NEWARK, N.J. — Club music blared as Alexandar Georgiev checked his phone and saw the caller ID. He frantically scanned the busy beach, wondering how he could find a quiet spot to pick up.
“I tried to run away,” he said, “but there was pretty loud music blasting in the background.”
It was New York Rangers management, informing the 26-year-old goalie he had been traded to the Colorado Avalanche. Georgiev was vacationing with his parents in Bulgaria, where he lived as a child before his family moved to Russia. The first Bulgarian-born player in NHL history hadn’t been home in several years.