The Purge at the 2004 Trade Deadline...

With a 2-week lull between the Stanley Cup Finals and the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, it's time to look back on what happened in March of 2004 during the week of the trade deadline. I wanted to post this around this year's deadline, but there was a lot of action going around and it would've gotten lost in the flood.

It seemed every time I looked online, or at ESPNews, or in the newspaper, they made another deal. (Remember, no beat writers had blogs back then, and this delicious website wasn't around for another 4 years.) In total, 7 Ranger trades were made in that week...

March 2, 2004
- Alex Kovalev to Montreal for Jozef Balej and 2004 2nd round pick.
:: A great move to dump Kovalev's high salary before the cap was implemented, as essentially this was a cap-saving move. Balej should've been great. He had a goal and 4 assists in 13 games with NY and 16 points in 16 during the AHL playoffs, but his lockout year was very poor in the AHL. Balej was eventually sent to the Canucks for Fedor Fedorov, who eventually became a punchline and an empty roster spot.

The 2nd rounder became Dane Byers. Byers was hurt much of this year (7 points, 9 games) but his past season stats and scouting reports suggest he'd be a replacement for Blair Betts if Betts doesn't return. He might have a decent NHL career but will never be a superstar. (I have also heard Byers' name as a possible replacement to Colton Orr - a grinder with better hockey skills than Orr - but it was purely speculation.)

March 3, 2004
- Petr Nedved and Jussi Markkanen to Edmonton for Dwight Helminen, Steve Valiquette, and 2nd round pick in 2004.
:: Nedved did good in Edmonton but they didn't make the playoffs and he never played there again. Markkanen played in Game 7 of the Finals in 2005-06.

Valiquette was a throw-in here. He was a big goalie with not much skill but he was re-signed as Henrik Lundqvist's backup because he was cheap. Benoit Allaire also helped a lot with him, and he has become a dedicated Ranger and a solid backup when called upon, especially against the Flyers.

Helminen is now a bubble player with Carolina, being called up when injury strikes. Not a big loss with him not in the Rangers system.

That draft pick became Brandon Dubinsky, one of the bright spots in the Rangers' future, regardless of his inability to hit the back of the net for long stretches at a time.

- Brian Leetch to Toronto for Jarkko Immonen, Maxim Kondratiev, 1st round pick in '04, 2nd round pick in '05.
:: A king's ransom for the greatest American defenseman of all-time that didn't really pan out for either team. Toronto traded their futures for Leetch (and Ron Francis) and lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Immonen was slow and underutilized by Tom Renney, scored 8 points in 20 games (aka Chris Drury numbers, quick, sign Immonen for 5 years!), and now plays overseas.

Kondratiev was a bust and quite frankly not NHL material. He was traded to Anaheim in January of 2006 for Petr Sykora, which was a great move for the Rangers. Sykora went 15-16-31 in 40 games and loved his time as a Ranger. This would have been considered a strong move if he was re-signed, but despite waiting until August to hear from GM Glen Sather, he never wore Rangers blue again.

The 1st round pick in 2004 was Lauri Korpikoski, who shows some good moves sometimes, but is either too slow, too mis-used, or not 1st round material. He could be, and I might be wrong. Next year is a big point for him, as other 1st rounders that year are already materializing. Korpikoski was picked at 19th. Still available at that point: Travis Zajac (20th), Wojtek Wolski (21), and Mike Green (29).

The 2005 2nd rounder was Mike Sauer, a good AHL player who had a cup of coffee with the big club this year. He looks to be trade-bait with a depth of good D-men in the system already (Staal, Girardi, Sanguenetti, Del Zotto, Potter) and two big contracts taking up space in the NHL (Redden, Rozsival).

March 6, 2004
- Chris Simon to Calgary for Blair Betts, Greg Moore, Jamie McLennan
:: The Rangers needed a goalie to play out the season with Markkanen gone, and McLennan played in 4 of those games, going 1-3. After that season, he played 19 more NHL games in 2 years and retired after a season in the Asian Hockey League. Yes, Asian. He went 8-4 in the Orient and decided to hang 'em up.

Moore probably won't get a real shot in the NHL, but he is a good asset to have and has played admirably when called up.

Betts, well, you know Betts. Best penalty killer in the league, good centerman, not terribly offensive, good team player, never complains, took a cheap shot in the playoffs and broke his face.

- Vladimir Malakhov to Philadelphia for Rick Kozak, 2nd round pick in 2005.
:: Malakhov's stats decreased from the Rangers to Flyers to Devils, and he eventually left the NHL. Kozak never did anything in any league, and now plays in England.

