THAT THE RANGERS actually got together for an informal team function following yesterday’s physicals and formalities at Rye is beyond me. I’d have thought that since pretending to be a team was no longer mandatory, the players who had let one another down since October would have chosen to go their separate ways as quickly as possible.
The post-season heart-to-hearts with Dave Checketts commence today. Brian Leetch, it turns out, won’t be the only Ranger to meet individually with the Garden president. Others, most likely including Adam Graves, Mike Richter and Theo Fleury, have been invited to Manhattan for command performances, too.
The captain yesterday pledged that he would be completely candid when conferring tomorrow with Checketts, that he would feel both comfortable and obligated to name names if asked to do so.
“It’s for the betterment of the franchise, and I would expect others to do the same,” Leetch said. “I’m sure that anything I say won’t be repeated to another player, just as I’m sure nothing any other player says won’t be repeated to me.
“But we all have to be honest, here. Three years without making the playoffs. If we’re not going to be honest about this, the process isn’t really going to have much meaning.”
In order for this process to have much meaning, Garden ownership and upper management — that means the Dolan Family and Checketts — must acknowledge that the overall philosophy that’s been in place for the last three years simply does not and cannot work.
It’s not possible that every free agent the Rangers sign is a slacker or an ingrate. There has to be a reason that a Mike Keane plays like a pit bull in Montreal and Colorado before coming to New York, and then again in Dallas after leaving New York, but plays like a pussycat while actually in New York — and for the organization that hands him financial security for life, no less.
Throwing millions of dollars at players on the downsides of their respective careers, bringing them all together in an exclusive retirement village, coddling them, refusing to hold them accountable for their failures; this, Checketts must now be ready to admit, is flawed management philosophy.
It becomes fatally flawed when management doesn’t do its homework, doesn’t differentiate between those who have New York-type personalities and those who don’t; between those who actually want to play for the Rangers and those who have no other choice but to come here after receiving exorbitant offers no one could refuse.
The Rangers at this point would have to question the motivation of any free agent who seeks to sign with them. The team isn’t close to winning anything, isn’t close to contending for anything, so at this point, other than the money, what would attract a thirtysomething to New York?
I look at this year’s preliminary list of unrestricted free agents, and I love Phoenix’ hard-edged winger, Dallas Drake. But maybe he’s the next Keane. If Drake is interested in New York, I’d tell his agent to present me with his best offer, then I’d respond by offering between 10-and-15 percent less. I’d find out what the privilege of playing for the Rangers is worth to Drake.
The Ranger locker room is filled with placid individuals. The room could use an obnoxious fellow or two. The room needs energy.
Neil Smith’s departure opens the door for Mark Messier’s return to Broadway, it’s just that simple. Whether the Captain will actually stride through that door is another matter, entirely. But it’s a matter that will demand the attention of the new general manager, whomever he is. If Messier returns, it won’t be for reasons of nostalgia. It will be because No. 11 is the right man for the job of restoring pride and purpose and accountability to a locker room and organization currently devoid of it.
Really, wouldn’t it be nice for once if the Rangers were known as the hardest-working team in the league? And wouldn’t it be nice for once if the Rangers actually acted like a team during the season, on the ice, instead of waiting until after the season, in a pub?
