1995/96: The Year the New York Rangers Should Have Won the Stanley Cup

Luc Robitaille was one of the many superstars on a promising 1995/96 Rangers team.

At the culmination of the 1993/94 NHL season, the New York Rangers snapped a 54 year Stanley Cup drought, with their thrill-ride seven game series victory over the Vancouver Canucks. This team, the assembly of which, is one that people only dream about today,and has perhaps gone unmatched in hockey over the last 17 years, with its combination of veteran leadership, superstar power, clutch goal-scoring ability and goaltending, and a much less talked about presence of skillful youth. This is the one lineup, that, if given the opportunity, any fan of this team would ask for. However, two seasons later, the Rangers arguably fielded an even better team, but one that is largely forgotten, due to it being sandwiched between the Rangers’ Stanley Cup victory and the ensuing lockout, and later, the arrival of Wayne Gretzky in New York, to re-team with Mark Messier, a duo which won four championships in Edmonton. The mid-1990′s was the most exciting time to be a Rangers’ fan since probably the 1970′s. Anyone who has read Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers (Pub. 1995), by Barry Meisel, knows that GM Neil Smith was poising his team to become a dynasty, but unfortunately, it never happened, and the Rangers would have to settle for only one. The 1995/96 season had even more promise at the start than 1994 did, and although they finished lower in the standings, this had all the makings of another championship.

What the Rangers Plans Should be the Rest of the Way

The vast majority of New York Rangers fans have written off this season as a failure, and that they will not make the playoffs. I am part of that majority.

There can be a bright side to this, however, and that is all of us wanted a rebuild at some point in time and this season is close as anything to a rebuild that any New York team can accomplish. We got to see the development of Michael Del Zotto and Artem Anisimov, along with the further development of Marc Staal.

What needs to happen the rest of the way is as follows, and keep in mind I am not yet looking ahead to the off-season, just what I want to see accomplished in the remaining ten games.

1. Fire John Tortorella and Mike Sullivan. Both of their tenures with the Rangers can be classified as one thing- a joke. A complete and utter circus is what these two have been responsible for. Remember when Tom Renney was in charge, and Mike Pelino and Perry Pearn were his assistants? We knew clearly what everybody’s job was. Pearn ran the powerplay, Pelino ran the penalty kill.

What exactly does Mike Sullivan do? No one knows. Tortorella made it clear at the beginning of the season that he wanted only one assistant, and to paraphrase his own words, “Too many assistants yelling different things on the bench can be confusing to the players.” First of all, that is nonsense. I can’t think of a team in recent history to win a Cup with only one assistant. Even when Tortorella won the Cup in Tampa Bay, he had two assistants: Craig Ramsey and Jeff Reese. The real reason for only one assistant coach? Control. Tortorella wants complete control with no staff to question him. Sullivan has served no other purpose besides being an unthinking robot. That is exactly what Tortorella wants.

The biggest joke of all was when he finally gave in to have Jim Schoenfeld become that second assistant, but he doesn’t stay on the bench during games. Perfect sense, to have the only person in the organization with a brain when it comes to coaching stay away from the bench during games. I was one of the many people who lauded Tortorella’s hiring, but it’s over now. The players have been tuning him out for months, and after the last two efforts, there is no chance at recovery.

2. Jim Schoenfeld for interim coach; Graves and Leetch as assistants. Schoenfeld coached ten seasons in the NHL and only twice did he have a losing record. He was excellent with the kids when he coached Hartford for two seasons from 2005-2007, when he led the team to 48 and 47 wins, respectively. He would only be for the interim, and a replacement would be hired in the summer.

As for Graves and Leetch, I would not want them as part of the staff for a long period of time, but the remaining ten games this season would be a good oppurtunity for them to get their feet wet. They are at MSG for every home game anyway, so it would make sense to give them a shot at assistants. I think Graves would be the perfect assistant for any head coach, so who knows, maybe he would fit in with the next regime.

