With the 2017 NHL trade deadline behind us, everyone can breathe a big sigh of relief - especially the industry's top reporters, who spent Wednesday glued to their phones and computers as they broke nearly two dozen deals that took place in the hours prior to the deadline.

That list of weary scribes is headed by ESPN NHL columnist and TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun, who shares his thoughts on what this year's deadline means moving forward - and how he stays sane through the craziness.

Did anything that happened Wednesday surprise you?

I think I was most surprised at how the prices plummeted. In just 24 hours, similar rental players were going for a much higher pick. And it's one of those things that you can never predict from year to year.

You look at Viktor Stalberg going to Ottawa the day before the deadline for a third-round pick; the next day, Drew Stafford goes (to Boston) for a sixth-round pick. They're almost identical players in terms of value and impact, both UFAs July 1, but (had) completely different value within 24 hours.

You really didn't want to be a team holding the bag on a rental, and some teams were. Buffalo didn't move any of their rentals. Arizona didn't move Radim Vrbata, in part because they didn't want to bring their price down. I don't know in all the years I've covered the NHL that I've seen the prices drop that dramatically in the last few hours. Teams were basically giving away some of these players.

That was probably the biggest surprise for me, because literally just the day before and the day before that, teams were at least getting second- and third-round picks for rentals.

Given the drop in price, do you think teams maybe weren't really that close on players like Vrbata or Marc-Andre Fleury?

First of all, when you talk about Fleury and Vrbata, you're talking about apples and oranges. You have to separate the potential hockey trades from the rental deals. Fleury has two more years on his deal, so anyone trading for him is making an actual hockey trade. And I don't think there was really any traction there, which I think surprised the Penguins, given Fleury's pedigree.

I think some of the potential target teams like Calgary and Dallas just decided, "Hey, let's figure out our goaltending this summer" when, with the combination of the expansion draft with Vegas and all the available goalies, teams looking for an upgrade in goal are going to have a lot more options on the table. What ended up working against Pittsburgh in trying to move Fleury was that the few options that were actually there just decided they didn't need to move now.

In terms of Vrbata, that's a different beast. I think there were certainly some options that made Arizona think. But Coyotes GM John Chayka told me that he had set a price and wasn't going to deviate - in part because they have some interest in re-signing him. And even though Vrbata didn't have a no-move clause or a no-trade clause, I think he had expressed a desire to stay.

I think that's an important sentiment sometimes when you're trying to build something like they are in Arizona. When a player says he actually wants to stay, maybe that's a sentiment you don't ignore. That's not to say (Chayka) wouldn't have moved him, but I think he was only going to move him if he got exactly what he wanted.

What were your favorite under-the-radar moves?

I think Curtis Lazar was a great buy-low opportunity for the Flames - and who knows if it ever works out, but it could have the potential of being last year's Justin Schultz trade. Schultz's value was at an all-time low when he left Edmonton for Pittsburgh last year before the deadline, and now he has become quite an important player for the Penguins.

I think Calgary made a brilliant trade there. And I'm not criticizing the Senators. (Sometimes) you get to a point with a player where you're like, "He is not going to figure it out here with us," and I think Ottawa felt that way about Lazar. I think there's some great value there long term. He may not have an impact this year, but moving forward, there might be an opportunity.

I really like Brendan Smith to the Rangers. Maybe that's not so much under the radar, because it's the Rangers, but after Kevin Shattenkirk, he was the No. 2 defenseman on the market, and I think he really solidifies things for the Rangers in a lot of different areas. I like that move.

I also like Dwight King to Montreal. I know that's a non-analytics thing to say, but they're a very small team up front ... well, they were, but Marc Bergevin continues to beef up. If you go all the way back to trading for Andrew Shaw last summer, they continue to try and change their look. I don't know if it's going to change the result, but they beefed up over the last couple of days.

What is deadline day like for you from start to finish?

What you try to do, especially since I'm on live television for eight or nine hours ... at 6, 7, 8 a.m., I try to get in as many calls as I can before we get on air just to lay the groundwork as to what some teams will at least try to do, so I can circle back and track it. I did that again Wednesday, and kind of had an idea of what a couple of teams were going to do, and it played out that way.

