Respect Isn’t Going to Save Muckler’s Job

The New York Rangers insist they like John Muckler and don’t want their coach to be fired, no matter that they’re in a 2-9-2 slump and stood a wobbly 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference.

If they had lost faith in him, they say, they would have accepted defeat after falling behind early against the Bruins and Maple Leafs last week.

“If guys didn’t respect him, we wouldn’t have come back against Boston,” goalie Mike Richter said of a 5-3 Ranger loss last Thursday. “After it was 4-0, it could have been 7-0. I don’t think guys are trying to get him fired.”

If they respect Muckler enough to fight back for him, why put themselves in a hole to start with? Where are the consistent, honest efforts that should be automatic from a veteran team?

Maybe joining the free-spending Rangers--hockey’s equivalent of winning the lottery--has blunted players’ hunger. Theo Fleury, whose three-year, $21-million deal was part of a $67-million free-agent spree last summer, hasn’t been nearly as effective as he was with Calgary.

“It’s been a transition, for sure, not only on the ice but off the ice as well,” he said of moving from West to East. “Everybody traps everybody. It’s such a different game. It seems like everybody wants to win, 1-0.”

But that doesn’t explain why defenseman Kevin Hatcher is clueless, or why Stephane Quintal looks lost. Or why Kevin Stevens and John MacLean each has one goal.

Out of desperation, Muckler threw Alexandre Daigle, former bonus baby and top draft pick, into the lineup against Toronto last Saturday and benched Stevens. Daigle, in a rare display of committed play, had two assists--but the Rangers lost in overtime, 4-3, after erasing an early 3-0 deficit.

“As individuals we’re all trying to find our games right now and what makes us successful,” Fleury said. “We’ve lost some games that we played well, then we tapered off. We’re really trying to strive for some consistent play. It’s early yet and we’ve got a great bunch of players here and it’s just a matter of time. As a group, we have to play a little bit better.

“We’re too good a team, and I think everybody knows that, for this to go on much longer.”

While General Manager Neil Smith follows the Madison Square Garden party line and remains silent about Muckler, the Rangers are flailing. MacLean’s power-play goal at Toronto was the team’s first on the road in 40 tries over 10 games and only its sixth in 84 chances overall, the NHL’s worst success rate.

“That’s been our Achilles’ heel,” winger Adam Graves said.

Graves, a staunch backer of Muckler, said the coach looks more at effort than results. Corporate bosses, however, tend to do the opposite.

“We have to execute,” Graves said. “If we don’t, it’s not because we’re not prepared or we don’t have a game plan. I think we’re in excellent condition and well-prepared. The only way to show support for Muck is to do it on the ice. It’s plain as day.”

Plain, but hardly simple.

If the Rangers refrained from firing Muckler last weekend because they didn’t want to divert attention from Wayne Gretzky’s Hall of Fame induction Monday, they have no reason to wait anymore.

“I can’t stop it,” Muckler said of speculation about his status. “All we can do is do our best. We’ve got to work through it and I’ve got to go about my business. . . . You can see our club coming together, the way Theo and Daigle played, and we’ve still got Valeri Kamensky coming back [from an arm injury].”

But Muckler probably won’t be behind the bench to see it.

“Any time there’s high expectations on a team and things don’t go well, they’re going to need somebody to take the fall,” Fleury said.

It may be Muckler’s misfortune to coach a team built more like a fantasy league entry than one with thought to chemistry or cohesion, but he hasn’t helped overcome those weaknesses. He and Smith may soon learn money can’t buy love, Stanley Cups or job security.

IS PRIMEAU PRIME?

Carolina Hurricane General Manager Jim Rutherford said last week he has halted trade talks regarding unsigned restricted free agent Keith Primeau. He spoke to the Kings, Rangers and Flyers and discussed players but said he got no firm offers--probably because he set a steep price. Throw in Primeau’s demand to earn $5 million a year, and he will be tough to move.

Rutherford had vowed not to trade Primeau but Primeau’s agent, Todd Reynolds, said his client won’t return to Carolina. The Flyers seem a good fit, with Rod Brind’Amour still recovering from a broken ankle, but General Manager Bob Clarke hesitated to shake up a team that’s playing well after undergoing too many changes last season.

A team signing Primeau to an offer sheet will have to compensate the Hurricanes with five first-round draft picks. If Primeau agrees to a sign-and-trade deal, the team that gets him will still have to give up several players, and possibly draft picks too.

For the Kings, who traded their 1999 first-round pick and the players they drafted first in 1997 (Olli Jokinen) and 1998 (Mathieu Biron) in the Ziggy Palffy deal, it’s not worth trading more of their future to solve a problem at center that should disappear when Jozef Stumpel recovers from abdominal surgery.

In any situation, does it make sense to give up so much for Primeau, whose best season was 1993-94, when he totaled 73 points? Size can’t be taught--he’s 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds--but over the last four seasons he has scored only two more points than Mighty Duck center Steve Rucchin, who doesn’t have Primeau’s reputation and is earning an average of $2.3 million on his four-year contract.

LOGJAM

The new no-harm, no-foul rule regarding attacking players in the crease was designed to increase scoring, but it also has increased the traffic goalies must contend with. Forwards are more aggressive than in previous seasons, when they knew goals could be waved off if they had a toe in the crease, and tempers are flaring.

“Goaltenders are getting good at the rugby scrums,” Toronto goalie Glenn Healy said. “Really, it has been hectic around the net.”

HEAD GAMES

Sentiment is growing for enlarging the ice surface since Geoff Courtnall became the latest victim of post-concussion syndrome and had to retire. He follows Pat LaFontaine, Jeff Beukeboom, Nick Kypreos, Brett Lindros and Jim Johnson, among others, in recent years. Patrik Stefan, top 1999 draft pick, suffered a concussion Friday and the Atlanta Thrashers are worried because he had several while with Long Beach of the IHL.

Players are bigger and faster than ever but rink dimensions have stayed the same. It might be worth experimenting in the American Hockey League to see if adding 10 or 15 feet in width will make a difference.

SLAP SHOTS

The Blackhawks negotiated a buyout of the $1.4-million contract Wendel Clark signed as a free agent last summer. He had nothing left, which the Hawks should have realized. As a team, they’re a mess, and their frustration level is mounting. “When you’re not having success and not winning, there’s frustration and disappointment and a lot of other things that come into play,” Coach Lorne Molleken said. “But we need to rise above it.” Center Doug Gilmour, the subject of frequent trade rumors, can’t even begin to explain what’s going wrong. “If I had the answer, I’d like to relay that to you. I can’t. . . . I don’t even know,” he said.

Winger Maxim Afinogenov, recalled by Buffalo from the minor leagues, has five points in his last two games and won’t be going back down. A speedster with excellent skills, he has been compared to Florida’s Pavel Bure. . . . The first Hall of Fame game, held last Saturday at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, will become an annual event. “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Maple Leaf Coach Pat Quinn said. “There’s all sorts of reasons why we should honor the people who have contributed to the game in such a major fashion.”

The Maple Leafs have done a good job sustaining links to the past in their new arena. Pictures of former players are displayed in the concourse and plaques honoring each season’s team are mounted above players’ lockers. “You see all the old teams and you feel the tradition,” said center Yanic Perreault, a former King. “And you look at the lockers and they’re all in maple.” Maple, maple leafs--get it?

The Red Wings are talking to 39-year-old center Igor Larionov about a two-year extension.