In this segment we�ll tell you what the players think away from the game and what they think about being traded and traveling around the league. To answer these questions, we caught up with Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils.

As an NHL player how much of your time is focused on the possibility of being traded?

I think as a younger player when you are new to it and you start to hear things or things are written in the papers that you start to think about it quite a bit. It might bother you, but I think as you experience other guys being traded or maybe yourself being traded a few times you really don�t pay any attention to it at all and you learn to live with it. After all, until something happens there is nothing you can do about it, so you just kind of live with it and not really worry about it. You play your game the best you can. I think with the experience of just seeing other guys get traded you realize that you can�t really control it.

How does a trade affect a team, and what have you observed in the case where a marque player is traded as opposed to an average player?

Well, I think any time that you lose a guy that is a good friend it�s a big loss off the ice and then when you lose a star player it�s a big loss on the ice. You know we have had both happen here (in New Jersey) and it�s unfortunate to see a good friend maybe move on to another team, and sometimes its really tough to stay in touch. Players who are traded become busy with their new team and of course you are busy with your team. Maybe in the summer you can talk but other than that it�s unfortunate that you can lose a friend so quickly like that.

As far as the effect on the ice, if you lose a star player you hope your team is getting another good player in return. So, it kind of should even out or hopefully your team will be better off. Usually, when a star player is traded teams try to improve themselves.

Does it matter to the player who is traded who your former team got in return, and do star players take it as an insult if they are traded for a �lesser� player?

I don�t think so. I think most players are aware of where they fit in, how good they are, and, they understand that as a player gets older they may be a little less desirable. So, players know that as far as the value of who they are traded for goes, that their value may decline depending upon the situation, including the age of the players involved.

When a player considers going to another team, does it matter how good that team is or is the decision strictly based on money?

I think guys have different values or different things that are important to them. I�m sure that there are some players that would like to play in certain areas, certain cities, and there are other players that the location just doesn�t matter much. Those players will just go and play wherever and they�ll be happy wherever. However, most players want to play on a team that is competitive, you know, a winning team. The decision is different for each player and there are a lot of different things that guys take into consideration. Money is not always the sole factor.

As part of moving around either because a trade or otherwise, comment on the effect of travel upon an NHL player; how it affects you during the season.

Travel is different for every team. Here in New Jersey we are very lucky with the fact that we�ve got a few teams that we can bus to and be there in less than an hour. All our flights in our conference are basically around an hour long besides maybe going down to Florida. So, we are lucky that we can be home in our beds by two in the morning and wake up in our own homes.

Although we are lucky here with our travel, if you then go to a team like Edmonton or Calgary that has to fly a long ways for every game and they are on the road a lot more than we would be, the travel would wear on you. Plus, some teams charter flights and others don�t. For us, every flight is a chartered flight which is very nice so we don�t have to make connections and it�s very direct and comfortable. I don�t know if other teams charter as much as we do, which if you don�t that would probably wear on you a little bit more. But, we are lucky here. I know that.

So, travel is a consideration for players?

Yeah, it is. I mean, compared to our schedule, being out West in the planes all the time and sleeping in hotels as much as those players do would have to wear on you over a year. It would have to wear you down and make you a bit more tired and I�m sure as players get older they realize that and they probably would like to be in a place where they have limited travel like this (in New Jersey).

When you re moving around as much you do, do you ever get a chance during the season to experience other cities and really take a look at other places?

We don�t get a lot of chances to do that in New Jersey. Like I said about our travel schedules, we fly in the day before a game and we�ll play the game and then we�ll be out right after the game. So, you don�t really get a chance to look around the city whereas maybe another team would be on a week-long road trip and they might have a couple of days in one city and they may have a chance to go and maybe play golf or go fishing or something like that. That�s more prevalent with the teams from the West.

Right now we don�t really get a chance to see much of the other cities. We see a lot of the inside of hotel rooms and that�s about it. Of course, we also see our opponent�s arena too. But other teams (like the teams from the West) do get a few days in the city. If you have a couple of days in the city you can usually find something to do or took around the city, but if you�re only flying in for the day of the game or the night before you really don�t have much of a chance.