A TWO-week, pressure-free spurt following elimination and all of a sudden people want to make a case for everyone’s return to Broadway – except, of course, for Valeri Kamensky, fingered somehow as the sole cause for the Rangers’ least competitive season in 25 years.
All of a sudden, there are cases being made to bring back Rich Pilon; to bring back Sylvain Lefebvre; to bring back Adam Graves; to bring back Guy Hebert; to bring back Petr Nedved. All of a sudden, because of a half-dozen largely ornamental matches, people seem compelled to pretend the season wasn’t the disaster the standings document that it was.
Yes, it certainly has been encouraging to watch Manny Malhotra’s work on the wing, but it takes a leap of faith to write him in as as a top-four winger for next year, just as it takes a leap of faith to expect Mark Messier at 41 to compete as a first-line center in 2001-2002. Yes, it has been neat indeed to project a wonderful future ahead for Peter Smrek, but let’s temper our enthusiasm until we can determine how he responds to the steady pounding he’ll take over the course of the grind of a full season.
The fact is, the Rangers need a massive overhaul in personnel and improvement in execution to become competitive with even the lowest-echelon playoff teams, let alone the elite Eastern clubs. They need to become much bigger, stronger, tougher and meaner; to become capable of winning the battles in the trenches that separate the boys from the men and the gritty contenders from the fancy pretenders.
Let’s keep these last two weeks in perspective, please: the Rangers didn’t hold a top-eight spot after Dec. 19. They were essentially out of the mix by the middle of January.
But somehow now in retrospect, it’s not supposed to have been so bad. Maybe this is just another case of people with money and influence buying pardons.
*
BRIAN Leetch is a terrific player, quite obviously among the class of the league, but No. 2 has -quite understandably – fallen into some very bad habits in his own end trying to compensate for the defensive weaknesses that have engulfed his team for four seasons. Overworked and overburdened, Leetch drifts from the front of the net chasing the puck too often, and gets caught yielding way too much good ice. A big, strong man, Leetch also has gotten away from the physical game he’s quite capable of playing – especially on the penalty kill.
Scott Stevens was a very good defenseman when he came to New Jersey; Larry Robinson taught him how to become a great defenseman. Leetch needs to play within a more defense-oriented system, to get better and more-specialized tutelage and to get less ice-time. With that, the NHL’s best offensive defenseman will surely add another Norris or two to the pair he has already earned.
Far be it for me to question the wisdom of the wall of fandom that supports the Rangers, but how on Earth anyone other than Michael York won the Extra Effort Award named for the brave Steven McDonald is completely beyond me.
Everyone hopes Mike Richter can make it all the way back, but it’s anyone’s guess who will be in nets on the first day of training camp. It would be no shock here if it’s either Dominik Hasek or Patrick Roy, providing that either or both become available; if not, then quite possibly Jeff Hackett.
Understand: Glen Sather doesn’t want a kid or a project back there. If he were after a project, he might look at Tampa Bay’s expendable Kevin Weekes. If the GM were after a kid, he’d almost certainly turn to Buffalo, where Darcy Regier has Martin Biron, Mika Noronen and Michigan State sophomore sensation Ryan Miller stacked up behind Hasek.
This, too: It is time for the Rangers to get a big-time goaltending coach whose work is focused on the NHL level. Having Sam St. Laurent around every here and there just doesn’t cut it.
And if Ted Green is the defensive genius that is his reputation, next year would be the time to see some evidence of that, I do believe.
*
IF I get a vote on bringing back Nedved, far too often cited for who and what he isn’t (a No. 1) than for who and what he is (a plus, point-per-game No. 2, who can skate and kill penalties), it’s yea.
On everyone else listed at the top, it’s nay, with the exception of Graves – only if he returns reincarnated as a checking center. Which No. 9, himself, may not choose to do if given the option.
It really wasn’t in the character of Graves, Richter or John MacLean to have done so, but I bet that Sather would have loved it, absolutely loved it, if one of them had fired back at him in the newspapers after having been called out publicly by the GM.
I bet Sather was just itching for a good scrap like that all along.
It’s impossible to project the future of Theo Fleury, still receiving intensive therapy in a rehabilitaion facility. No one knows whether he’ll be cleared to return next season. If he is, no one now knows whether New York would then provide the best environment for him to continue his recovery.
What happens if it’s determined that he’d be best served by returning West, that he’d have better support systems in place in, say, Calgary or Phoenix? There’s $7M on the contract and he’s a commodity; but he’s also an individual who needs help and support.
I don’t have any idea what the answer is, here. I just don’t.
*
SLAP SHOTS Awards: Hart Trophy: 1. Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh; 2. Joe Sakic, Colorado; 3. Sean Burke, Phoenix. (Penguins were 15-14-6-1 before No. 66’s extra-terrestrial return on Dec. 27, were 26-14-3-1 thereafter heading into the weekend, were averaging 2.86 goals-per prior to his return, have averaged 3.84 GPG since.)
Norris: 1. Stevens, Devils; 2. Nick Lidstrom, Detroit; 3. Leetch, Rangers. Vezina: 1. Martin Brodeur, Devils; 2. Tommy Salo, Edmonton; 3. Burke, Phoenix. Calder: 1. Evgeny Nabakov, San Jose; 2. Martin Havlat, Ottawa; 3. Colin White, Devils. Ottawa. Adams: 1. Scotty Bowman, Detroit; Ken Hitchcock, Dallas; 3. Andy Murray, Los Angeles. Anti-Adams: 1. Pat Quinn, Toronto.
Pollock Award (Best GM): 1. Marshall Johnston, Ottawa; Anti-Pollock: 1. Quinn, Toronto (Does anyone notice a trend?). First All-Star Team. G: Brodeur; D: Stevens, Lidstrom; LW: Patrik Elias, Devils; C: Sakic; RW: Alexander Mogilny, Devils.
In retrospect, best 1999-2000 trades: 1. Lou Lamoriello, Devils, acquiring Mogilny from Vancouver for Brendan Morrison and Denis Pederson; 2. Neil Smith, Rangers, acquiring Radek Dvorak from San Jose for Todd Harvey; 3. Bob Clarke, Flyers, obtaining Rick Tocchet from Phoenix for Mikael Renberg. Worst: 1. Bryan Murray, Panthers, dealing Dvorak to San Jose for Mike Vernon.
*
FINALLY, the self-inflicted insults never cease for the NHL’s Shipwreck Franchise: If you can believe this, the Islanders’ letterhead now features the logo of the Arena Football League Dragons, as well as their own.
Just the latest installment of the Computer Associates Amateur Hour production at the Coliseum, that’s all.
