Savior-Andrew Dellapina (NHL 10)

[NYwRiter94]

A single moment in time. It can mean so much, yet so little. Something as monstrous as the creation of a universe, or something as miniscule as a drop of water collecting on a leaf. It was such a moment in time that a small, black object began to fall. The puck came down for what seemed like an eternity, although in actuality it was merely a second or two. However, once it hit the cold hard surface, covered in snow grated off of the surface of the ice, slicked with sweat dripping from the grown men waiting feverishly for the most important moment in their lives, that small rubber disc spawned a clash of two pieces of wood, both vying for the right to win the puck for their owner, to win the puck for their team, to win the puck for their city, to win the puck for their country. As the puck fluttered harmlessly to the side, an entire arena full of people suddenly came into being. An insurmountable burden had been lifted, and after 54 long years, the Stanley Cup had returned to New York City.

*** ***

In 1989, Neil Smith was hired as the general manager of the New York Rangers. He inherited a team with young stars Mike Richter and Brian Leetch, but much work needed to be done before the Rangers were Cup contenders. Sergei Zubov was drafted in 1990 to complete the defensive tandem with Leetch. In 1991, Smith acquired both Mark Messier and Adam Graves, key components to the Rangers’ playoff picture, and at the trade deadline of the 93-94 season, the Rangers acquired Craig McTavish and Glenn Anderson from the Oilers, to push for another Presidents’ Trophy. The team cruised past the Isles and Caps, and after falling behind to the Devils, 3-2, Captain Mark Messier made his famous guarantee, and scored three goals in the third period, along with Stephane Matteau’s epic double overtime goal in game seven, as the Rangers went on to win the next two games, and advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, in hopes of breaking the curse that haunted Rangers fans everywhere they went.

Although the Canucks won the first game in New York in OT, the Rangers bounced back. They won the second game at home, and the next two in Vancouver. The Rangers then came back home, hoping to win the Cup in front of the New York faithful for the first time ever. However, the Canucks took an early 3-0 lead. Just as soon as the Rangers tied it up in the 3^rd, the Canucks fired back and won the game, 6-3. The Canucks brought the series back home and pounded the Rangers 4-1, sending the Rangers reeling and pressuring them at home in the always magical game seven. Leetch and Graves sent blue up 2-0, although Trevor Linden punched one past goalie Mike Richter to halve the lead. Messier then scored on a power play, but Trevor Linden cut the lead yet again. The Rangers then proceeded to kill time, frantically dumping the puck into the Canucks zone with mere seconds left, as the players began the motion of jumping off of the bench and racing towards Richter. However, the referee called icing with a second and a tenth left, and the celebration was cut short.

As the puck dropped on the final play, Craig McTavish knocked it away, and Madison Square Garden simply burst. A 54-year curse had been broken, and New York City was in all its glory. Brian Leetch was named the first American born and non-Canadian born player to win the Conn Smythe, and Mark Messier had captained two different teams to Stanley Cup championships. It was the defining moment in Rangers history.

[NYwRiter94]

Beginning during the 1994 offseason, the entire Rangers franchise went downhill. Mike Keenan left over bonus payment disagreements, and Colin Campbell took over as coach. The team struggles the following two years, and even the major signing of Wayne Gretzky in 1996 can’t help as captain Mark Messier leaves for Vancouver the following year and the team misses the playoffs, further injured by Gretzky’s retirement in 99. In 2000 Theo Fleury came to the team in what proved to be a bum move, and Neil Smith was fired in favor of Glen Sather, the man who put together the epic Edmonton Oilers of the late 80s. Although Sather brought back Messier, later signings such as Eric Lindros, Darius Kasparaitis and Anson Carter just wasted money and did nothing for the team. Glen Sather then enraged Rangers faithful by shipping off Adam Graves, and more notably, Brian Leetch, one of the few hard-working players left and a fan-favorite. Eventually, Sather brought in one last star, trading Anson Carter for Jaromir Jar, before the lockout in 2004-2005. By this time, the Rangers were in shambles, and their likely franchise goaltender, Dan Blackburn, had sustained a nerve injury and left the Rangers in even worse shape.

The lockout led to a new look for the Rangers, and a new organizational goal, which involved more young, homegrown players coming out of the system to develop into starters. That, in addition to strong European roots in veterans like Martin Straka and Jaromir Jagr, who broke both the Rangers’ points and goals records the same year, led to a surprising playoff finish in which they were swept by the Devils in the first round. After the 05-06 season, the Rangers signed veteran scorer Brendan Shanahan, who brought goals to the team, along with the annoyance and grit of Sean Avery and the surprising netminding prowess of rookie Swedish tender Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers once again made the playoffs, losing to the Buffalo Sabres in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

In the 2007 offseason, the Rangers picked up top 5 skater Alexei Cherepanov in the first round of the Entry Draft with the 17^th overall pick. In addition, they inked huge deals with Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, expecting two high-scoring centers to pair up with Shanahan and Jagr. However, the acquisitions fell short of expectations and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. In the offseason, Glen Sather made one of the most questionable moves in Ranger history, releasing captain and star Jaromir Jagr to go play in Russia, denying him the $6 million he requested, and instead giving it to Wade Redden, a defenseman from the Ottawa Senators, and signed veteran winger Markus Naslund in exchange for the cut ties with Brendan Shanahan. Wade Redden had a dismal season, no doubt less than half of the season the Rangers could have expected from Jagr. Early in the season, a hot start by the Rangers was cut short by the awful news of the death of Alexei Cherepanov, who died on the bench of an Avangard Omsk game, sitting next to Jagr himself. Late in the season, Glen Sather fired Tom Renney and hired former Bolts coach John Tortorella. The team reacquired Sean Avery off of waivers from the Dallas Stars, and traded Petr Prucha and others in two trade deadline deals that brought Derek Morris and Nik Antropov, neither of whom resigned at the end of the year, to New York. The Rangers made the playoffs, but couldn’t hold onto a 3-1 series lead over the Capitals, and fell 4-3.

[NYwRiter94]

[alex96]

HOLY COW! DID U MAKE THAT? It looks great!

[Qb]

Yeah, nice graphic! I'm sure we'll be seeing some game recaps soon, right?

[NYwRiter94]

Quote: Originally Posted by alex96

HOLY COW! DID U MAKE THAT? It looks great!

Thanks, yeah I made it myself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

Yeah, nice graphic! I'm sure we'll be seeing some game recaps soon, right?

Haha, definitely, I was supposed to get 10 on release day but my dad(he's getting it through his office) has not obtained a copy yet, so I'm waiting. In addition, I have a video to post, a recap of what happens in the offseason with the draft and free agent signings that Sather made, then I'll assume the role of GM and make a few moves I have been planning. Then, I FINALLY get to start the games.

[whitesox]

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

Yeah, nice graphic! I'm sure we'll be seeing some game recaps soon, right?

Nice graphic, can't wait to hear how it plays out.

[NYwRiter94]

Credit to shinderhizzle84 for the video.

[Qb]

Still didn't get the game? If so, bummer dude...

[FlyersFan30]

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

Still didn't get the game? If so, bummer dude...

I'm pretty sure he got it, no updates yet though