Last summer's most significant transaction has been bad news for
the Rangers, who let Mark Messier go as a free agent, and for
the Canucks, who signed him to a three-year, $20 million deal.
New York (23-35-18 through Sunday) fell flat without Messier,
its captain the past six seasons, and cries of "We want Mark!"
have resounded at Madison Square Garden.
Meanwhile, the 37-year-old Messier, who had 21 goals and 37
assists through last weekend, has done little to justify his big
contract. By the time Vancouver had gone 4-13-2, coach Tom
Renney and general manager Pat Quinn were fired, and Messier
ally Mike Keenan was brought in to run the Canucks. Vancouver
has played poorly under Keenan (20-26-11), and when popular
center Trevor Linden was traded to the Islanders on Feb. 6,
wounded Canucks fans heard no regrets from Messier, who had
taken Linden's long-held captaincy in training camp.
Part of the reason for Vancouver's fall has
been Messier's subpar year.
(Tim DeFrisco)
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Part of the reason the Rangers allowed Messier to leave, even
though he has played on six Stanley Cup champions and is widely
regarded as the most inspirational leader in hockey, was that
the front office had grown wary of his thirst for power. Last
week Gino Odjick, a Canucks winger for eight seasons before also
being traded to the Islanders, on March 23, offered a harsh
indictment of Messier to the Vancouver Province. "Everybody was
on board, waiting to go along with him. But he didn't break a
sweat the first 10 games, waiting for Renney and Quinn to get
fired. He's not with the players. He's the one who controls
everything."
Said Messier last week, "When I got here, this was anything but
a team. It was failing in the most important part of the
business—winning. Everybody knew changes needed to be made."
Recently winger Pavel Bure, Odjick's best friend and the
Canucks' most talented player (47 goals through Sunday), has
hinted that he wants to be traded, too. With or without Bure,
Messier and Keenan will try to whip together a winner largely
out of the existing talent in Vancouver next year, while the
Rangers rebuild. Here's the capper: For the first time since
Messier and New York's Wayne Gretzky broke in together with the
Oilers in 1979-80, both will miss the playoffs.
Issue date: April 13, 1998
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