Toggle sidebar

Reflecting back on Alexei Cherepanov

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
All Might said:
Could've been the greatest forward ever drafted by this team. Still such a tragic event to look back on.
Click to expand...
I didn't expect or even hope for him to be a Weight, Kovalev, or even Amonte, mainly due to the generational differences in the game, but I really did think he was going to be a regular All Star. He was just so skilled.

I remember being at work and reading he collapsed, and furiously refreshing the thread. And then right before I left work, that was it... He was gone. It was devastating.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrmovies779 and All Might
I remember seeing the RIP Cherepanov thread here 10 years ago and thinking his career was over or something. I didn't hit me until I opened the thread and started reading about that tragic day with total misbelief.

Where the hell has the last 10 years gone..? I was 28.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NYRFANMANI, lucky13 and nyr2k2
I think I have told this story before on here. Msg setup a private lunch with a couple season ticket holders during the summer following Cherepanovs death, with Adam Graves. Graves spoke about a lot of different things. Someone asked about the Rangers never have a top tier forward. Graves said how difficult it is to get a franchise player, but the Rangers organization had felt Cherepanov was pretty close to one. Graves also spoke about how the Rangers sent over someone to his home after his death to pay the organization's respect. The mother showed them Cherepanov's bedroom and one of the few things on his walls was his Rangers Draft Jersey.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lemonybergamot, egelband, mrmovies779 and 7 others
Speedtrials said:
I think I have told this story before on here. Msg setup a private lunch with a couple season ticket holders during the summer following Cherepanovs death, with Adam Graves. Graves spoke about a lot of different things. Someone asked about the Rangers never have a top tier forward. Graves said how difficult it is to get a franchise player, but the Rangers organization had felt Cherepanov was pretty close to one. Graves also spoke about how the Rangers sent over someone to his home after his death to pay the organization's respect. The mother showed them Cherepanov's bedroom and one of the few things on his walls was his Rangers Draft Jersey.
Click to expand...
:(

That's so sad.
 
Speedtrials said:
I think I have told this story before on here. Msg setup a private lunch with a couple season ticket holders during the summer following Cherepanovs death, with Adam Graves. Graves spoke about a lot of different things. Someone asked about the Rangers never have a top tier forward. Graves said how difficult it is to get a franchise player, but the Rangers organization had felt Cherepanov was pretty close to one. Graves also spoke about how the Rangers sent over someone to his home after his death to pay the organization's respect. The mother showed them Cherepanov's bedroom and one of the few things on his walls was his Rangers Draft Jersey.
Click to expand...
f*** man that makes me want to cry. :(
 
brandon_dubinsky_2008_10_13.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: DutchNYR, egelband and hi
I still remember where I was when I heard. I was leaving work and my friend texted me something like "RIP Alexei Cherepanov". So sad.
 
SnowblindNYR said:
I still remember where I was when I heard. I was leaving work and my friend texted me something like "RIP Alexei Cherepanov". So sad.
Click to expand...

I was in the hospital. My son was born the day before Cherepanov died.
I sat there in the recliner watching ESPN with my newborn, first watching the ticker tape on the bottom talking about his passing and then later on there were some breaking news during the hockey segments. It was a very somber moment. Life and death is so close to us without us ever even being aware of it. I will never forget where I was when Cherepanov died because of the best day of my life. My best day, or time of my life is Cherepanov's family worst time of their life. It certainly puts things into perspective.
 
  • Like
Reactions: egelband and hi
Kid was supremely talented.

I'd say the hope for him was similar to what we have in place for Kravtsov right now, in terms of potential.

At that point, it was the third time in 10 years we lost a first round pick (with Cherepanov obviously being tragic), and the second time a young player for us died in several years. As silly as it sounds, I can remember honestly wondering if someone sold their soul for that 1994 Cup and that everything that happened after that was all part of the payment due. Because any one of these events would've been sad to tragic on their own, but to have all of them just seemed so unlikely.

Aside from the loss of human life, which goes without saying, I'd probably also say that the Rangers only had two clear opportunities in the next 11 years to grab players with that kind of talent level. That's how much of an impact it had on the organization.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sarge13
Hunter Gathers said:
The most disgusting thing about the death was the weird outburst from opposing fans who thought we shouldn't be awarded a compensatory pick (when they flat out didn't understand that we couldn't sign him because he had passed away). Pieces of garbage. I'll never forgive some of that. Really nasty stuff.
Click to expand...

Frankly most fans probably don't care. Especially opposing fans that never developed a connection to him. But to be that self unaware is mind boggling.
 
bl02 said:
Put him on the 2014 team and we win some of those games and the cup. RIP Alexei
Click to expand...

I do indeed wonder about that...

Hard to say what might have been done differently and how the roster might have looked etc, but just speculating on adding him as a top wing to that team maybe is the difference between winning and losing the cup...this team has been chasing that top line draft pick for so long that maybe Cherepanov was that guy and we just never got to see it. Hopefully Kakko will be that guy now but it's rough to think of what could have been. And to take it outside of hockey, tough to see a young person with so much promise in front of them die so young.

I also have always wondered if what happened spooked the Rangers a bit from using a high draft pick on Tarasenko in 2010.

I don't really think he'd have been a franchise player, I feel like more a 70-90 point player but that would have still been far and away their best pick in decades.

