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head coach: John Muckler

roster: C - Wayne Gretzky, Pat LaFontaine, Harry York, P.J. Stock. LW - Adam Graves, Kevin Stevens, Bill Berg, Darren Langdon, Bob Errey, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Goneau. RW - Niklas Sundstrom, Alexei Kovalev, Todd Harvey, Johan Lindbom, Shane Churla. D - Brian Leetch, Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom, Bruce Driver, Doug Lidster, Alexander Karpovstev, Eric Cairns, Jeff Finley, Geoff Smith. G - Mike Richter, Dan Cloutier.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team           GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
z-New Jersey   82  48  23  11   107  225  166  
x-Philadelphia 82  42  29  11    95  242  193
x-Washington   82  40  30  12    92  219  202  
NY Islanders   82  30  41  11    71  212  225  
NY Rangers     82  25  39  18    68  197  231  
Florida        82  24  43  15    63  203  256 
Tampa Bay      82  17  55  10    44  151  269  

x - Clinched playoff spot
z - Clinched conference

team news:

by Michael Dell, Editor-in-Chief

The New York Rangers sucked. They finished the 1997-98 season with a record of 25-39-18. Their 68 points placed them 10th overall in the Eastern Conference. They were 22nd in offense with a mere 197 goals scored. And only five teams allowed more goals than New York's 231. The lights were out on Broadway.

New York's campaign began with a flurry of free agent activity. First Mark Messier, supposedly the best leader in sports, bailed on his mates to sign a $6-million-per-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks. Way to be a leader, Mark! If you were at Normandy we'd all be eating strudel right now.

GM Neil Smith tried to make up for Messier's departure by signing Joe Sakic to an offer sheet that included a mammoth $15-million signing bonus. The Colorado Avalanche matched. On to Plan B.

While Smith couldn't pry Sakic out of Colorado, he did sign away veteran winger Mike Keane from the Avalanche. Even more leadership was added by inking Brian Skrudland from Florida. Messier out, Keane and Skrudland in. At least some of the leadership void was addressed. But the Rangers still needed to find a replacement for Messier's numbers. Enter Pat LaFontaine.

The Buffalo Sabres were looking to reduce their payroll and didn't want to continue paying LaFontaine, who was attempting a comeback from post-concussion syndrome. This opened up the door for the Rangers. Once the Sabres cut LaFontaine loose, the Blueshirts were quick to step in and sign him to a contract. So basically New York tried to replace Messier with LaFontaine, Keane, and Skrudland. That seems like it would work. But so did my idea for inflatable pants.

New York's heart seemed to leave with Messier. Even though his skills were clearly starting to decline, Messier still embodied the spirit of the Rangers. He will forever be remembered as the man that delivered the club its first championship since 1940. Not having him around left the Rangers a team without an identity. It showed on the ice.

And what of the three guys brought in to replace the Messiah? Well, LaFontaine did his job. He gave the Rangers a second-line center to play behind Wayne Gretzky and provided his usual quickness and crafty playmaking. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the season due to yet another concussion. And ironically, it was Keane that delivered the fateful blow. The two teammates accidentally collided at center ice, with the sturdy Keane burying an unaware LaFontaine. Laffy ended the season with 23 goals and 62 points in 67 games. Those were extremely solid numbers considering the perils of his comeback and the overall sagging state of offense in the NHL.

Aside from the accidental run-in with LaFontaine, Keane did some nice work for the Rangers during his time in New York. He gave his standard gritty, hard-working effort on each shift and chipped in with a few clutch goals. Skrudland didn't fit in nearly as well. And with the Rangers out of the playoff picture as the trade deadline approached, both men were shipped to Dallas in a cost-cutting move.

Once LaFontaine was knocked out of action, the Ranger offense was crippled. They weren't exactly tearing it up before the injury, but afterwards they were left a one-line team. At least that line scored a lot, tho'. The main reason why was the resurgence of Alexei Kovalev. The mercurial Russian winger teamed up with Gretzky to give the Rangers a potent scoring duo over the final few months of the season. Kovalev posted 23 goals and 53 points in 73 games, with most of that scoring coming in the second half of the schedule. Kovalev bagged 16 goals and 32 points in his final 30 games.

