With one quick swipe of players, GM Neil Smith has miraculously
transformed a dysfunctional last place team into an offensively
balanced club that is quietly starting to make some noise.
Before Petr Nedved arrived from Pittsburgh for Alexei Kovalev and
Harry York on Nov. 25, the Rangers' forward lines just didn't
make any sense. Now four years after his first stint on
Broadway, Nedved not only fits in with the Rangers but seems to
be the key that unlocked the team's potential.
"Petr's had a big impact, certainly, for us," Rangers captain
Brian Leetch said. "He didn't take much time to adapt to being
back in the NHL. He stepped right in and has made a contribution
to the team."
With three goals and 10 points in seven games, Nedved has been
the offensive catalyst that Smith saw score 78 goals in two years
in a Penguins uniform. And Nedved's arrival has allowed the
other forwards to settle into their comfort zones. With Nedved
centering the second line with Niklas Sundstrom and Mike Knuble,
Wayne Gretzky has been given some big-name veteran linemates in
John MacLean and Kevin Stevens. And that has allowed coach John
Muckler to keep the successful Adam Graves-Marc Savard-Todd
Harvey line intact.
The line combinations have divided the attention of enemy
checkers, enabling each line to enjoy and exploit mismatches to
the tune of 23 goals in the six games since their realignment.
"Right now we've got three lines with good balance and seven
defensemen and a fourth line that plays well too," said Stevens,
who is playing the best hockey of his two-year Rangers career.
"Being able to get Petr has been a great bonus for us."
"It's good right now," said Gretzky, who's probably benefited the
most since Nedved's landing. "Good combinations, determination
and grit, youth and obviously some experience. The team is
getting along very well and everyone is working very hard."
And for the first time since the 1997 playoffs, the lineup is
working.
Smith Still Not Done?: A few days after acquiring the
services of Petr Nedved, Sean Pronger and Chris Tamer, Smith
looked to be positioning himself for a possible future trades
when he traded Bill Berg, who was toiling around in the AHL to
Ottawa for defensemen Stan Neckar.
With Neckar and Tamer, that brings the number of NHL quality
defensemen in the Rangers system to 10. This makes you wonder if
Smith is looking down the road to a possible deal or deals with
Vancouver for Pavel Bure or maybe Colorado, who is dire need of
defensemen, for Claude Lemieux. Stay tuned.
First Contact: Looking to avoid the public relations
disaster from two summers ago with Mark Messier and the close
call with Mike Richter this past off-season, the Rangers have
begun talks with Brian Leetch and his agent, Jay Grossman.
"It's good that they got together and talked. We'll take a
little time and talk things over," Leetch said. "It was pretty
much everything as I expected, what the Rangers said about myself
and how they looked at the team right now. Everything will get
more tense as it goes on, but it was a good first step."
The Rangers are said to have offered proposals of varying
lengths, all averaging about $6 million per year. Leetch is
expected to eventually garner between $7 million and $8 million.
