If you were able to return to playing in the NHL, what are the chances you would have played for the Blue Jackets again?
Strong. Strong to very strong.
And was there more to that than simply wanting to continue playing in the NHL and wanting to play where you live?
Well, it’s all hypothetical now, right? But coming full circle … it would have been fun to finish off here in front of my friends and family, knowing this is a place I’ll live for the rest of my life. I had a great career. It was fun. I got to accomplish so much and meet a lot of new people (in New York) and had a lot of opportunities that I probably wouldn’t have had if I’d stayed here. But, to answer your question, it would have been awesome to come full circle and finish here as a player, wearing the sweater.
When you look back now at how it ended for you in Columbus in 2011-12 … there were people, undoubtedly, who understood you asking to be traded, and there were people angry or hurt by it, too, absolutely. But are there any regrets or anything you would do differently today?
Everything turned out fine. I think there are a lot of things said behind closed doors that never really came out and I would never let them come out. But I think it some sense, my true friends and my family, they’ve always known exactly what went on in those rooms. To be honest, I would never put it out there because I take more pride in myself than to throw somebody under the bus for what happened back then. I’ve put it behind me. The only thing I would change is I wish it wasn’t as messy as it was. It sucked coming back here and getting booed, but once the puck drops that doesn’t matter. Coming back here for the All-Star Game and getting booed … it is what it is. I kind of appreciated it in a way, for how much Columbus loves their Blue Jackets and their hockey. For it to come full circle and get the applause on Sunday, I couldn’t think of a better way to go out.
Your first time back with the Rangers … it’s one of the few times I’ve sat at the keyboard and not known what the hell to type because it was just so bizarre. Surreal. The shoving match with (Sergei) Bobrovsky. The fight with (Matt) Calvert. I get why it happened, and maybe it needed to happen. But …
People still ask me about that to this day, like ‘What were you thinking?’ Well, first of all, the guy speared me in the nuts …
This is Bobrovsky.
Yeah. We’ve talked about this before. He speared me in the nuts, so I turned around and I pushed ’em. I mean, come on. I have my back turned and someone spears me in the nuts. What are you gonna do? I pushed him, my stick dropped. When I went to pick up my stick, he kicked my stick away. I mean, what do you want me to do, skate back to the bench with my tail between my legs? Then a scuffle happens. Calvert came out and said, ‘Do you wanna fight?’ I’m pretty sure I had a concussion that year, so I said, ‘I think I’m good. I’m all right.’ And he said, ‘Well, we have to go.’ So that’s what we did. We went. That’s hockey.
Did that help you move on in a way, or was that as weird for you as it was for some people?
That whole night was weird. It was just a weird night. It never felt normal. But that’s what happens when you have passionate hockey fans and passionate players. It’s the game.
Did you feel some sense of relief after last week, not just knowing that your news was out there but knowing you’d be welcome back into the arms of the city and the organization?
100 percent. I’ve always felt like it would be like this because you can’t erase the nine years that I was here. It’s a part of the history of the franchise, and it’s a part of my best memories. I owe a lot of that to J.D. and Jarmo, and I know they wanted to make things right with me and the organization as much as I wanted to be taken back into this organization. I loved being a Ranger, it was great. But at the end of the day, this is where I started, this is home. Me and the fans here have experienced so many ups and downs together that it just wouldn’t be right if I lived here and wasn’t part of it. I think Sunday was a pretty cool thing. Everyone is happy and it’s time to move on to the next chapter.
What are your thoughts about No. 61 one day hanging in the rafters at Nationwide? I’ll be honest, Rick, I’ve poked around on this and I haven’t found anybody who is less than emphatic about the fact that it should happen.
I almost don’t even want to talk about it because I don’t want to jinx it in any way. I’ve accomplished some pretty cool things with the Stanley Cup final, the Olympics … but outside of having children, I think that would be the biggest honor of my life, without a doubt, to know the impact I had on this organization. But you know me, I don’t expect anything like that. I don’t wait on it. But what can you say, that would be the biggest honor of my life.
To be the first guy up there …
Forever, right? It’s forever. I can take my grandkids there. It would honestly be the most special thing. But, in saying that, I don’t expect it. You’ve traveled to every NHL arena. You’ve seen the numbers up there, some of the guys that have been honored that way. To be remembered in that way … just incredible.