We've had 1 top 10 pick in that 7-8 year period and Lias last year
Yes. But Bergeron has always been a good player, even when the Bruins looked like dog crap and everyone was laughing at what Sweeney was doing in Boston. Good players often aren't able to really reach their potential consistently unless enough good things are happening across the team. It's just sunk too far down with the Rangers right now. The piper is being paid.
Nash was a captain for years in Columbus, and had to deal with the sideshow prior to being traded here. He's always been calm under scrutiny. He's also one of the few players that gives an honest effort every shift, every game.
Other guys have hit it on the head, but the other aspect of the dark ages was that at any given time, we had at least 3 HOFers on the team. The total number of HOFers, almost-HOFers, or otherwise top-players-when-not-in-NY we iced was staggering (Gretzky, Kevin Stevens, Fleury, Kamensky, Kevin Hatcher, Schneider, Messier, Leetch, Richter, Lindros, Bure, Jagr, Kovalev, Lefebvre, Holik, Nedved, etc.). The quantity of let-down, year after year, was something I've never seen in any pro sports franchise before or since.
Yup, Nash has been the only person other than Hank who seems to give a crap lately and to his credit Nash has been playing well while facing the most pressure. That's why when people crap on Nash and his character it really bothers me. People think if he's not scoring then he's lazy and doesn't care. The dude cares, he loves being a Ranger and he's got all the character in the world. I'll miss him when he's gone.