I bookend the entire process by apologizing ahead of time and afterwards to everyone I bug constantly from all 30 teams - because you're absolutely badgering your sources for a few days, not just deadline day, but the days leading up to it. And you feel like a schmuck for doing it, but that's the job.

The good thing is, there are a lot of good people in the hockey world and they understand we have a job to do. But it's always good to remember to thank people genuinely, because they're doing you a favor. They don't have to share this information with you. I value the relationships I have with my sources and never take them for granted and always treat them with respect.

What is the desk dynamic like between you, Bob McKenzie, and Darren Dreger?

It is not a competition at all between Bob, Darren, and I. We work as a team. We don't even care who breaks it between us, honestly. We really try to get at the end result together by combining our knowledge. We're not telling each other who our sources are, but by using our sources together, we sometimes fill the puzzle together.

I think that's a real testimony to Bob, who is the godfather of this industry. He's the reason I went to work at TSN. There's so much humility and teamwork, and it's not about who gets to break it first. I hope people realize that it's not about who gets the tweet out first. Let's just break it - who cares whose name is attached to it?

In an industry where some reporters occasionally report prematurely or incorrectly - particularly on deadline day - you are as accurate as anyone. How big a point of pride is that for you?

There's nothing that matters more to me than not being wrong. I have lost some stories because I was still not completely sure, and I wanted another source to come in on it. I have been beaten on stories because of this.

To me, it's way more important to try to keep your track record as clean as possible in terms of not being wrong than adding how many victories you have. Because the reality is, people only remember the wrong ones; the wrong ones outweigh the good ones, in my opinion. So it is absolutely supremely important to be sure of what you're reporting.

To the defense of anyone who gets caught, sometimes there are circumstances that can get someone in trouble and it's not even your fault. You can have someone from a team that believes that they've actually gotten a guy and it turns out that they didn't. But generally speaking, I just don't like taking that chance. And I know Bob and Darren feel exactly the same way.

Are you a one-phone guy on deadline day? Or do you have multiples?

On deadline day, I set up my MacBook Air in conjunction with my phone. I like to use the laptop to monitor Twitter and I also have the CapFriendly page up to remind myself of players' contractual situations. And then I use my phone for texting and talking.

One thing I find useful around the deadline is using the phone. I know it's very 90s, but ... texting is great, because it's less intrusive to your sources, but sometimes when the pressure is really on and you know something might be going on, I will sometimes phone. And it's not always appreciated, but sometimes it's a quicker way to the info.

I know there are millennials reading this saying, "What? You actually phone someone?" But it's still a good thing to do.

Do you prefer a quieter deadline? Or do you dig the craziness?

I prefer a crazier deadline because there's a more natural flow to it. One of the things that happens on a quieter day like Wednesday is that you're working even harder. I know that's probably surprising to people reading this, but you're badgering more people far more constantly trying to figure out why things aren't happening. It's stressful for completely different reasons.

Overall, though, I didn't mind this year's deadline in terms of a five-day period. It actually had a nice pace, from a couple of nice deals last Friday, Patrick Eaves and Tomas Jurco, and then Sunday you had Martin Hanzal and Ben Bishop go, big names. Monday, Brian Boyle to Toronto and Jordie Benn to Montreal, just because it involved the Leafs and the Habs, it was fun to dig in on that. And then there were more moves on the Tuesday.

The deadline day itself was obviously quiet, but the leadup was really nice in terms of news and pace. I kind of liked that.

Okay, back to the nuts and bolts of the deadline for the final question. Which single move will have the biggest impact moving forward?

It's hard not to look at Shattenkirk to Washington. He was the most talented player traded at the deadline and he went to the best team in the league. I know that's obvious, but there were a few other moves I really liked.

Jannik Hansen to San Jose is a tremendous move by Doug Wilson. He's such a versatile player, and he's not even a rental - he's signed for another year. That Sharks team is rolling again, and I really love that addition. Hanzal to the Wild is the perfect fit for the kind of grind that they're going to have to get through in the West. Those are probably the big ones for me.

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