John Grigg at The Hockey News takes a look at the Top 10 offer sheet scandals in the NHL and includes the Rangers attempt to poach Joe Sakic from the Avalanche in 1997...6. Joe Sakic, 1997
After losing Mark Messier to Vancouver, Rangers GM Neil Smith targeted Sakic with a three-year, $21-million offer. Colorado matched and player salaries continued to, in some people’s minds, spiral out of control.
After losing Mark Messier to Vancouver, Rangers GM Neil Smith targeted Sakic with a three-year, $21-million offer. Colorado matched and player salaries continued to, in some people’s minds, spiral out of control.
...coming off an amazing run to the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals with Messier and Gretzky leading the way two major mistakes made by Rangers management (I'm looking at you Dave Checketts) that summer lead to the dark days of the late 90s into early 2000s. First was not overpaying to keep Messier in New York the way they ended up overpaying for everyone after Messier was gone. Second was with Messier moving on to Vancouver not overpaying Joe Sakic so that it didn't matter how much money the Avalanche owners made on the movie "Air Force One."
...coming up empty handed with those two players directly led to the down fall of the great Ranger franchise after a 1994 Stanley Cup and a 1997 Eastern Conference Finals run.
...a friend, and reader of the blog, was talking to me about this exact subject this past weekend. He had a great point, that for all the criticisms we have aimed at James Dolan for his mismanagement of the Rangers and blind loyalty towards Sather the Blueshirts probably could have used that loyalty back in 1997. Because there is no way Dolan let's Messier walk after all the money he brought in between the Cup and the '97 EC Finals appearance.
12 comments:
smart post. i was in junior high when this whole thing happened. for many years until i matured in hockey business and skill sense, i as constantly fooled by the players the rangers were signing and thinking they were gonna be amazing. so many years of being deceived. haha.
Was in summer camp when this fiasco occurred. Was a total nightmare considering we were away from TV's and the internet wasn't what it is now. Just wanted to say that you do a great job with the blog and thanks for keeping us updated. Keep up the great work!
wow, ry-man I think that may be the first "smart post" comment I've ever gotten. Too bad the whole premise came from my friend and blog reader bpette.
Thanks for the support BA.
Its hard to suggest that there is actually a turning point in a franchise that has produced one cup in 69 years.
Actually I will look at it as a comedy of errors over the life span of one fan.
Rick, I meant those two mistakes led to the late 90s - early 2000debacles. Discussing what has gone wrong the last 69 years would take way too long.
There are quite a few parallels between the Steinbrenner Yankees and the Rangers during the same time period...minus the championships of course ;-) Steinbrenner, and the Yankees to this day, always went after the best talent available, sometimes regardless of need. It wasn't until Steinbrenner got suspended that the Yanks let the farm system grow and ended up with the core that has won 5 championships. Hopefully, that's kinda what we're seeing now with the Rangers, unless Sather and Dolan blow it out of the water. The Messier non-sign in 1997 was huge and stripped away the Rangers winning mentality.
Imagine what this team would have been liked if Sakic came here...
"..the money HE brought in..." I love how fans make Mess out to singlehandly be responsible for everything good that happened in the 90s. The Rangers were right to let the ego walk, they erred in bringing him back when his best times were WAY behind him. The 97 run was an aberration, it was FAR more Gretzky and Richter's doing than Mess'. The prospect cupboard was bare, thanks in part to the ridiculous Kurri trade(Thanks mess!)and adding another past-his-prime vet in Verbeek. Add that to some less than stellar coaching, father time robbing Graves, Leetch and Gretzky of their skills and the Rangers were ripe to fall off. Gretz was playing with Bill Berg and Pat Flatley for pete's sake, the expiration date on winning was past due, losing MEssier helped it along for sure, but his loss being the main cause for the team's downfall? No.
I remember the Rangers signing Keane and Skrudland and thinking Wow, we're gonna have a great checking line in 1998 with these guys and Bill Berg. And then they let Messier go and it was like ripping the heart right out of the team.
1997 was such a great run because the Rangers had so many injuries. Dallas Eakins remember him, minor league d-man who was playing the wing for us due to all the injuries.
Yeah, and then the Rangers, and the fans, expected Keane and Skrudland to be 35 goal scorers. They were playoff-type performers playing on a team with no chance of making the playoffs.
I rememebr Eakins playing forward, mainly beacuse the stubborn coach wouldn't possibly put a younger guy in the lineup.
I think the real downfall came with the Jari Kurri trade. The Rangers had some good offensive depth until they shipped Ferraro, Nortstrom, Laperriere, and Nathan Lafayette for Kurri, McSorley, and Shane Churla. When you make a move for a hall of famer (Kurri) and Shane Churla turns out to be the best of part of that trade for your team, you'v failed. Badly.
The Zubov/Nedved for Robitaille/Sammuelsson was a forboding precursor to the above trade. I remember Neil Smith saying that Bruce Driver would be an adequate #2 PP QB to replace Zubie. That didn't quite work out according to plan, huh Neil? We ended trading Robitaille for the crack-smoking Kevin Stevens about a year later, Nedved exploded with Jagr in Pitt, and Zubie just retired as one of the best, most underrated D of his generation. Stellar work, boys.
Kevin, I understand exactly what you are saying and I totally agree, but at the same token there are stories each and every decade that produce the same results. It is basically business as usual with the NYR's. That was my point. I didn't mean any disrespect.
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