What happens if you sign with an NHL team after the trade deadline? Marty Turco knows

The former NHL goalie discusses his time in Austria and Boston during the 2011-12 season

The NHL trade deadline came and went last Friday, and I’m finally recovering.

Hopefully you are too.

In addition to the trades, there were a handful of NHL contracts signed on Friday afternoon before the deadline, one-year deals that immediately went into effect for the remainder of this season.

In Detroit, for example, the Red Wings signed Alex Chiasson to an NHL contract after he’d spent the season on an AHL deal with Grand Rapids. He was called up and played in both games for Detroit this past weekend.

Those deals have to be signed before the deadline in order for a player to be eligible to play in the NHL playoffs. While that now seems extremely unlikely in Detroit, there was a reality when he signed that he could be needed for the postseason, even after the Red Wings hit the sell button.

But what happens if a player signs after the trade deadline?

In 2016, Scott Gomez signed after the deadline with the Ottawa Senators. Marty Turco did the same with the Boston Bruins in 2012, both were eligible for the remainder of the regular season, but ineligible for the playoffs.

I recently caught up with Turco to discuss the 2011-12 season, where he dabbled in Europe, playing for Red Bull Salzburg, and eventually ended up playing regular season games for the Bruins to help with a playoff push he couldn’t be part of.