In many ways, the New York Rangers stole the show Saturday and now they're expecting Western Hockey Leaguers Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark to be their stars on Broadway.
The Rangers weren't scheduled to pick in the top 10 of Saturday's NHL Entry Draft at the Fleet Centre in Boston. However, general manager Neil Smith swung a pair of deals and the Rangers tap-dance their way into fourth and ninth spots in the selection order.
After the deals were done, Smith plucked Brendl-the Canadian Hockey League's rookie of the year-from the Calgary Hitmen with the fourth pick, and added Lundmark-the Moose Jaw Warrior' flashy freshman-with the ninth pick.
"The Rangers were very aggressive and probably did the deal of the draft, getting bonth Brendl and Lundmark together," Lundmark's agent Gerry Johannson told the Times-Herald via cell phone from Fenway Park where he was watching the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox in 100F heat Sunday.
Johannson is part of the Edmonton-based agency that also represents Brendl and Patrik Stefan, who was picked first overall by the expansion Atlanta Thrashers after a flurry of deals rewrote the early selection order.
"(The Rangers) made a big commitment to get both Brendl and Jamie so they're certainly going to give them every opportunity. Talking to them (Saturday) night after the draft...they seem very excited. They think they've got two guys who can bothe score 30 or 40 goals in the NHL and they talk a lot about them playing together at some point."
The ravenous New York media is salivating, too, as they search for new saviours. Wayne Gretzky is gone ant the Blueshirts made failed bids for Pavel Bure and Ziggy Palffy. Had the Rangers sacrificed first-round picks as was proposed in those earlier sniper searches, they could not have landed Brendl or Lundmark.
"Given our choice, we take [Brendl and Lundmark] before either Bure or Palffy," New York Post columnist Larry Brooks wrote Sunday.
Brendl led the WHL with 134 points including 73 goals last season. Lundmark-the third WHLer chosen behind Brendl and his Hitmen teammate Kris Beech (seventh overall to Washington)-had a 91-point rookie campaign with the Warriors. Brendl and Lundmark, both 18, played in the WHL all-star game and the CHL Top Prospects game.
Now they're touted as "gifted teenagers poised to light up Broadway well into the new millenium's second decade," according to the New York Post.
"These aren't your older brother's Rangers anymore," wrote Brooks. "Nor are they Mark Messier's, nor are they Wayne Gretzky's. For while Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter remain the core of the Apple, the Rangers are now as much about Petr Nedved, Manny Malholtra, Heartbeat [Todd] Harvey, Brendl and Lundmark as they are about anyone.
"They are about promise, not past; about a new generation, not the old one."
The last time Rangers' writers were in such a tizzy about a draft was more than two decades ago. In 1977, the Rangers selected Lucien DeBlois and Ron Duguay and haven't had two first-rounders in the same year since.
To get Brendl, the Rangers rid their roster of two previous first-rounders. They packaged back-up goaltender Dan Cloutier and forward Niklas Sundstrom with first- and third-round picks in 2000 to get Tampa Bay's fourth overall pick (previously acquired from Chicago via Vancouver).
New York acquired the ninth pick (eventually Lundmark) from Calgary in a deal made before draft day. The Flames and Rangers swapped spots in the first round (ninth and 11th). Calgary also got forward Marc Savard, while the Rangers gained the rights to Jan Hlavac and Calgary's third-round pick (77th overall).
A trip to Calgary would have been just down Highway 2 for Lundmark, who hails from Edmonton. However, Lundmark's future will be much farther away-in many respects.
"It's bigger than Moose Jaw, that's for sure," he told Canadian Press, regarding New York.
An anticipated WHL scoring title showdown between Brendl and Lundmark as sophomores might not happen. Rangers' officials suggested Brendl might be ready for the big club next fall. Head coach John Muckler-an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers when Lundmark fell in love with his hometown team-suggested Lundmark would return to Moose Jaw but keep the possibility of the big jump open.
"They have a pretty young team," he said in the Post. "They kept Malholtra last year."
by Cory Wolfe
Taken from the Moose Jaw Times Herald
