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.

Devils Acquire Jason Arnott, Try to Reclaim Past Glory

This afternoon the New Jersey Devils acquired former Stanley Cup hero Jason Arnott from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Dave Halischuk and a second round pick and 2011. This move will prove to be both good and bad for the Devils.

Devils fans will never forget the Cup-clinching, double overtime goal Arnott scored in 2000, and within two seasons of that monumental event, he was traded to the team he scored against, the Dallas Stars. After playing three solid seasons there, he then moved to the Nashville Predators, where he would end up becoming captain, and again, string together four very good seasons.

Although battling injuries for the last few seasons, Arnott is still a very tough and strong presence up the middle, as he stands 6’5” and 219 pounds. The reason why this move is good for New Jersey, is because they needed a checking center with offensive capability, something they lost when John Madden bolted for Chicago before last season.

Any way you look at it, this movie is not terrible. Should he stay healthy, he will easily put up 50-60 points. However, this move does not show the Devils going in the right direction.

With several disappointing and early playoff exits since the lockout, General Manager Lou Lamoriello has been trying to reclaim past glory. First was when he brought back a then 35 year old Brian Rolston early in the summer of 2008, and then later that off-season with the addition of a 38 year old Bobby Holik.

Both had won the Cup with New Jersey in previous seasons.

Arnott falls under the same, recent trend from the Devils, who also brought back former Cup winning coach Jacques Lemaire last season, before he was let go just weeks after this past season ended. Arnott will be 37 this October, and for a Devils team that already has eight players over the age of 34, this move really does not speak much for the future.

Jason Arnott is also slated to make $4.5 million in what is the final year of his contract. It’s a pretty big cap hit, but that amount seems to be the going rate for a 50 point player.

This series of moves seems eerily similar to Neil Smith during the tail-end of his tenure with the Rangers in the late 90′s. When nothing else was working, he resorted to bringing back the 1994 Cup heroes and former Oilers teammates of Mark Messier, who were then way past their prime. It worked a little bit, but fizzled out after a short while.

Could Lamoriello be running out of options, and bringing back aging stars is all he has left? We will soon see, with still an entire off-season still to come. It will be interesting what direction the Devils take.

Martin Brodeur on the Devils: “We’re Not Far Away”

On Friday afternoon, New Jersey Devils beat writer Eric Marin got a chance to sit down with the almighty Martin Brodeur, for an interview to discuss the off-season and the current Stanley Cup Finals matchup between the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks.

For a team that very rarely sees things go wrong over the course of a season, this will now year number seven without a Finals appearance. The Devils have made it a habit in recent seasons to make an early round exit, something that Devils fans themselves will even say is a result of Brodeur not being on the top of his game.

Brodeur is the winningest goaltender in NHL history, and also owns records for most shutouts, games played, and minutes played. He normally could be considered as someone who knows what he is talking about, but as we have seen, his arrogance gets in the way.

It was towards the end of the interview, when Brodeur, commenting on the future of the Devils remarked, “We definitely know that we’re not far.”

Not far away? Oh really?

A prophecy from the Mighty Fatso himself!

This coming from a player on a team that has a terrible farm system, no name defense, no coach at the moment, no first round pick, a shoddy offense, and has a decision facing them whether or not to keep trade deadline acquisition Ilya Kovalchuk or homegrown hero Zach Parise, because they cannot keep both.

The Devils are on the way down, a path they have built for the last seven seasons. Lamoriello recognized it, which was why he brought in Lemaire this season, and Rolston the season before. He is trying to reclaim past glory, much like Neil Smith did with the Rangers, in bringing back 1994 Stanley Cup heroes in the late 90′s, a crop of decisions that ultimately led to his down fall.

So just what did Brodeur mean by saying they are not far away? Surely it was not about his team. Perhaps these are more reasonable:

We’re not far away…from a first round exit.

We’re not far away…from selling out every game. (LOL JK)

We’re not far away…from the hot dog stand. I’m hungry.

We’re not far away…from another diving penalty.

We’re not far away…from my next alimony payment.

We’re not far away…from New York, where everyone on this team really wants to play.

