New York Rangers Team Report



Rangers Strike at Deadline

Over 24 hours before the March 19 deadline, the New York Rangers pulled off a block-buster trade. The blue-shirts sent prospect Filip Novak, D Igor Ulanov, a 1st round draft pick, a 4th rounder and a option to swith 2nd rounders to Florida in exchange for explosive RW Pavel Bure. Bure should do exceptional in New York, since he has always wanted to play there. Since the desperate Panthers wanted to unleash Bure's massive salary and the Rangers were the only team willing to pay it, the Rangers got him relatively cheap. In fact, they didn't give up a single person on their current roster. Igor Ulanov who recently cleared waivers, hasn't dressed for weeks and has played for the minors. Now Novak, although a promising youngster, isn't proven NHL talent.

In Bure's first game with the Rangers, he showed off his blazing speed, his great accelaration and his powerful slap-shot as well as bringing the Madison Square Garden fans to their feet opening the scoring in the second period. But the Rangers couldn't hold on, making the playoffs a mild possiblility.

The Rangers weren't done at Bure though, with under a minute left in the deadline, they send Mike York to Edmonton in exchange for D Tom Poti and C Rem Murray. Although York will undoubtebly be missed among Ranger fans, Poti and Murray should be valuable assets. Poti, who uses one of, if not the longest stick in the NHL, brings defensive presence as well as great play-making ablities to round off a great offensive upside. But do the Rangers need another offensive defenseman? With Leetch, Malakhov and Berard already, it still remains to be seen whether or not they did. Although they may adapt a "blitz" style offense, with their scoring ability from all ends. Two-way C Rem Murray should be a valuable asset to the Rangers. Murray is an exceptional penalty-killer, which has been a real challenge for the Rangers this year. New York could use alot more Rem Murray's.

My prediction, the Rangers will be a cup contender. Not this year, but they will continue on the rise with their new talent.