"Heartbeat Harvey" Out for Month: The Rangers lost the
undisputed emotional leader on the their roster when Todd Harvey
suffered a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament of
his left knee in the 1/13 game against the Islanders.
During the third period of Islander game, Harvey lined up to hit
Islanders defenseman Kenny Jonsson and caught his left skate in a
rut. "I turned to make the hit and my left foot went that way and
I went the other way," Harvey said. "It's kind of disappointing
to have it happen like that."
Talk about bad timing. "Heartbeat" has been just about
everything except a 50-goal scorer for the Blueshirts this
season. After the Islander game, Harvey was visibly disappointed.
He could handle the assortment of stitches, an infected elbow,
strained hip flexor, bruised right thumb and a charley horse, but
this one is a biggie.
"He's a huge part of our hockey club, emotionally, physically and
skillfully. There's not a guy in this room who doesn't love the
way he plays," linemate Adam Graves says. "We're going to miss
him, but not one guy is going to be able to replace him. We're
all going to have to try and fill the void collectively. We're
already sitting at .500 but as you all know, it's not enough to
get us into the playoffs. We know we have to be five to 10 games
over .500."
But with Todd 'The Bod' up in the press box until mid February,
the odds diminish...
Bure Out, Fleury In: With the infamous Pavel Bure saga
over, GM Neil Smith can now shift his attention towards Calgary
and Theo Fleury.
Fleury, who has indicated he will not sign a contract before he
becomes a free agent this summer, had to have had his curiosity
heightened after Sunday night's All-Star game, where Fleury was
riding shotgun with Gretz and was the first to congratulate
Gretzky on the Great One's MVP selection and went home with
autographed sticks from No. 99.
"It's very possible that could happen," Fleury said of coming to
the Rangers. "That would be a lot of fun."
Then again, Fleury told other reporters he expected to stay in
the West because he has a son in Calgary.
To be continued...
