IN THE matter of the renegotiating Alexei Yashin, we’d feel a whole lot more sympathy for Senators management if owner Rod Bryden hadn’t spent so much of the last year threatening to move the team to the States unless provided significant financial relief by the Canadian government.
Funny, isn’t it, how one man’s blackmail is another man’s political lobbying.
Fact is, if asked, most teams do take care of their franchise players before they enter the final year of Group II contracts, the way the Penguins did with Jaromir Jagr, the way the Sabres did with Dominik Hasek, the way the Mighty Ducks did with Teemu Selanne. Fact is, the Senators should have gone to Yashin long ago with an offer to adjust his $3.6 million base for 1999-2000 while extending his deal another two or three years into the appropriate $8-10M per range.
Yashin is one of the five or six best players in the world, which is why once the Senators recognize somewhere around December that they’re going to have to trade the stubborn 25-year-old pivot, the Rangers are going to be compelled to jump into the bidding war head-first. Which means that if Ottawa wants Manny Malhotra, Pavel Brendl, Jamie Lundmark or Todd Harvey, they’re going to get two of them, and more.
The Rangers and Neil Smith didn’t commit $67M in guaranteed free-agent money and to a $60M payroll in order to finish seventh and win one playoff round, you can be sure of that. We’re on record as skeptical of the mass signings. But if management is more right about their acquisitions than we are, if Fleury and Kamensky and Lefebvre and Quintal and Taylor and McLean are everything advertised, then adding Yashin to the mix surely would accelerate the team’s ascension into immediate serious Stanley Cup contention. There would be no reason to think otherwise.
Under different circumstances a year ago, the Rangers didn’t want to give up the future for Pavel Bure, and they were right. This year, however, if Yashin goes on the market, the future becomes now. *
FNOW IT makes sense why the Sabres during the playoffs were feeling out teams about potential interest in deals for Hasek. And while the Dominator, clearly one of the most innovative and brilliant athletes of the era, is to be congratulated for going out on his own terms, wethinks he protests too much about a lack of privacy. It’s his celebrity, every bit as much as his talent, which 092 . 0000.00earned him a fortune. Talent alone is worth nothing. Talent that can be marketed and sold is worth millions. *
SCOTT Fraser, we hardly knew ‘ye. Or perhaps we knew ‘ye too well.
The Rangers have bought out the final two years of their three-year obligation to Fraser, who wound up getting (as opposed to earning) $3.066M for his two-goal, four-assist, 28-game Broadway career. The Rangers were able to strike a two-thirds buyout with Fraser on his final two years on an 092 . 0000.00agreement with agent Larry Kelly even after the July 1 buyout deadline had passed.
It’s easy to mock the Rangers on this one; too easy. For the burden of failure in this case lies with Fraser himself, who came to training camp out of shape and then never found a way to impress either John Muckler or his own teammates with a semblance of an NHL work ethic.
The Rangers would have erased Fraser’s name from the spreadsheet prior to July 2, but because they were talk092 . 0000.00ing to Chicago about moving him for Doug Gilmour, they were able to reach the agreement with Kelly (also Gilmour’s agent). And though the Blackhawks eventually passed on the deal in which they originally indicated interest, it’s still possible they might invite Fraser to camp on a tryout, given that he enjoyed some of his greatest pro success in Hamilton of the AHL while playing for current Chicago coach Lorne Molleken.
While Group II free agent defenseman Mathieu Schneider has 092 . 0000.00agreed to a one-year deal for approximately $2.75M with the Rangers that will take him to unrestricted free agency next summer, Group II Mike Knuble remains unsigned with only a $660,000 qualifying offer for one year on the table.
“Mike understands that with all of the focus on signing unrestricted free agents, he wasn’t the main priority, but we’re both confident we can get something done as training camp approaches,” Kurt Overhardt, Knuble’s agent, told Slap Shots. “Would he sign the one-year deal if that’s all that’s offered? No comment.
“But I can tell you that Mike is excited about the coming season, he really likes playing for John Muckler, and that he’s looking forward to coming back to New York.”
Knuble, who scored 15 goals last year as one of four Rangers (with Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and John MacLean) to play in all 82 games, is currently fifth on the depth chart at right wing behind Fleury, MacLean, Harvey and Brendl. Which means that he doesn’t have very much leverage at all, and that sooner or later he’s going to have to take what the Rangers are willing to offer. *
UNRESTRICTED and unemployed: Wendel Clark, Mark Fitzpatrick, Bill Ranford, Mark Tinordi, Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Norton, Brent Fedyk, Sandy Moger, Ray Ferraro, Ray Sheppard, Dino Ciccarelli.
What sense does a schedule make in which teams play only 20 of 82 games within their own divisions? None?
Does Mario Lemieux own the Penguins yet? *
FINALLY, informants report that Chris Chelios, who received a two-year contract extension to accept a trade to the Red Wings at last year’s deadline, is extremely unhappy at the prospect of both playing and living in Detroit, and wishes he were back in Chicago.
We’re shocked. 092 . 0000.00 00000
