Wednesday morning, I set off to Kettler Capitals Iceplex on a serious mission. I was on deadline, working on a story on Braden Holtby for The New York Times. I paced around the rink until the locker room opened. When Karl Alzner, Holtby’s longtime teammate, became available, I prepared to pepper him with questions about Holtby’s breakout season, but Karl had other ideas.

“Hey, I gotta ask *you* a question!” Alzner exclaimed, pointing out the baby blue Apple Watch on my wrist. “How did you get that so fast?”

Caught off-guard, I steadfastly defended my purchase.

“See, it was a waste of money,” I replied. “I was gonna get like a FitBit, and then I was like, well I just got a check.”

Karl, however, didn’t need to be sold. He had already placed an order.

“I don’t have it yet,” he told me. “I’ve been waiting for it!”

Of all storylines at Kettler Capitals Iceplex prior to game one against the Rangers, my watch turned out to be one of them.

As Alex Ovechkin spoke to reporters against the far wall of the locker room, Mike Green entered with a handful of Easton Stealth CNTs. We engaged in one of our routine equipment check-ins for a few minutes before Green turned his attention to another hard to find piece of gadgetry.

“Did you get the new watch?” he asked excitedly. “Do you like it?”