X-pensfan wrote:
OldTimeHockey wrote:
BTW...why are the Rangers seemingly always the team a players is rumored to want to play for...they've been a mess since about 1995.
The Rangers have always had a bottomless well of money to spend, and a very straight forward way of building their team. They see a player or groups of players that they want, and they simply buy them no matter the cost. They wanted to try and resurrect the Oilers so they got Gretzky and all of his friends, they even got Kurri. They tried to grab up all the Penguins, and that mostly failed. They wanted to be the Blackhawks too. They got into a bidding war for Holik, and they paid him a fortune. Even after the lockout they haven't changed much. Drury, seven million, no problem. Jagr, Gaborik, you name it. They just have always aimed high without compromise, no matter the cost. It could be that they have an owner who simply insists on having a nicer car than his neighbor, no matter what. Or it could be that their GM's are just using their full resources, or both.
Back in the day they used to do things differently, they drafted a lot of great players like Zubov and Leetch.
The rumor that he's waive his no movement clause for the Rangers no seems to be a fabrication at this point. I think that Richards is smart enough to realize that going to the Rangers is a career killer. I mean look what they did to Drury and a number of other good players. I mean is Drury the type of player to just fall off a cliff like he did?
The only thing that the Rags have over the Sabres is that they play in Madison Square Garden and are in NYC....that doesn't seem to go well with star players who take the big check they offer to any name in the league.
Now that's a big thing to have over just about every other team not in or Near NYC, LA, Chicago, etc....but to go from hero to pariah in the tip of a hat...who would want that? I mean what's so f'n special about the Rangers as a franchise other than their location.
Everybody loves playing there though, I think the attraction for players has always been with what's going on off the ice. Off course a lot of stars have given the Rangers at least one good season, like Jagr and Gabby. Jagr especially should have won the MVP that one year with the rags.