The 1996-97 New York Rangers

[jghockey]

He also was finally starting to look his age during those playoffs, and the prospect of getting Sakic was enticing. Unfortunately neither worked. I get the intangibles, but on the ice he was looking his age. I don't blame Smith for what he did and I'm a fan.

But the way Smith did handled the whole thing sucked. Instead of lying to the fans and to the press about wanting to keep Messier, he should have directly told Messier to sign with another team.

 

[blood gin]

I agree but I don't know if they would have been more than a mid seed to bubble team. Management knew Mess was done, and his attitude late in that year made them know he wouldnt take a lesser role. My biggest what if is, what if they get Shanahan that year or the year before , and sign Sakic that summer, would have been contenders again. I still say if hat team kept Verbeek, and pulled the trigger on the Shanahan deal they could have won.

This would have been the line up,

Graves-Messier-Verbeek
Shanahan-Gretzky-Sundstrom
Robitille-Tikkanen-Courtnall
Flatley-Eastwood -Berg

Leetch-Beukeboom
Samuelsson-Karpovtsev
Driver-Lidster

Richter
Healy



Vancouver offered him a ton of money, much more than he should have gotten. He denied Washington because he didn't want to face the Rangers 6 times a year. The only other teams I heard who wanted him were the Islanders(could see him saying no for the same reasons as Washington), and Detroit where he would have had a much lesser role.

The Isles really? I just can't see them affording it.

 

[jghockey]

They also had the chance to get Pavel Bure in 1999. I remember Wayne's saying that had the Rangers gotten Bure, he would have returned the following season.

 

[FerrisRox]

Trading Robitaille to L.A. was a good move. He was underperforming while playing on Gretzky's line.

No, it wasn't. Kevin Stevens was useless and mired in the midst of a debilitating drug addiction. This was no where close to being a good move.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

But the way Smith did handled the whole thing sucked. Instead of lying to the fans and to the press about wanting to keep Messier, he should have directly told Messier to sign with another team.

The only thing he should have done was tel Mess listen were going in a different direction,thank you.

 

[jghockey]

No, it wasn't. Kevin Stevens was useless and mired in the midst of a debilitating drug addiction. This was no where close to being a good move.

But you gotta admit that Robitaille was underachieving with the Rangers. Trading him was a good move. But the return sucked.

 

[blood gin]

They also had the chance to get Pavel Bure in 1999. I remember Wayne's saying that had the Rangers gotten Bure, he would have returned the following season.

I believe it. But Wayne was really breaking down by then. And who knows maybe Bure and Gretzky's styles wouldn't have meshed much like Gretzky's and Hulls didn't. Still would've been interesting to see. And 1999-2000 saw an offensive uptick over 1998-1999. So maybe he would've benefited from that

 

[mrhockey193195]

I still say if hat team kept Verbeek, and pulled the trigger on the Shanahan deal they could have won.

Not that money had ever been a problem for the Rangers, but if I remember correctly they let Verbeek go to sign Gretz. Signing both was never in the cards.

 

[NYR94]

This season was a long time ago but I don't recall making a big deal out of Gretzky and Messier being reunited. Maybe because I was too young to recall the glory of their days in Edmonton. Even with Gretzky, I didn't have much faith in them going into that season and I was somewhat disenchanted with the franchise in the late 90s after certain personnel decisions, like letting Verbeek leave and trading Zubov before the 95-96 season. But there was definitely a "last hurrah" feel about the team considering the ages of their two star centers and some of the other veterans on the team. And as great as that magical run was in the playoffs, you couldn't escape the fact that you were watching the team gradually fall apart due to age and injury as the playoffs wore on. They had no chance against Philadelphia, even less against Detroit if they had somehow pulled off a miracle and beat Lindros. I don't spend much time imagining "what if" scenarios regarding Neil Smith's trades of young talent like Weight, Amonte and Marchant, but watching that old veteran team get pushed around by the Flyers did make me wonder just a little bit what a group of Messier, Graves, Kovalev, Amonte, Weight, Gartner, Leetch, Zubov, Norstrom, Richter, etc. would have been able to win if they had been kept together for a longer time. Maybe instead of that one Cup in 94 they win two Cups in the mid-late 90s with a younger, faster team. I also felt that Smith overreacted following playoff defeats. They lose to a big, strong Flyers team in the 95 playoffs so they trade youth, skill and finesse to bring in guys like Samuelsson, Berg, Momesso, Churla and McSorley and lose to a highly skilled, high-flying Penguins team in the second round. But it was pretty amazing what Gretzky and Tikkanen did in 97. And Richter had a huge increase in save percentage from the 96 playoffs (.883) to .932 in 1997.

Regarding Robitaille, he was definitely a disappointment as a Ranger but the return they got in Stevens made me want Robitaille back. It was especially difficult to stomach because Luc regained his scoring touch back in LA. I guess some players just fit in certain cities and that's where they belong. They took Zubov and Nedved and turned it into Samuelsson and a washed up Kevin Stevens two years later.