It has been quite some time since he played in Madison Square Garden. It also has been quite some time since the Rangers have been this close to a playoff berth. Tonight, Brian Leetch returns to the scene of his greatest accomplishments to face a team far eclipsing anything his last seven Ranger teams were able to do.

It was something that needed to be done, at a time that needed to come. Thus far, the trade has only yielded one NHL player in Maxim Kondratiev (since flipped for Petr Sykora), for the Blueshirts. But it has also given us Jarkko Immonen, the point-per-game Wolf Pack center; Lauri Korpikoski, the hard working, consensus sure-thing Glen Sather would like to have in New York by September; and Michael Sauer, the second round defenseman who is several years away from a shot with the big club. In other words, it gave us a future, and unexpectedly, a present.

If any Ranger deserves the adulation of the fans, it is Brian Leetch. If any Ranger has ever deserved to have his number retired, it is Brian Leetch. All good things come to an end, however, and for Brian, it happened about three or four years ago, as his body, and his teams, broke down.

As per his request, there will be no videos shown tonight. There will be no red carpet, and no crystal sticks given out. He is still too upset with the Garden brass for anything like that. Tonight, it's just between Brian and the fans. The time will come for his banner-raising ceremony, and the parade of teammates that will speak of his skills and his class, but right now the wounds are too fresh and too deep for him. Tonight, it will just be a well deserved "thank you".

Larry Brooks of the Post: The reality tonight is this. A member of the family is coming back home to the Garden. And the Rangers are in first place. Cheers.

John Dellapina of the Daily News: "The way I see it, there was Ray Bourque, who I think was a little better defensively and maybe tougher, but Brian has the best skill of all the defensemen," said Jaromir Jagr, now the Rangers' stud after lining up against Leetch — right winger vs. left defenseman — for over a decade. "Paul Coffey had more speed. But for pure skill, I don't think there ever was a better defenseman that I ever saw than Brian."

Anthony Rieber at Newsday: Rangers fans, who have had a lot to cheer about this season, will have one more reason tonight. Leetch will have to try to hold it together and then play a hockey game.

Andrew Gross of the Journal News: "It'll never be just another game, even if I'm lucky enough to play three, four more years," the 38-year-old Leetch told The Journal News after playing in Boston's 5-2 preseason win over the Rangers Oct. 1. "It's all the emotions: from disappointment, to sometimes anger and bitterness, to remembering the good times and the laughter."

Jason Diamos of the Times: "My first inclination is to stick with the team that wanted me there," Leetch said, referring to the Bruins, who chose not to trade him at this month's deadline, even though they will probably not make the playoffs this season. "It would be tough going to go back to the Rangers, because they would first have to be interested in me. And that hasn't been the case for two years."

Joe McDonald at NY SportsDay writes about the "return of the prince".

Michael Nylander was named NHL Offensive Player-of-the-Week today. The Rangers' center had three goals and five assists in three games since March 14th. Ironically, Jaromir Jagr has not won the honor yet this year despite leading the league in both goals and points, while Henrik Lundqvist has been the defensive player of the week twice.

Tonight is another special night in what has been a special season so far. The puck drops at 7:00 pm EST. Enjoy the game.

HDH

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