VANCOUVER – Ranger fans tried to run Petr Nedved out of town in March and then Ranger management tried to trade him out of town in July and August. The attempts failed. Now, 19 games into the season, this same No. 93 has emerged as the team’s featured centerman.
How bizarre.
The Blueshirts took aim at their third straight victory here last night against the Canucks. If successful, it would have been their third straight win and fifth in six games. What’s more, a win would have pushed the Rangers to .500 for the first time since the sixth game of the year. And Nedved is an important reason why things seem to have steadied since last Saturday night’s mess in Columbus that opened this four-game trip.
For with Eric Lindros barely a blip on the radar screen and Bobby Holik still unable to play, Nedved – with support from the role-playing Mark Messier – has stepped up to fill the breach. He has been tenacious on the puck; strong in the one-on-one battles on the boards and in the corners. He has excelled killing penalties. He’s been reliable in the faceoff circle and his own end; hence his presence on the ice in the final minute of one-goal games, such as the 5-4 win in San Jose on Monday and the 2-1 win in Calgary on Thursday.
And he has been producing offense as well, registering five goals in the last 11 games – the 11 games since he moved back to the middle after opening the year as Lindros’ left wing.
“I was happy to play with Eric and Pavel [Bure] if that’s the way the coaches felt I could best help the team, but there is no question I feel better in the middle,” Nedved said. “I guess that’s only natural, because playing center is more natural for me. Everything is more instinctive; I have more space to skate, I feel that I get more pucks and can do more at center.
“I definitely feel better in the middle, but if there’s a time that the coaches want me to go back to the wing, I’ll do my best. My only focus is to contribute to a winning team and make the playoffs. That’s why I’m here.”
Let’s be perfectly frank. As Nedved well knows, he is a Ranger because Glen Sather was unsuccessful in trying to move him this summer. He’d be a Flame, exchanged for Derek Morris, had Calgary GM Craig Button not insisted that the Rangers assume nearly $6 million of the $9.3M Nedved is due to earn this year and next. He’d be a Coyote if Sather had been able to reach a deal with Phoenix GM Mike Barnett. But as in talks that have persisted for years – he was all but gone to Carolina three years ago in the three-way for Keith Tkachuk before the Hurricanes pulled out – that’s in the past.
What’s so critical about the present is the support he’s received from Bryan Trottier, a huge booster hailing back to his days as an assistant coach in Pittsburgh when Nedved was having the best years of his NHL career as a Penguin.
“Bryan has been huge for me. I have a great relationship with him and the coaching staff,” Nedved said. “I came ready to training camp and have worked hard. I don’t want to let the coaches down.”
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Lindros, whose only two goals of the season were scored within a 26-second span while on a five-on-three power play in Buffalo on Oct. 17, on his mind-boggling slump: “It’s never been this bad.”