Martin Brodeur and his Devils will be in for a tough season next year, made even tougher by the fact that they will have to give Zach Parise a contract of over $7 million, something that Lamoriello very rarely does. Will he continue to be his cheap self and not retain him, or bite the bullet and go against his ways?

We will surely find out if the aging Brodeur will still attempt to play a hundred games in an eighty-two game season.

Every season we say the same thing; the Devils are in trouble. It’s early, but I’m getting that vibe already, unless their GM works some summer magic.

What Lies Ahead for the New York Rangers (Satire…maybe)

The first time I wrote one of these prediction pieces was back on Metro Hockey, and I must say, I did not come close with any of them, except the one where I had Chris Higgins scoring his first goal in February. That was borderline. But here it is, what lies ahead for the New York Rangers!

June 15, 2010: The Rangers cash in on the future considerations they acquired from the Nashville Predators in the deal that sent Hugh Jessiman packing. In return, the Rangers get two packs of Pemmican beef jerky and a case of Gatorade.

June 16, 2010: The Predators file a grievance with the NHL office. The title of their memo: “Trade Backsies”.

June 25, 2010: The Rangers select Hugh Jessiman’s brother Louie with the tenth pick in the draft. They then trade Chad Johnson for the rights to draft Hugh’s other brother Dewey.

June 26, 2010: The Rangers, after realizing their mistake, trade Louie and Dewey to the Ducks. Nashville then trades Hugh to Anaheim as well.

June 29, 2010: Anaheim Ducks fold.

June 30, 2010: Jim Balsillie attempts to buy the Ducks and re-locate them to Hamilton.

July 1, 2010: With no center for Marian Gaborik, the Rangers offer Betty White a two year deal worth $8 million. She tells Sather she will think it over.

July 2, 2010: A Facebook group starts up begging Betty White to take the deal.

July 3, 2010: Betty White signs the deal with the Rangers, but only if she is granted a full no trade clause.

July 4, 2010: The Rangers re-sign Enver Lisin to a three year contract worth $10 million after Artem Anisimov held Gordie Clark at gun point.

July 5, 2010: The Rangers banish Wade Redden to Hartford, where he then flees the country and signs a fifteen year deal worth $100 million with a KHL team.

October 4, 2010: The Rangers open up the season with Betty White at center, Marian Gaborik at right wing, and a wax figure of Bea Arthur on left wing.

October 6, 2010: Sean Avery gets into his first locker room scuffle of the season when he calls Betty White an “old lady”. She knocks him out with one punch.

November 1, 2010: The Rangers begin the season 0-8-1.

November 2, 2010: In an attempt to shake up the team, Glen Sather fires Mike Sullivan and replaces him with a  cigar store Indian.

November 3, 2010: John Tortorella suffers a stroke during pre-game warm-ups when he yells at Steve Valiquette for letting in soft goals. En route to the hospital, Ryan Callahan breaks it to him that Steve Valiquette hasn’t been on the team for a year.

November 10, 2010: Chris Drury holds a television press conference yelling at his fellow players and blaming them for the poor start. At every commercial break John Giannone reminds the audience that they are having technical difficulties with the microphone, accounting for the low volume of Chris’s speech. The microphone was fine.

November 28, 2010: The Rangers win their first game of the season, a 19-1 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes in front of 500 fans in Glendale, all of which are Petr Prucha’s family members.

December 1, 2010: Glen Sather quits his job as GM of the Rangers and is replaced in the interim by Neil Smith.

December 2, 2010: The Rangers designate the Bea Arthur wax figure for assignment. However she leaves leading the team in +/-.

December 3, 2010: Neil Smith signs Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe.

December 4, 2010: Betty White retires after suffering an incurable groin pull injury.

December 23, 2010: The Rangers lose their tenth game in a row by the score of 18-0. Chris Drury announces it will not ruin his Christmas.

December 30, 2010: The Rangers sign Chris Chelios to a one game contract.

December 31, 2010: The Ranger players all gather together to watch the ball drop. Chelios tells them to stop staring at him when in the shower.

And thus the crystal ball ends. Ain’t the future great?