Volume 67, Issue 3

Rangers Eyeing Playoffs—And Cup

by David Epstein

The New York Rangers have given their fans many reasons to believe that this is their year.  The fans are hoping for the Stanley Cup and will not be satisfied with mere playoff qualification.  They are expecting to see a legitimate contender.

This optimism was fueled by the arrival of a new coach, Brian Trottier, familiar to Ranger fans from his playing days with the despised Islanders.  He brings seven Stanley Cup rings (one as assistant coach) to a team that has not seen the playoffs in five years.  His job is to improve a team that last year ranked dead last in penalty killing and next-to-last in goals against.

He will have help.  The Blueshirts continued their policy of overpaying for free agents by signing defenseman Darius Kasparaitis and center Bobby Holik.  This practice is much maligned by team officials around the league for making salaries skyrocket, but Rangers fans are happy with the signing of two of the toughest players in hockey.

Kasparaitis always ranks among the league’s best in hits and should help steady a defense that has been putrid for years. Kasparaitis, a stay-at-home type who handles the puck well, is expected to be paired with offensive defensemen and alternate captain Brian Leetch, or to be reunited with Vladimir Malakhov.  Kasparitis and Malakhov formed a successful tandem for the Montreal Canadiens in the ‘92-’93 season.

Holik is a typical checking center who was acquired to bring stability to the center position behind the fragile Eric Lindros. Both players are 6’4”, 235 pounds, giving the Rangers possibly the biggest top two centers in the league.  Holik plays great defense and scores twenty-plus goals a year.  His size and toughness are the primary reasons the Rangers went after him.

Two more reasons for Ranger fans’ optimism are acquisitions made at last season’s trading deadline: right wing Pavel Bure, the most exciting, dynamic goal scorer in the league, and 25-year-old offensive defenseman Tom Poti.

With Bure expected to flank Eric Lindros, Ranger fans are already speculating as to the exact date he will break Adam Graves’s team record of 52 goals in a season.  The team’s imposing top line is expected to be rounded out by Petr Nedved, who will shift from center to left wing.  He will be returning to a position he once played successfully at Pittsburgh, scoring 95 points.

Popular center Mike York was traded to obtain the enigmatic Poti.  Glen Sather said at the time of the trade that if Tom Poti does not become a top ten player in the league then the trade would be a disappointment.  However, even at 6’3”, Poti rarely hits and is suspect on the defensive end.  The Rangers hope he reaches his potential soon enough to be a force on the team’s blue line.

To complement their many stars, the Rangers have assembled an intriguing supporting cast.  Radek Dvorak is coming off a disappointing season, which included surgery for torn knee cartilage. He’s trying to return to his form of two seasons ago when he was scored over thirty goals as part of the dynamic Czech line.  Jamie Lundmark and Mikael Samuelsson bring youth to a veteran team.  Lundmark, hailed as the next Jeremy Roenick, led the team in preseason goals including two overtime game-winners.  Samuelsson, who after being acquired for Adam Graves jumped right into a veteran-laden roster without missing a beat, is expected to be even better this year having added muscle to deal with the grueling schedule.  Matthew Barnaby and Sandy McCarthy bring the toughness and goon tactics that every team needs to protect its star players.

Nobody knows what 42-year-old team captain Mark Messier has left in the tank. He still brings great leadership and intensity, but was really retained as a public relations ploy.  Messier wasn’t ready to hang it up and Sather couldn’t turn down the aging legend.

The ‘02-‘03 New York Rangers have many fans optimistic for the upcoming season.  Similar optimism was felt when the large free agent class led by Theo Fleury was introduced in the summer of 1999, as well as when Messier was brought back in 2000 and Lindros arrived in 2001.  Is this season’s early optimism going to end in the same disappointment as the five seasons’ preceding it?   Fans can only watch and see.

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