if it were nothing. “How come you’re not with the team?” Kyle finally asks.

“I’m catching a charter in a little bit. I had some rancid buffalo meat I had to move tonight. Traded it to some hippies for a broken down Chevy.”

“Well I am glad we got this chance to hang out. You want to say it one time?” Kyle asks, knowing Lou is reluctant to join in this particular ritual.

“You guys are crazy. You know this prayer of yours is never gonna work.” Lou has always struggled to have faith in something outside of his self.

“Yeah well.” Kyle shrugs than bows his head. Lou does the same. After a moment of silence they speak in unison as if the words were a spell, and maybe words do have the power to create.

“Dear God and Lord Stanley, thank you for bringing us together here in Toronto and please help Steven Stamkos find his way home.”

“Alright, let’s do this. My flight leaves in four hours.” Lou is excited to see more of the game. Kyle is just excited to spend more time with Lou.