The Legacy of Neil Smith

[NYRCSKA*]

Sakic was an RFA I believe. The Rangers offered him a huge contract that he accepted, and Colorado had the opportunity to match, which they did of course. So Sakic never played here. Not his fault Colorado matched, anyone would have matched any offer for prime Sakic.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Sakic was an RFA I believe. The Rangers offered him a huge contract that he accepted, and Colorado had the opportunity to match, which they did of course. So Sakic never played here. Not his fault Colorado matched, anyone would have matched any offer for prime Sakic.

Colorado was just opening a new arena. Rangers brass made a calculated risk that they were strapped for cash and wouldnt match a front-loaded deal for Sakic. They matched.

Plan B was Lafontaine, who played pretty well but his concussion issues reemerged, which was just a matter of time.

 

[ThisYearsModel]

Colorado was just opening a new arena. Rangers brass made a calculated risk that they were strapped for cash and wouldnt match a front-loaded deal for Sakic. They matched.

Plan B was Lafontaine, who played pretty well but his concussion issues reemerged, which was just a matter of time.

What saved the Avalanche was the receipts from the movie Air Force One. That enabled them to have the cash to match. It was a bold move. Neil Smith has been paying the price for it ever since. Bettman has worked against him each time he has tried to get another GM job. The most obvious time was when the Ducks were looking for a mew GM after the departure of Brian Murray. The finalists were Smith and Brian Burke. Bettman "strongly" suggested to the Samueli's that they hire Burke.

 

[GarretJoseph*]

I can think of a hell of a lot worse GM's just in our state alone. Lets list the deals Mike Milbury made with the Isles! What a GM! Can't tell if Snow is gonna be worse.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Anderson provided none of these. If they played Kypreos, much less Gartner, the team would've been just as good. It's not player to player analysis. It's the basic fact that Anderson was utterly useless, just an empty spot that did nothing, except occasionally turn over the puck.

While an argument could be made that we wouldn't have won without Matteau and Noonan, no such argument can be made for Anderson. There was no grit, there was no toughness, there was no scoring. He was previously a playoff scoring specialist, but was washed up by the time he got to NY. The justification was that he'll turn it on in the playoffs, but if he didn't have the big name, Kypreos or Olczyk would've played ahead of him.

Anderson scored some huge goals in those playoffs, and there's no telling how valuable he was in the locker room.

 

[Beacon]

I can think of a hell of a lot worse GM's just in our state alone. Lets list the deals Mike Milbury made with the Isles! What a GM! Can't tell if Snow is gonna be worse.

M&M was arguably the worst long-term GM in the history of the NHL, at least since I began watching hockey. Just awful. Chara+#2 overall for Yashin. Drafted DiPietro instead of Heatley and then traded away Luongo for a pair of third liners. Young Bertuzzi and young McCabe for the aging Linden, who didn't even want to play on the Island. Turgeon and Schneider for Muller (who at first refused to play on the Island) and Malakhov. Horrible drafting. Just horrible team management. The worst GM as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Mr Atoz*]

Neil Smith put together the team that won the Cup which no one has done since a season that started in the 1930's.

2. Doug Weight was traded for Tikkanen who spent the next season on the third line with Nemchinov. Weight went on to score over 1,000 points.

Career wise a bad trade. But for '94 it worked.

3. Beezer was a quality NHL starter in his prime in 1993. Smith had offers, but failed to pull the trigger. When the 1993 expansion draft rolled around, he could only get the 35 year old #7 defenseman Doug Lidster.

All he could get was a journeyman that stepped in for the horrific Karpotsev and played his ass off in the final against Vancouver including scoring a huge goal where he crashed the net.

4. Right before that, two quality bottom 6 guys Kris King and Tie Domi were dealt away for Olczyk, who became an extra forward, not part of the top 12.

Bowling ball head had to go. Neither of those guys would have played anyway and Olczyk had the talent to fill in if he had to.

5. Tony Amonte was dealt away for a pair of third liners in Matteau and Noonan, then went on to get almost 500 NHL goals.

Amonte was traded for the guy that scored the most important goal in the history of the franchise and one of the most legendary goals in the history of the NHL. Career wise, no contest. And Amonte never won a Cup.

6. Mike Gartner was a superstar, but Smith sent him to the Leafs for Glenn Anderson, who was too old and quickly found himself benched or on the 4th line.

Glenn Anderson scored two of the four game winning Ranger goals in the Stanley Cup finals against Vancouver. You can look it up.


You could argue that every one of those moves made the Cup possible.

Would you trade these better careers for still no Cup?

Not me.

 

[Tackla]

I think Neil Smith is a pompous *********, personally.

 

[Bluenote13]

Smith did what he had to do to get a Cup to NY, that's always going to be the bottom line.

