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Dennis Hildeby has been enjoying the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
In fact, right before Belgium played Senegal in the Round of 32, the goalie was still a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That's when he got the call that he was being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a deal that landed forward Nick Paul back to Toronto.
“It was definitely a first for me,” Hildeby told local media in Sweden, with the translation via Daily Faceoff. “I’d never experienced being traded before. As a player, you always know it’s possible, so it’s always somewhere in the back of your mind. There had already been a lot of movement around the league, so I knew there was a chance I could be next.”
MORE: How a 3-team Dylan Larkin, Jason Robertson trade could work
The Maple Leafs had a goalie logjam, and trading away the young Hildeby helped clear that out.
But yeah, he missed a lot of the Belgium match.
“After that, there were so many calls that I only managed to watch the second half," Hildeby said.
One bit of good news? The second half (and extra time) were crazy.
Senegal took a 2-0 lead and held it for about 75 minutes.
Belgium scored two late goals to force extra time, then won it with another goal in stoppage time of the second half of extra time.
It surely felt like a blur for Hildeby, but it felt like a blur for a lot of people who were watching, too.
More NHL news:
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- Cale Makar is about to become a lot more expensive
- Sidney Crosby trade plans did a 180 for the Penguins
- It's time to ask a serious Matthew Knies question
- Oilers' Frederik Andersen signing is a massive bargain
Billy Heyen
Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim's basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive high school sports coverage at the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men's national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. When people ask if he's seen a movie, the answer is usually "No, I was probably watching sports." Even away from sports, his main hobby is running (much slower than any athlete in these pages).
Source: Sporting News
