Hockeybird.com: Park and Ratelle To Boston

I chose that headline for a reason. Like all Rangers fans I'm conflicted this morning and found last night to be amongst the most surreal in my time as a Ranger fan.

On the one hand, we're finally getting what we wished for. Those high priced, under performing vets who have frustrated us in their various guises over the years are finally being shipped out of town to make way for youth. The trading of Leetch signaled a break with the past, an ushering out of the old guard and the begining of a new era. The Rangers have amassed a stockpile of prospects and draft picks which continues to grow and Hartford's top performers are getting a chance to strut their stuff at the NHL level.

At the same time, seeing Leetch in a Maple Leaf uniform was more disturbing than I had anticipated. I agree with Rocha who said on the boards last night that the moment it hit him was when TSN cut to Leetch sitting on the bench after his first of three assists and he had that look on his face that we've all seen a million times when he was a Ranger. Meanwhile, the final 19 games promise to be a painful race to the bottom of the standings and what's left of the team is a depressed mix of emotionally distraught vets and in-experienced youth.

I've been reading a lot of different reactions from fans on various message boards and newsgroups and I've spoken to friends and there are some who feel bitter and betrayed. They're finding it hard to root for the team right now and many say they're through with the team for good. While I can't tell people how to feel, or where they should place their loyalties, I wanted to remind folks with today's headline that the Rangers have been through this before and there is something to look forward to on the other side. Fans felt betrayed when Ed Giacomin, the heart and soul of the Rangers, was traded to Detroit. The 5 minute standing ovation he received when Detroit next played the Rangers reduced him to tears. Fans were similarly outraged when Brad Park and Jean Ratelle were traded to our arch-rival the Boston Bruins. It would be years before the Rangers won the Stanley Cup but when they finally did a famous sign in the stands read "Now I can die in peace." There was no asterisk on that sign which said, "*Though I stopped rooting for the Rangers after the Park trade and only recently jumped back on the bandwagon."

We're getting close to rock bottom here and that feeling is reflected in today's news. We have a long hard road ahead of us and it may be several years before the team sees the post season again. But the team endures and hopefully will long after everyone reading this is dead.

On to the news. The Rodent recaps last night's game. It's not pretty but, then, what did you expect?

Leedsy brings some much needed humor to the situation with his latest fantasy column in which he complains that Sather has traded away all of his best jokes.

The Daily News starts things off with an anonymous game wrap up, as if the writer was ashamed to associate himself with the team at this point. This is what it's come down to:

The loss was the Rangers' third straight, left them with only five wins in their last 24 games (5-16-2-1) and dropped them to a season-worst nine games under .500. It enabled them to remain just one point ahead of Carolina, which has played two fewer games, in the backward battle for the fifth-worst record in the NHL.

In a second Daily News article, we read that Messier is about to cry again. I suspect that many of us are right there with him. He was standing outside a Rangers dressing room that was enveloped by a bizarre mood. Players alternately joked about who would be the next veteran jettisoned in the club's fire sale and expressed anger or disgust that Leetch could be traded. This mood seemed to be reflected by a stunned Bobby Holik in his pre-game interview with ESPN.

The Daily News also saves me having to scan the Toronto papers with their article on Leetch's debut with the Leafs. Long-time Rangers' ace Brian Leetch sounded depressed to no longer be a Blueshirt, even though his performance for his new team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, was impressive. But then, Brian Leetch always sounds depressed, doesn't he?

From that same article, it the following, which should put an end to any speculation that Leetch worked with Sather on this trade:

Leetch had a short conversation with Sather, and said last night that he "didn't really have anything to say" to his former coach.

In today's Post, Larry Brooks informs us that Lindros' return has been delayed by a new injury -- this time to his rotator cuff. This takes Lindros off the trading block and I suppose I should be disappointed by that but, I like Lindros too much and am secretly happy about it. Brooks also has the following trade rumors for what they're worth:

Greg de Vries also has drawn significant interest from Dallas, as has Vladimir Malakhov, about whom the Devils have also inquired. The Rangers are believed interested in Dallas' 6-4, 215-pound defenseman John Erskine, 23.

Another article from Brooks covers Messier's reaction again. There are a lot of Messier quotes floating around today but I picked this one:

In a perfect world, this never would have happened. Anybody who is a Ranger or a Ranger fan obviously is disappointed, but to see the way the last seven years have unfolded, and to see this end with Brian being traded, I guess this is the bottoming out.

I think that sums things up pretty well and hopefully he's right about this signifying the bottom.

Matthew Barnaby has no doubt what the scene will be like tonight at Madison Square Garden when the Rangers play host to Washington in their first game without Leetch.

"But fans have a right to do and say what they feel. And it will be out of love for Brian, that they will be hostile. I just hope it's not like 'Slapshot.' I hope I don't get hit by anything in the crossfire."

Rodent and others have speculated on this as well and I really hope they're wrong. Folks may not like the way it's been handled but this is what everyone has been asking for. An end to the era of over priced vets and the start of a true rebuilding program featuring young prospects. Let's support those prospects and make them proud to be Rangers. Let's recognize that, whether or not this team has worked out, the players are human and are in a state of emotional turmoil far worse than ours right now. Let's show them our support. Let's show some class.

Scouts from, among others, the Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames attended last night's game. Left wings Chris Simon and Martin Rucinsky greeted each other prior to the game by asking, "still here?''

In that same article he reports that, "interim coach Tom Renney said the team's mood was visibly altered." And here's my biggest complaint and my biggest fear. Whose job is it to address the player's mood? By all reports, Sather did not handle the Leetch situation with the class one would expect a franchise player deserves. While Leetch knew a trade was a possibility, he was blindsided when it came. For his part, Renney should know that the team would be severely shaken by all of this. A good coach would have called a team meeting to express the team's gratitude for what Leetch has done over the year, discuss the trades that have occured and the possibility of those to come and reassure the players that there is a big picture here. Players will either soon find themselves playing for a playoff team or staying on to be part of an epic rebuild. But that would be leadership and that's what this team has been lacking for the past 8 years.

Finally, in today's New York Times, Jason Diamos discusses the team's future and really, that's what we should all begin to think about now, even as the season plays out and we mourn the loss of Leetch. Things are always darkest before the dawn. From the ashes of the old era will rise a new team. It's an exciting time to be a Ranger fan.

The news is a couple of days behind. Ten minutes before Sather traded Kovalev was rock bottom. The Rangers are already on the way back.

This Canuck fan has been through this many times. It isn't that bad. This time next year, the team won't be any better but you will be able to see how it will get better. The next year will be the really frustrating one. The team will have a lot more talent, you will expect more and they will still suck. The third year the team will make a better run at the playoffs than this year.

Posted by: Tom Benjamin on March 5, 2004 04:03 PM

I just had to get this off my chest. Can anyone explain why the Rangers retired Richters number without first having him elected to the Rangers Hall of Fame at the very least. We have both Brad Park and Jean Ratelle who are in the Hockey and Rangers Hall of Fame and neither of their numbers are retired. Ratelle still hold the record for points in a single season 46 goals and 63 assists for 109 points in only 63 games. He is also #3 all time in Rangers scoring despite being forced to finish his last 6 years in a Boston uniform. I believe retiring Richters number was a stunt to fill the seats and is a slap in the face to Giacomin and Gilbert who waited so long and Ratelle and Park who are stil waiting. Maybe someone in the organization will wake up and do the right overdue thing for both these classy men.

Posted by: Bill Wynne on July 15, 2004 10:42 PM