THE naive will believe what they will. Let them. Let them believe that the Rangers and Al Montoya’s representative exchanged up to a dozen contract proposals over six weeks but that the kid goaltender’s decision to return to Michigan for his junior year rather than sign with the Blueshirts had nothing to do with money, nothing to do with Glen Sather’s refusal to give the sixth overall pick in the draft the same cap deal he’d awarded 10th-overall Dan Blackburn three years earlier. Let them believe the organization’s pronouncements on the subject. Fine with us.
What we know, what we’ve learned from credible sources, is that Montoya’s mom, Dr. Irene Silva, made it perfectly clear to the Rangers; to her son’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, and to her teenage son, himself, that the only way she would approve of him leaving school would be if he were to get that cap deal, not one cent less, even with the knowledge he’s certain to get less next summer or the summer after that.
The Rangers blundered here, folks. If this were an ordinary year, then the reluctance to cap Montoya in order to entice him to leave school might have been understandable. But this isn’t an ordinary year at all. The likelihood of an extended lockout presented the Rangers with a unique opportunity. They would have had up to a full year to work with Montoya in both an AHL training camp and throughout the AHL season without any pressure whatsoever to rush him to New York. And with Blackburn unlikely to be given the medical go-ahead to play until at least late November, and with Henrik Lundqvist having chosen to remain in Europe, Montoya would have received ample ice time to develop in Hartford. Without a team in New York, goaltending coach Benoit Allaire – whose hiring represents a significant coup -would have had a full season to work with Montoya on a daily basis.
Now, not.
Who knows why Sather chose to line up here with NHL militants who pretend that the Entry Level cap has been destructive to the league’s finances, while at the same time giving appropriately significant money to get young talent such as David Liffition and Jake Taylor – and maybe soon, Dwight Helminen if not also Nate Guenin, Lee Falardeau and Hugh Jessiman – into Hartford?
Oh, that’s right. We forgot. It wasn’t about money.
Of course not.
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With so many future Rangers (oh, they’d better be) in Hartford this season, wouldn’t it make perfect sense for Tom Renney to coach the AHL Wolf Pack with Ryan McGill as his lead assistant throughout the duration of the lockout?
Why wouldn’t that be the way to go under these unique circumstances? If Renney truly is expected to be long-term behind the Ranger bench, why wouldn’t you want him to get a year’s jump with the players he’ll presumably be coaching in a year or two?
Through personal experience, we know Gary Bettman to be a good person with generous instincts. We also know him to be a deal-maker as an executive. That’s what’s so disturbing about the unyielding stance the commissioner has taken in these CBA negotiations. That’s why we believe the league’s take-it-or-leave-it position to be so ominous. There’s a hidden agenda here, with many educated observers believing that Bettman has been given an ultimatum by the Board that his job depends on getting a hard cap.
To repeat from a week ago: the NHL gained nearly $70 million last season in revenues vs. payroll from 2002-03. When is the press conference announcing that, and when is that information going up on the NHL’s propaganda-dedicated CBA website?
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The much-too-short life of Jennifer Ferraro will be celebrated this Thursday with a golf outing and dinner at Bethpage, with proceeds from the event going to the Jennifer Ferraro Foundation that was created a year ago to fight the cancer that took Chris Ferraro’s wife at the age of 32. With Pat LaFontaine, Michael Peca, Matt Barnaby and Bob Nystrom among the celebrities scheduled to attend, those interested in joining the fight (and having a great day), should call (516) 922-5021 for information.
And a week from tomorrow night, Mike Richter will be appearing at the Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue for the benefit of the Adopt-A-Classroom project. Those interested in attending should call the Rangers at 212-465-6486. The Yale student will be discussing his life experiences from 6-to-7 p.m., which likely means that the hour will provide enough time to get the voluble one through his teenage years.
Finally, have a great August. We’ll see you next at the World Cup.
