Triumph, Then Trouble : Since Winning the Stanley Cup, It’s Been One Thing After Another for the New York Rangers

Neil Smith had only a month to enjoy the New York Rangers’ Stanley Cup triumph before the sky began falling on him.

“It’s just been one thing after another,” Smith, the Rangers’ general manager, said with a heavy sigh that was only slightly exaggerated.

His summer began to sour when Coach Mike Keenan bolted for St. Louis, claiming the Rangers voided his contract by missing a deadline for paying him a bonus. After threatening legal action, the Rangers let him go and figured they had settled the debt by sending forward Esa Tikkanen and defenseman Doug Lidster to the Blues for a skilled but soft center, Petr Nedved.

Then Mark Messier, the Rangers’ captain and catalyst in their playoff success, demanded a new contract and refused to report to training camp. He neared agreement on a new deal, but the Oct. 1 lockout put everything on hold.

When the lockout ended, the Rangers had only a few days to sign Messier (for two years at $6 million per year) and gear up again to defend the Cup. They finally raised their championship banner at Madison Square Garden, but their performance since then has turned the fans’ cheers to jeers.

Nedved is not scoring. Young players, given more ice time and responsibility by new Coach Colin Campbell, are faltering under that burden. The team’s defensive play has suffered without Tikkanen’s nasty doggedness. Smith has been busy denying rumors he was leaving to join the Detroit Red Wings. And although he has tried to relegate the Keenan affair to “ancient history,” he was reminded of it recently when he learned Keenan called Campbell instead of him to propose trading Craig Janney to New York.

“There’s always strife and turmoil here,” Smith said. “It’s part of the atmosphere.”

These are turbulent days, even for the Rangers, who are undergoing their third ownership change (to ITT-Cablevision) in Smith’s five-year tenure. With a 4-6-1 record and the season almost one-fourth gone, anxiety is setting in.

“There’s certainly a feeling of desperation in the locker room,” said defenseman Brian Leetch, whose mediocre performance is a stark contrast to his dominance last spring.

“There’s a lot missing. It seems to be more mental than physical. Guys are putting in the effort, but their feet are not following their heads. We’re not scoring goals and we’re not taking the lead on teams. All of our success last spring was based on having good special teams and when we had the lead, holding it. Instead of holding it, we’ve been giving it up.”

Said Messier: “We find ourselves in the position now where we’ve got to basically play playoff hockey.”

Smith watches and worries. He’s patient with Campbell, who was an assistant to Keenan, and recognizes Campbell has a tough act to follow.

“The level of expectation, of course, is high. Whatever he does, he’s going to be compared to his predecessor,” Smith said.

However, he added, “The coaches are going to have to make some statements, whether that means benchings or sending players down to the minors. There might have to be some trades made. We might have to get more depth, more grittiness. I know we’re tough enough. I don’t know if we’re hungry enough. You have to find a way to motivate them enough to be hungry.”

Seeing the Stanley Cup banner has motivated opponents to play well in the Garden, where the Rangers are 3-3-1.

“Teams come in here and look at the banner and say, ‘We’d better play a good game.’ Teams have gotten emotionally charged to play us, and that’s to be expected,” goaltender Glenn Healy said. “Emotionally we’ll get ourselves to a high level. Each game becomes critical for teams that are on the brink.”

They might be on the brink of another fissure between coach and captain, as happened two years ago when Messier openly rebelled against Roger Neilson.

Campbell has criticized right wing Alexei Kovalev for making defensive mistakes. But Campbell allowed Kovalev to play after the young Russian suffered a bump on the head two weeks ago, and Kovalev made several glaring mistakes in a 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh. Campbell has also criticized defenseman Sergei Zubov’s inconsistency.

Messier pointedly praises Kovalev at every opportunity. “You’ve got to give the kid some slack,” he said. “His load has really increased.”

Campbell has attributed the Rangers’ woes to their lack of depth at forward, saying they were unprepared for the loss of Mike Hudson and Greg Gilbert in the waiver draft. “We didn’t even know there was going to be a waiver draft,” he complained.

In truth, neither Hudson nor Gilbert played much last season. The Rangers’ problems lie deeper than that, and in this short season, there’s little time to waste seeking answers.

“Our team is not performing close to where it was at last year,” Smith said. “We miss Tikkanen and Lidster, yes, but I think it’s that the players just have not mentally prepared themselves for the challenge this year yet. We are a very high-skilled team, and if you’re not ready to face the pressure of being the defending champions, you’re in trouble.

“(In the shortened 48-game season), we can’t be given the normal turnaround time. But I don’t think it will take that long to straighten things out. I think our team is very talented and that should win out.”