Gretzky was the man most responsible for Kovalev's exploits. Gretzky had a swell season, leading the club in scoring with 23 goals and 90 points. He was fourth overall in league scoring and finished tied for the assist title with 67 (Jaromir Jagr). But maybe more importantly, the 37-year-old was healthy enough to play in all 82 games. That gave the club at least some sense of consistency.

Niklas Sundstrom rounded out New York's top line with 19 goals and 47 points in 70 games. Sundstrom continues to get little respect around the league, but he's one of the game's most complete players. If the Rangers ever get their act together as a team, Sundstrom is going to be a perennial Selke candidate. As it is now, people looked at his even plus-minus rating and didn't even consider him for the award. Sundstrom finished 14th in Selke voting. That's a joke.

There wasn't much else of note up front for the Rangers. Adam Graves always gave it his best, but could only produce 23 goals and 35 points in 72 games. He also finished at a -30. Oh boy.

But Graves' minus total wasn't even worst on the team. Former Norris Trophy boy Brian Leetch clocked a -36. Way to go! Leetch just had a brutal season. He got off to a ridiculously poor start, but was able to crank up the goal-scoring as the season went along and ended with 17. That's a decent number. But he only had 33 assists. That's not a decent number. More was needed from Leetch.

The person who suffered the most from New York's collapse was Mike Richter. The man with Aunt Jemima on his helmet just got thrown to the wolves on most nights. He may not have played the best hockey of his career, far from it on some nights, but Richter was a workhorse for the Rangers, appearing in a league high 72 games and logging 4143 minutes between the pipes. His perseverance, more than anything, has to be admired.

TEAM MVP: While it's hard to ignore Mike Richter's efforts in net, this honor has to go to Wayne Gretzky. Sure, probably 20 of his 23 goals were pure luck, but he still scored them. I've never seen a player score more goals off nutty bounces and deflections than Gretzky did this season. Some people say it's not luck since he's been doing it his whole career, but guess what? They're wrong. I'm just amazed he can skate at all with that horseshoe stuck up his ass. But hey, they don't ask you how you score them, just how many. Gretzky wins the award, tho', for his performance over the last couple months of the season. He just carried the club all by his lonesome. Well, his faithful assistant Smithers help somewhat by running the nuclear power plant in his absence. Exxxxxxcellent...

SURPRISE: You want a surprise? How about Tim Sweeney? The right winger scored 11 goals and 29 points in 56 games and was a team best +7. That's not bad for, you know, Tim Sweeney.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Well, it's hard to beat Brian Leetch as the team's leading individual disappointment. Kevin Stevens is also in the running, tho'. The former 60-goal man continued his steady decline, scoring just 14 goals and 41 points in 80 games despite playing much of the season with either Gretzky or LaFontaine. Stevens still tries hard and means well, but the scoring touch seems solid gone.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The Rangers need plenty of help. Pat LaFontaine is likely going to retire. Or at least he should retire. Then there's the problem of trying to re-sign Mike Richter. The netminder was left unprotected at the expansion draft, so the Rangers could protect young Dan Cloutier, and Nashville was quick to pick him up. But Richter became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and is free to sign with anyone he likes, with the Predators now in line to receive a second- round compensatory pick. It was expected that he'd just re-sign with the Rangers, but word on the street is that New York has balked at Richter's demands of a five-year, $30-million deal. The Rangers have now reportedly set their sights on fellow unrestricted netminder Curtis Joseph.

There is massive hype that the Blueshirts are going to sign unrestricted free agent Ron Francis. The 35-year-old center would be a tremendous addition to the club, but he's not really going to be part of the club's rebuilding process. If the Rangers think they can be a Cup contender next season they're kidding themselves. This club is in bad shape. They mortgaged their future to win the Cup in '94, trading away the likes of Tony Amonte and Doug Weight, now they're paying the price. I realize GM Neil Smith probably wants to try and wait to completely rebuild until after Gretzky retires, but trading away youth and trying to buy a championship just isn't going to work. The time to rebuild is now. Gretzky's dreams of another Cup are over. Admit it. Move on.

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