3. Rest Lundqvist. There is no sense in injuring Lundqvist in the last ten, meaningless games, so let him try to win his 30th game (to be the only goaltender in history to start his career with 30 wins for the first five years) and after that, sit him. Call up Chad Johnson and have him split time with Alex Auld.

4. Sit Redden and Rozsival. This will be everyone’s dream come true- a defensive corps comprised entirely of homegrown players. Even with their improved play of late, there is no reason to not call up a combination of Potter, Sanguinetti, and Heikkinen. Give them extended playing time and gradually phase out Dan Girardi as well.

5. Rest Gaborik. Even with all the excitement he provided us this season, Gaborik is obviously playing with some type of hindrance. Give him a few games to try and get 40 goals, then sit him to let him rest up for the off-season, or give him an early jump at a potential surgery, if he were to need one.

6. Call up Parenteau and Locke. It is more than likely that P.A Parenteau will not be returning next season because the Rangers have unfairly not given him a shot, when players like Voros and Shelley find themselves in the lineup. However, he hasn’t be brilliant either, so give him ten games in the top-six to show what he’s got. Maybe he is good after all, and would re-sign next season if the team could guarantee him some regularity on offense.

Corey Locke, meanwhile, has enjoyed tremendous success in his career in both the AHL and OHL. At 26 years old, and only one game of NHL experience, time is running out for this older rookie to get a spot in any NHL team’s lineup. With 29 goals and 49 assists this season in Hartford, this should be his chance to show he can perform at the NHL level.

7. Give Drury more minutes. The only way Drury can get traded is if he plays well. Granted, he has a no trade clause that he probably wouldn’t waive, but it’s worth a shot in putting him on the top line (or at least top two, with some consistency) and giving him max amount of minutes to try and put up points. It’s the only way he will be attractive to other teams, since he has such an egregiously bad salary.

Rangers Dig Their Own Graves in Lethargic Display Vs. Bruins

This was the single biggest game of the season for the New York Rangers, and perhaps their biggest regular season game in the last decade. They needed this win to entertain any thought about reaching the post-season. How did they perform? Well, just look in the dictionary and a pick a word completely opposite of how they were supposed to play today.

Listless. Lethargic. Un-energetic. Careless. They come to mind.

The Rangers showed their fans today that they simply don’t care; that there is no urgency at all with the season winding down and the gap between them and the eighth place Bruins growing wider. The Rangers needed their last game versus the St. Louis Blues, but this one was ten times more important. If they won today, the edge would only be one point for Boston. It is now five.

From the opening faceoff, the Rangers played like all they had to do to win the game was tie their skate laces. The first period was uneventful, if not completely boring. The Bruins would strike first near the end of the second period when Miroslav Satan netted his fifth of the season.

But the Bruins would seal the deal midway through the third on a Dennis Wideman goal. As always, the Rangers waited until there was too little time to make a difference, when Michael Del Zotto scored his eighth, with just about four minutes to go, with assists from Avery and Girardi.

The Rangers should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, as well as the coaching staff. Tortorella continues to not take the blame for any of this. Say what you want about Glen Sather, but this roster is not so terrible that the Rangers should be playing this bad. The players aren’t playing as if they’re flat-out done, they’re playing as if they don’t care. When a team has uninspired players, it is on the shoulders of the coaching staff.

Watching John Tortorella at a press conference is like watching Hermann Goring at the Nuremberg Trials. He knows he’s beat, knows he’s done wrong, but won’t take the blame. In fact, they mirror each other in their testimony, and shift blame to anybody but themselves.

I would fire Tortorella and Sullivan right now, replace him with Schoenfeld and have Graves sit in as the assistant coach for the rest of the season. Then the Rangers can call up the kids, sit Redden and Rozsival, and give Auld the majority of playing time.

This season is over, folks. There isn’t any doubt left.