After a recent Avalanche game at the Pepsi Center, one of the televisions in the nearby postgame meeting spot was tuned to a New York cable network show on which Rangers defenseman Darius Kasparaitis and winger Ville Nieminen sat side-by-side in street clothes for an in-studio interview.
My first thought: Talk about a couple of characters whose elevators don’t go all the way to the top, whether the building is the Empire State or a two-floor studio in Westchester County …
Yet the flaky former Avs are part of a first-half success story in New York.
Kasparaitis, in fact, is one of the Rangers wearing the alternate captain’s “A” for a team that doesn’t even have a captain, choosing to spread the responsibility – and keep it from being a distraction for the league’s best player, Jaromir Jagr.
When he puts his mind to it Jagr takes over games, and by going out and signing and acquiring a host of Jagr’s Czech countrymen, the Rangers have made Jagr more comfortable and perhaps fooled him into thinking he is playing for his homeland on a wider ice sheet.
The national uniform and the international ice often bring out the best in Jagr, and almost at the halfway stage of the 2005-06 season, he is the front-runner for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
And Kasparaitis, the Lithuanian who for years was one of the league’s most despised players because of his often-deserved reputation as a cheap-shot artist, almost seems to have become, well, tolerable in his leadership role for a team that in the not-so-distant past had leaders named Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky and Brian Leetch.
“It’s good for ‘Kasper,”‘ Rangers coach Tom Renney said last week. “We don’t have one leader, we have a group of them. He’s a passionate player, he’s a caring man, he works extremely hard, and he’s a great example of the type of attitude you want at the rink every night. As he continues to keep his game simple, he becomes even more important to us.”
The Blueshirts have struggled of late, yet compared with preseason expectations, which were minimal, the Rangers’ start has been shocking. A franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 1997 has been surprisingly decent, even leading the Atlantic Division for significant stretches.
The roster is a strange mix in the wake of the Rangers’ payroll purge in the wake of the free-spending years. The Rangers are a mix of journeymen retreads playing well and a handful of prospects making the most of their chances. The latter group includes Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist, plus rookie forwards Dominic Moore (Steve Moore’s younger brother) and Petr Prucha.
“We’ve been really honest and fair with our fans and with those who are stakeholders in the Rangers one way or another,” Renney said. “The bottom line is that we are rebuilding. We are trying to be the finest team that can stand the test of time, that can contend more often than not over a long period of time. The fact of the matter is that we seem to be competitive now, which is great.”
The Rangers, 2-5 in their past seven after their 4-3 overtime loss Saturday at Pittsburgh, still could slide and not make the playoffs. Yet after nearly a decade of throwing money around and finding out there still is no substitute for astute decision-making, the Rangers – and general manager Glen Sather – might have stumbled onto a more successful approach.
Yes, it would be good for the league to again have a playoff team in New York. Even in successful seasons, the New Jersey Devils might as well have been playing in Newfoundland instead of 8 miles from Manhattan. And the Islanders seem destined to sit out the postseason as well. But that’s secondary. There’s just something energizing about having a successful act at the Garden. Yes, it can be aggravating when everyone from power brokers on Madison Avenue and editors at publishing houses believe that the whole nation can’t get enough of Manhattan’s teams – whether on the shelves at Barnes & Noble or on Visa commercials – but it also is good for the games.
In the NHL, that’s even more significant because Chicago’s entry – the woebegone Blackhawks – again is a major disappointment. None of the area’s three major newspapers even sent writers on the team’s trip this week to western Canada. Nikolai Khabibulin has been a major disappointment in the net, and his failure as a major offseason free-agent signing might convince the Wirtz ownership to go back to its inertia. If you’re going to be bad, you might as well be cheap and hug the salary-cap era’s “floor,” right? The Windy City, a great hockey market when ownership at least acts as if it cares about something other than the bottom line, deserves better.
Footnotes
John Grahame, the Denver native who has had an up-and-down season as Khabibulin’s successor as the Lightning’s No. 1 goalie, was on coach John Tortorella’s bad side last week. In an expletive-filled tirade, Tortorella ripped Grahame after a 4-3 loss to Montreal on Wednesday, and he started backup Sean Burke on Friday against the Bruins. “I’m not up here to rip anyone apart, but let’s be honest about what’s going on here,” Tortorella told reporters. “And it’s getting old. We’re going nowhere, nowhere, until that (goaltending) situation is straightened out.” The next day, Tortorella apologized for the tone of his remarks, if not the sentiment. …
Red Wings goalie Manny Legace was sent to play for the American Hockey Leatue’s Grand Rapids Griffins in a conditioning stint after being out for nearly a month with a groin injury. In his absence, Chris Osgood has played well for Detroit. “There’s no big rush,” Legace told reporters. “Ozzie has played great.” …
Anaheim defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh’s entrance into the league’s substance abuse and behavioral health program came after he missed a Mighty Ducks practice and a team flight. “When we spoke to Sandis, he made it clear that it was his intention to seek help,” Ducks general manager Brian Burke told The Orange County Register. “I did not mandate it.”
Early in his career, it wasn’t much of a secret that the Latvian defenseman had an alcohol problem, but because he is a first-time participant in the league program, he will continue to receive his salary. There is no timetable for his return, and it’s up in the air whether he will be back by the Olympics. He and Avs defenseman Karlis Skrastins are the best-known players on Latvia’s roster.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