That draft pick got moved around a lot and eventually became Marc-Andre Cliche, who was traded to the Kings in March 2007 for Sean Avery.

March 8, 2004
- Matthew Barnaby and a 3rd round pick in '04 for David Liffiton, Chris McAllister, and a 2nd round pick in '04.
:: McAllister was a decent NHL player who played in the NHL for the last time in 03-04. Liffiton is currently playing in Denmark after 3 career NHL games with the Rangers.

The draft pick was traded to Florida and the Rangers eventually drafted Bruce Graham out of it, who is currently in the ECHL after never doing well in Hartford.

March 9, 2004
On the actual day of the deadline, the Rangers only made two moves.

- Greg de Vries traded to Ottawa for Karel Rachunek and Alex Giroux.
:: It was obvious that de Vries wasn't going to be back after the lockout, and he had horrible numbers (15 points in 53 games, which by the 08-09 standards would've been phenomenal), so he was shipped for a roster player and a prospect. Rachunek played in Russia during 05-06, but came back in 06-07, and most Rangers fans agree he should've stayed. He had 20 assists but was absolutely atrocious defensively.

Giroux, however, was let go during the summer of 2006 and signed with Washington. He then went to Atlanta and was traded back to Washington, and he has lit it up in the AHL. He had 28 points in 22 games in Hershey's march to the AHL title, and he had 60 goals in 69 games during the regular season. The Rangers probably should've held on to this guy instead of signing "talent" such as Mitch Fritz. Giroux broke Brett Hull's record for most consecutive games with a goal when he scored in 15 straight games. He won the AHL MVP as well.

- Martin Rucinsky traded to Vancouver for R.J. Umberger and Martin Grenier.
:: Rucinsky was a true rental for Vancouver as he returned to Broadway after the lockout and had great numbers in an injury-riddled season (55 points in 52 games). He did nothing in the playoffs (2 in 7) for the Canucks. Grenier played in Hartford, Charlotte, and 3 games for the Flyers, and now is in the KHL.

Umberger, however, was another prospect who went away. In 07-08, he had 50 points in Philadelphia in 74 games before falling to 46 in a full season with Columbus this year. Still, he would've been good to have on board as a center and maybe the Rangers wouldn't have gone out on 7/1/07 and spent $14M on 2 overrated centers.

Overall
Isn't that how it always works with the Rangers? The crappy players stay and the good talent is let go. That explains why Marc Savard is now in Boston (he was traded for Jan Hlavac and the pick that became Jamie Freakin' Lundmark). It also explains why, at one point, Dale Purinton was the most-tenured Ranger.

The best trades for the Rangers were getting Brandon Dubinsky and Steve Valiquette for Nedved/Markkanen, and ditching the dead weight of Simon for Blair Betts, who has helped offensively-challenged teams by keeping the other teams from scoring. Besides Henrik Lundqvist, Betts is the one most responsible for those 2-1 wins.

The worst was sending Barnaby away for Liffiton, McAllister, and Graham. Not that losing Barnaby was a huge disadvantage, but they basically got nothing for him - 2 mid-level prospects and a retiring veteran to play out the season.

I have no interesting way to end this, because it's late and I've been working all day, so I will just like to remind everyone that the Rangers actually traded Brian Leetch for Maxim Kondratiev. Hell, I wouldn't even trade a retired Leetch for Kondratiev!

RE: An Open Letter To Bryan...

Zach,

Thank you for your proposal. I have reviewed it carefully, and I would like to share with you the thought process that went into my response.

I first thought about what it would be like to be a Ranger fan. Quite honestly, it must be so easy. It must be nice to have ownership with deep pockets that can nab any free agent they want to. It must be nice to play in the self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena". It must be nice to have the talent the Rangers have, with the knowledge that there will always be quality players coming to play for the Rangers. It must be nice to be part of a large fanbase that sells out every game, even if the team is having an off year.

It's just not for me.

Zach, you know better than anybody that I'm one of the most realistic Islander fans out there. I get it. I realize that the Rangers have a very important role in the overall welfare of the NHL, and I'm more than willing to see the Rangers at the top of the league because it only means good things for the game of hockey. Selfishly, I root for a strong Rangers team because it makes for a better rivalry, but there's also a greater good involved. For example, after the Islanders were eliminated from last year's playoffs, I was pulling for the Rangers. Why? Because I believed a deep playoff run by the Rangers would have done a world of publicity for the league. Can you imagine how bigger of a deal Rangers-Red Wings would have been than Senators-Ducks? It would have put hockey on the map big-time in some very important media markets. I also thought very strongly that the NHL should have rigged the 2005 Draft Lottery so that the Rangers would end up with Sidney Crosby. Come to think of it, I'm still disappointed that they didn't. Crosby in New York would have given the NHL their best chance at mainstream acceptance since Gretzky was traded to the Kings.

