So Dave Checketts and Neil Smith flew to Winnipeg yesterday to pitch the Rangers to Theo Fleury in what became a lengthy meeting with agent Don Baizley. But in light of a market that appears to have largely closed on the unrestricted free-agent right wing, perhaps Baizley should have flown to New York to pitch his client to the Rangers.
Unless there’s an as yet undeclared interested party on the horizon, the Rangers may well be bidding against themselves for the right to sign Fleury, who scored 40 goals while splitting last season between the Flames and Avalanche. Previously having declared his lack of interest in moving east throughout last season in interviews with the media and in conversations with friends, Fleury now is saying that he’d love to come to New York.
Little wonder. Colorado, who traded three players to Calgary for his rental rights in late February, dropped out before bidding even had opened. There’s talk that Fleury’s demand for a no-trade clause was a non-starter with the Avalanche, but it’s difficult to believe that that is more than a cover story. It’s difficult to believe that Fleury would have insisted upon such a clause to remain in Colorado, which he more than once proclaimed his first priority. The fact is, Fleury, who did not score in his last nine playoff games, was a major disappointment in the Western Finals against Dallas, thus becoming an overpriced luxury item for cost-conscious Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix.
And while there had been information over the last six weeks that the Rangers were setting aside between $8 million and $10 million per to persuade Fleury to come to Broadway, such an offer would now seem inappropriate and unnecessary. Unless Fleury is about to play stare-down with Smith and Checketts, the Rangers may not need to offer more than $6M per in order to get the 5-6 winger’s name on the bottom line.
It should be kept in mind that Baizley has a well-earned reputation as a deal-maker. He’s the agent who recently concluded the three-year, $30 million contracts for Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya. He is also the agent with whom the Rangers dealt on the Joe Sakic offer sheet. Baizley’s first deal with the Rangers took place 21 years ago in engineering the free agent deal that brought Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson to Broadway from Winnipeg.
The Garden’s barnstorming tour yesterday included a morning meeting in Manhattan with Valeri Kamensky’s agent, Paul Theofanous. It’s set to continue today with a meeting outside Los Angeles with Stephane Quintal’s agent, Pat Brisson.
No word, however, on whether Smith and Checketts plan to stop by Hilton Head for a beer.
*Negotiations with the Blackhawks on the deal to bring Doug Gilmour to the Rangers in exchange for Scott Fraser hit a snag yesterday, the snag being Chicago’s lack of enthusiasm for Fraser.
Sources indicate that the teams are working on alternatives, though there’s little the skeletal-like Rangers have at this point to offer. If Fleury does sign, however, Mike Knuble becomes expendable from a right wing corps that would also include John MacLean, Todd Harvey and Pavel Brendl. The Rangers had hoped to partially offset the $12M owed to Gilmour the next two years by shedding their own $3.1M obligation to Fraser, but that now seems unlikely.