Larry Pleau is an underrated name in Rangerland. He was a solid AGM, very smart, had many conversations with him over the years during and after AHL/NHL games. He went on to be the GM of the Blues for 13 years, longest GM stint in Blues history, by the time he stepped down in 2010 he left the team with draft picks Erik Johson, Rundblad, Bishop, Backes, Oshie, Pietrangelo, Perron, Berglund, etc.

 

[Zil]

Nobody's going to bring up the fact that he could've had Brett Hull in 95 as compensation for Keenan and opted for Nedved and that he could've had Shanahan in 96 if he just would've given up Kovalev?

 

[Crease]

Tough to grade Smith. He did what he had to do to deliver a Cup to NY. But also made some serious blunders (especially after the fact).

With Cups so few and far between for this franchise, they tend to have high value on the resume (and rightfully so).

 

[pld459666]

How can people defend the Gartner for Anderson trade? Anderson was the Redden of 1994, but worse. He was done. Greg Gilbert was moved to the third line, Tikkanen to the second and Kovalev was moved to 1RW from 2C to place Anderson on the 4th line. Even there, he continued to be the least effective player on the line.

Gartner, meanwhile, was a first line star with speed and shooting ability. It was that day's equivalent of dealing Kreider for Redden, except Gartner>Kreider and Redden>Anderson.

Anderson was brought in to provide experience and sandpaper to the team.

He was not brought in to score goals.

He played 3rd and 4th line minutes and killed penalties

And no, the comparison you make could not be further from the truth.

Gartner and Anderson were nothing like Kreider and Redden.

Gartner was born in 1959, anderson in 1960

If we traded a 22 year old Kreider for a 21 year old Redden, that's a trade you make every day.

These were two completely different players at the time of the trade.

To preface this position I am taking here, I must advise that I am one of the believers that we didn't have to make the trades that we made to have won the cup that year.

Prior to the deadline deals, we were a fast team that could score both off the rush and while playing a cycling game.

Post deadline, we became a slower more predictable team but one (as the evidence clearly shows) that could handle ANY situation thrown at us.

 

[pld459666]

Colorado was just opening a new arena. Rangers brass made a calculated risk that they were strapped for cash and wouldnt match a front-loaded deal for Sakic. They matched.

Plan B was Lafontaine, who played pretty well but his concussion issues reemerged, which was just a matter of time.

The really messed up part of this.

Mike Keane (LaFontaine's teammate) concussed Patty as the two collided center ice.

 

[pld459666]

Nobody's going to bring up the fact that he could've had Brett Hull in 95 as compensation for Keenan and opted for Nedved and that he could've had Shanahan in 96 if he just would've given up Kovalev?

Link?

That doesn't sound remotely close to proper compensation.

Hull? I'm not buying it.

 

[Zil]

Link?

That doesn't sound remotely close to proper compensation.

Hull? I'm not buying it.

It's from a book called Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers. You can get a used copy for a penny: http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Edge-S...d=1395838527&sr=1-8&keywords=new+york+rangers

 

[True Blue]

I think Neil Smith is a pompous *********, personally.

That's great. Can you name another GM that has won a Cup in NY?

 

[Beacon]

Link?

That doesn't sound remotely close to proper compensation.

Hull? I'm not buying it.

Even after the Keenan compensation talk was over, Keenan was willing to do Kovalev and Matteau for Shanny. This was reported over and over in the mid-90s. Then Kennan dealt Shanny for Pronger, which everyone thought was a terrible trade for the Blues because Pronger was struggling in Hartford.

 

[Crease]

Keenan would have been willing to trade Gretzky for Matteau

 

[Tawnos]

That's great. Can you name another GM that has won a Cup in NY?

I can name two...

 

[Bluenote13]

Nobody's going to bring up the fact that he could've had Brett Hull in 95 as compensation for Keenan and opted for Nedved and that he could've had Shanahan in 96 if he just would've given up Kovalev?

I don't believe for a second that Brett Hull would have been compensation for a coach.

Even after the Keenan compensation talk was over, Keenan was willing to do Kovalev and Matteau for Shanny. This was reported over and over in the mid-90s. Then Kennan dealt Shanny for Pronger, which everyone thought was a terrible trade for the Blues because Pronger was struggling in Hartford.

Pronger was 21 yrs old playing on one of the leagues youngest teams at the time, not everyone thought it was a bad trade. Selanne, Brerard and Ron Francis were the names being floated around when Pronger was being offered up. Even though he wasn't playing well his value was still high.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I can name two...

Can you name another living GM that has won a cup in NYC?

 

[Tawnos]

Can you name another living GM that has won a cup in NYC?

Two qualifiers that I was poking fun at.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Two qualifiers that I was poking fun at.

Ha, I had put NY and figured you'd hit me with Bill Torrey.

 

[McRanger]

Can you name another living GM that has won a cup in NYC?

Milt Schmidt.

 

[Tackla]

That's great. Can you name another GM that has won a Cup in NY?

Thanks for replying to me, Neil Smith.....