One Fine Mess

They say the neon lights are bright on Granville. . . .

Actually, the street where those lights blaze is Broadway. In New York, the city that embraced Mark Messier like few other sports figures during his six years with the Rangers. He embraced the city with equal enthusiasm, hurling himself into the exhilarating, maddening chaos of life in Manhattan.

Clubs and restaurants welcomed him and his girlfriend, a Victoria’s Secret model. Everywhere he went, he was hailed by cab drivers, vendors and white-collar executives. He was one of them. He had made it there.

In 1994, when he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, he could have been elected mayor. Being captain of the Rangers was better.

“New Yorkers are incredible, just walking on the streets of Manhattan,” he said, smiling at the memory. “The team was very visible on TV . . . and of course, winning in ’94 obviously elevates your status even that much more.”

By last summer, when he became a free agent, his status had plummeted. Believing his skills had diminished after he scored only three goals in 15 playoff games, the Rangers offered him a one-year, $4-million deal, a $2-million cut. After a series of he said-they said accusations, Messier put as much distance as he could between himself and the Rangers, accepting a three-year, $20-million deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Rangers, off to a slow start, miss his indomitable will and intimidating presence. He undeniably misses them.

“When you have the kind of success we did and you have the opportunity to win the Cup, the bonds you form with players that have gone through it with you become very strong,” he said. “The same thing with Edmonton [where he began his career]. Those are the things that tear at you when decisions are being made or aren’t being made. That’s the unfortunate part of the business, but that’s what we’re all faced with.”

What he faces with the Canucks, who play the Kings tonight at the Forum, may be more than he had bargained for.

Granville and other Vancouver streets also have bright lights, and fans recognize him here too. He professes to be eager to help rebuild a club that plunged from Western Conference champion in 1994 to playoff spectator last season. But it’s not the same as it was in New York, the city he thought would be his home the rest of his career.

“I would have [liked that], sure,” said Messier, who will be 37 in January. “But you never think too far ahead because things can happen in a hurry in this game, as we can well attest to.”

True. The Canucks’ season is going downhill in a hurry, and not even Messier, a six-time Stanley Cup winner and one of the greatest leaders ever to lace up a pair of skates, seems able to reverse its course.

Last Saturday, in their first home game after Pat Quinn was fired as president and general manager, the Canucks tied a club record with their ninth consecutive loss. Afterward, Messier was polite but terse. “My mother always told me if you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all. So that’s what I’ll do. I won’t say anything at all. Thank you,” he said.

In his defense, it must be said he was hampered by back and groin problems during training camp and struggled with jet lag and a leg injury after the team’s season-opening trip to Japan. Only in the last five games, in which he has four goals and eight points, has he skated with his typical long, powerful strides and made as big an impact on the score sheet as in the locker room.

“He’s still in a learning situation as far as getting used to players and his surroundings,” goaltender Kirk McLean said. “He’s made his presence known. As far as his stats, he’s doing fine.

“I don’t think anybody, especially Mark, expected him to come in and turn things around and be the messiah. He puts a lot of pressure on himself and he expects to win, and he’s handling the media pressure like a winner.”

Messier, however, accepts the messiah role willingly.

“I expect to be able to come in here and lend the experience I’ve had in the past, things I’ve learned from a lot of people along the way playing with great players,” he said. “I’ve seen how teams have been successful and why they’ve been successful and I can bring those qualities here.

“Don’t judge me on what I can do on [17] games. Give me some time to make a difference. It didn’t happen right away in New York, either. There were some tough times there before it got turned around. I feel good. I’m healthy. I know I can contribute in a lot of areas, but most of all on the ice.”

In the front office and on the ice, the Canucks are seeking direction. Whichever way they go, Messier is sure to lead them.

“His presence certainly has been felt, but maybe we misunderstood what he was going to bring,” defenseman Dave Babych said. “Maybe the question is how we reacted. It almost looked like the rest of us were watching and waiting for him to do everything. Now that we see he’s as human as we are, with some different qualities, we have to figure how to fit as a team.

“Any great player, if he doesn’t have a good supporting cast, can’t do it all by himself. We sat there and watched him and it was evident, and you could see everyone get frustrated by it. Then you start wondering if you fit in. It was unfair to him because I don’t think he’s seen a situation like this for a long, long time. But we all have to fight through this, have to sneak through it until we see some daylight.”

His adjustments include the nature of his game. Playing with Markus Naslund on his left and Pavel Bure on his right, he doesn’t get the puck back from his wingers often and so must wade into traffic more, pounce on rebounds and be aggressive around the net. Not that he minds.

“You’re always changing and you’re always adjusting,” Messier said. “That’s one of the great things about the game. It’s never the same. . . .

“I was pretty ready for anything here. I know when teams have off years, there are things that need to be corrected. I knew coming in here it wasn’t something that was going to take 10 or 15 games to turn it around. It was going to take a while. But I’m fully prepared for that, and I don’t have a problem with that.”

Messier said he doesn’t regret signing with the Canucks, although when asked if he’d take a different path if given a second chance, he said his choice “was very limited. I was in a situation where I had to go out and see who wanted to employ me and that’s what I did, and I came up with what I felt was a good situation for me.

“I was trying to find the right fit and the people involved in ownership. That was important. I think ownership [John McCaw of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment] wants to turn the franchise around. They’re committed to building a real solid organization here, and that was kind of interesting.”

The word disarray comes closer to describing the Canucks now. But Messier hasn’t given up. “Sometimes through losing you can find out a lot about people and how they react in times of adversity,” he said. “It’s easy to be a great player, a good team player, when you’re 13-2. It’s a little tougher to stand up and be counted when you’ve lost eight in a row and still try and bring it to the rink every day.”