So yeah, I see the many positives in being a Ranger fan. They're one of those teams that the NHL needs to be good in order for the league to thrive. Being a part of that must be fun. But for all of their top-tier talent and weekly NBC games and all of the things that come with the New York Rangers, the team still hasn't seen a conference final since Messier and Gretzky led them there in 1997. And how, my friend, do you explain that?

Let's take a walk back through the years and look at all the talent the Rangers brought in after that season - the last time the Rangers made the playoffs since the lockout. Pat LaFontaine. Kevin Stevens. Mathieu Schneider. Crackhead Theo. Eric Lindros. Pavel Bure. With the exception of Stevens, who was never the same after the '93 playoffs, these guys could all end up in the Hall Of Fame someday. Somehow, none of these guys could get the Rangers anywhere near the playoffs. I'm trying to avoid the ridiculous free agent signings like Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis, not to mention the ill-fated trades for Alexei Kovalev and Tom Poti.

You called out the Islanders for their draft record, and there's no denying that the Isles let a ton of future superstars get away. That sort of thing happens when your owners either don't actually have money or restrict the team to a $15 million payroll. I'll also admit that the Islanders were no place for young players to develop their games, as they were routinely pushed into the NHL too early and given far too much responsibility. And the Islanders haven't exactly been picking like aces since their resurgence in 2002.

But what about the Rangers? Just for fun, let's look at the first-round picks the Rangers have made since 1998, which was their first year out of the playoff since '94.
- 1998: Manny Malhotra (7th overall). Missed out on Alex Tanguay (12), Simon Gagne (22), Scott Gomez (27), Jonathan Cheechoo (29), Mike Fisher (44), Mike Ribeiro (45).
- 1999: Pavel Brendl (4th overall) and Jamie Lundmark (9th overall). Missed out on Barret Jackman (17) and Martin Havlat (26). Note that Marc Savard was packaged with the 11th overall pick to move up two spots to take Lundmark.
- 2000: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to move up and draft Pavel Brendl in 1999.
- 2001: Dan Blackburn (10th overall). Missed out on Alex Hemsky (13) and Colby Armstrong (21).
- 2002: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to acquire Pavel Bure.
- 2003: Hugh Jessiman (12th overall). Missed out on Steve Bernier (16), Zach Parise (17), Ryan Getzlaf (19), Mike Richards (24), Corey Perry (28).

Now, these were some pretty horrendous drafts. In fact, just about all of them were awful, with the exceptions being 1998, 2000, and 2003. Still, with all of those premium picks, they couldn't have done any better? Granted, the Rangers have drafted extremely well in the later rounds - Nigel Dawes (5th round, 2003), Petr Prucha, (8th round, 2002), Ryan Hollweg (8th round, 2001), Henrik Lundqvist (7th round, 2000) - but those first round picks hold a ton of value, and it's awful that Manny Malhotra was the best the Rangers could do. Everyone loves to talk about Blackburn, but he had a GAA over 3.00 and a save percentage below .900 in the Dead Puck Era. Hell, Brendl never even played for the Rangers! And Jessiman has all the makings of a career minor leaguer.

The Rangers have made dramatic improvements since bringing Tom Renney aboard and rebuilding the right way. They truly are a model organization today. They draft well, they promote from within, and they sign the right guys through free agency. And Ranger fans, you've earned it. If you stuck within this team through thick and thin, then you deserve the right to root for a perennial playoff team. Again, it must be nice. I wouldn't know about that.

A lot of Ranger fans bash the Islanders and their fans for living in the past. Well, when the past is all you have, what else are you going to do? Like I said, I'm a realist. That said, I have hope for a brighter future. I refuse that the Islanders are going to have a twenty-year span where the biggest highlight was taking Toronto to seven games in 2002. If anything, Zach, your team has shown me that it's possible to come out of nowhere and be a force year after year. Remember, most pundits had the Rangers finishing dead last in the league just after the lockout. And look what happened! The Islanders haven't found those gems late in the draft, but there's a chance.

With that in mind, I thank you. While preparing to write this, I couldn't wait to savage the Rangers for all the mistakes they've made. I've done a pretty good job of doing that. But in reading about all of the missteps the Rangers have made, I now realize that all is not lost. Hey, you guys made it 54 years between Cups and never lost faith. I hope we don't have to wait that long. The Islanders will have their day in the sun. It's just a question of when.