I guess I was in my late 20's and the most I remember was taking a weekend trip to Annapolis with my g/f and feeling weird and out of sorts and in that "death can happen at any moment to anyone" kind of mind frame, after I heard the news.

e: the other weird thing was how often the narrative around his death shifted. He was doping, no he wasn't, he had a heart condition, no he didn't, he was being treated for a condition, but no he wasn't...back and forth about what caused his death and at this point I'm not sure what to believe about it all
 
Levitate said:
I do indeed wonder about that...

Hard to say what might have been done differently and how the roster might have looked etc, but just speculating on adding him as a top wing to that team maybe is the difference between winning and losing the cup...this team has been chasing that top line draft pick for so long that maybe Cherepanov was that guy and we just never got to see it. Hopefully Kakko will be that guy now but it's rough to think of what could have been. And to take it outside of hockey, tough to see a young person with so much promise in front of them die so young.

I also have always wondered if what happened spooked the Rangers a bit from using a high draft pick on Tarasenko in 2010.

I don't really think he'd have been a franchise player, I feel like more a 70-90 point player but that would have still been far and away their best pick in decades.

I guess I was in my late 20's and the most I remember was taking a weekend trip to Annapolis with my g/f and feeling weird and out of sorts and in that "death can happen at any moment to anyone" kind of mind frame, after I heard the news.

e: the other weird thing was how often the narrative around his death shifted. He was doping, no he wasn't, he had a heart condition, no he didn't, he was being treated for a condition, but no he wasn't...back and forth about what caused his death and at this point I'm not sure what to believe about it all
Click to expand...

This has come up before, but it really is weird to think about all the promising young talent, particularly first round picks, that the Rangers lost between 1998 and 2008.

Stefan Cherneski was 20 when his career and life was forever altered by a freak injury.

Dan Blackburn was also 20 when the same fate awaited him.

Cherepanov was 19 when he paid the ultimate price.

Putting aside the human tragedy for a moment, that's three first round picks over a 10 year span. That has a huge impact on a franchise from an operations standpoint.

There were times, even working for the organization, where it felt like someone literally made a deal the devil to get that cup in 1994. It was like someone said, "If you lift the curse for this one year, it can resume for the next 30."
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrhockey193195
Edge said:
This has come up before, but it really is weird to think about all the promising young talent, particularly first round picks, that the Rangers lost between 1998 and 2008.

Stefan Cherneski was 20 when his career and life was forever altered by a freak injury.

Dan Blackburn was also 20 when the same fate awaited him.

Cherepanov was 19 when he paid the ultimate price.

Putting aside the human tragedy for a moment, that's three first round picks over a 10 year span. That has a huge impact on a franchise from an operations standpoint.

There were times, even working for the organization, where it felt like someone literally made a deal the devil to get that cup in 1994. It was like someone said, "If you lift the curse for this one year, it can resume for the next 30."
Click to expand...
I don't think that McIlrath had the potential for impact that any of those guys did, but still--I really believe that kneecap dislocation and ensuing surgery set him back. Speed and agility were never going to be his strengths, but that really handicapped him moving forward. Again, not that he'd be Jeff Beukeboom redux, but I think he could have made it. Even if you don't think it had that much of an impact, just having that happen to a top pick after what happened to all the others simply sucks.
 
Edge said:
This has come up before, but it really is weird to think about all the promising young talent, particularly first round picks, that the Rangers lost between 1998 and 2008.

Stefan Cherneski was 20 when his career and life was forever altered by a freak injury.

Dan Blackburn was also 20 when the same fate awaited him.

Cherepanov was 19 when he paid the ultimate price.

Putting aside the human tragedy for a moment, that's three first round picks over a 10 year span. That has a huge impact on a franchise from an operations standpoint.

There were times, even working for the organization, where it felt like someone literally made a deal the devil to get that cup in 1994. It was like someone said, "If you lift the curse for this one year, it can resume for the next 30."
Click to expand...


Kind of how it feels to be a Jets fan. Namath definitely made a deal with the Devil for that Super Bowl. Except we're still paying for it 50 years later.
 
nyr2k2 said:
I think he realistically had 40-goal potential. The kind of guy that maybe wasn't hitting a point-per-game because he was more of a scorer, but that cut of elite players that resides right below the absolute superstars.
Click to expand...

Yeah maybe a Tarasenko like player. Great scorer but never has been a point per game player.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nyr2k2
Over a decade gone and his death still gets me choked up.

I notice how differently I watch the game now. As a teenager I saw only hockey-playing robots: A guy'd make a hit on a player I didn't like and I'd be yelling, "Kill that MF'er!"

Now a guy takes a hit and I'm counting how many concussions he's had.

I can't guess whether Cherepanov would've ended up being the player I imagine. It doesn't matter. A kid lost his life before he got to take a crack at his dream and it guts me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fredrikstad, Mac n Gs, KOVALEV022473 and 4 others
Better pre-draft numbers than Ovi, Malkin, and Kovakchuk. Broke Bure’s rookie goal record. He had so much talent and probably never should have been playing sports to begin with. The most tragic part is that an AED could’ve saved him, but it took like 15 minutes for any medical response.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KOVALEV022473
Dactyl said:
Better pre-draft numbers than Ovi, Malkin, and Kovakchuk. Broke Bure’s rookie goal record. He had so much talent and probably never should have been playing sports to begin with. The most tragic part is that an AED could’ve saved him, but it took like 15 minutes for any medical response.
Click to expand...

What does this mean
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom