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New York Rangers
Overall: 18
Atlantic Division: 3
The
Rangers
have a lot in common with many long-running Broadway shows.
The Blueshirts are an expensive operation (their payroll
should approach last season's league-leading
$44 million); they're stocked with veteran talent (17 players
on their training camp roster were age 30 or older) who
could fill several tables at Sardi's reminiscing about the
good old days; and though the cast members won't score
onstage as often as they
used to, they might hit enough high notes to keep the show
interesting. "Our future will revolve around how much
our stars go back to being stars," says general
manager
Neil Smith.
The Rangers were punchless (2.40 goals per game), slow and
uninspired in 1997-98, and they lost a large chunk of what
little offense they had when Pat LaFontaine, who tied with
Adam Graves, Wayne Gretzky and Alexei Kovalev for the team
lead in goals
with 23, retired. Smith needs to make some deals; right winger
John MacLean, a
33-year-old free-agent acquisition, will help, but only if the
former 40-goal scorer bounces back
from
his 16-goal, 43-point season with New Jersey and San
Jose.
Coach John Muckler will also lean on 18-year-old center
Manny Malhotra, New York's
No. 1 draft pick in June. Malhotra is smart beyond his years,
and by midseason he could be the second-line center.
"In six or seven years the Rangers will be building
the team around him," says the 37-year-old Gretzky,
one star who came through last season.
(Gretzky and Vancouver's Pavel Bure finished tied for third
in scoring with 90 points.) Adds Gretzky, "Everybody
realizes this team was embarrassed last year and can't get
into that situation
again."
That situation was missing the playoffs. The Rangers' hopes
rest with leading men Brian Leetch and Mike Richter, both
of whom flubbed their lines last year. Richter was
statistically sound (2.66 goals-against average) but prone
to lapses in
concentration, and Leetch, a
defenseman, has to rebound from an abysmal season (-36). If those
two old troupers come through, the Rangers should qualify
for a postseason curtain
call.
—By Stephen Cannella
Fast Fact
Four players tied for the team lead in goals scored last
year, with a modest 23. Excluding the lockout season of
1994-95, the last time New York's goal-scoring leader had
fewer goals
was when Nick
Mickoski scored 20 in
1950-51.
Keys To Success
- Enigmatic forward Alexei Kovalev must finally have a breakout
season, something that should happen with John Muckler behind
the New York bench.
- The Rangers need team toughness because individually they're
one of the league's least-imposing clubs physically.
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