No. 2 goes up tomorrow
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- January
- 23
Got to see Brian Leetch at a press conference today, and if the attendees at this thing were any indication, then tomorrow night’s 6:30 p.m. ceremony to retire Rangers No. 2 will be quite an event.
Just at the press conference were so many ex-Leetch teammates, including of course Mark Messier, Mike Richter and Adam Graves, but also Jeff Beukeboom, Stephane Matteau, Tie Domi, Jan Erixon, Darren Langdon, Brian Mullen, and probably a few I’m forgetting.
I wonder, though, if Glen Sather will go onto the ice for the ceremony. He has maintained a very low profile for several years now, and he’s the guy who traded Leetch to Toronto.
And Leetch made it clear that he still harbors bad feelings about the way he was dealt away, cutting short his chance to play his entire career in New York. Leetch said that after the first few lousy non-playoff years, he felt the next year would be better. By the time he realized it wasn’t getting better, he decided then that he wanted to be part of the solution, to be here to help restore pride in the team.
But he was traded away.
“Just the way that I left was the bitterness part,” Leetch said. “Just getting a call and being traded out of there. That hurt the most. And Glen had alluded to the fact that I should be in New York for my career. So that’s the one part that hurt, because there’s been many, many, much better players than me traded. I mean, we got Mark Messier because of a trade. Wayne Gretzky was on our team for those reasons, and I know that’s part of the game, so I have no qualms about being traded. Many times (it’s) the right thing to do for the organization and for the building of a team and bringing a team out of bad times. So, I was just disappointed in the way it went down. and that will never change, but it also doesn’t change the feelings I had about being a Ranger and what it meant to me.
“The truth is, yeah, it bothers me. It always will. It’s not like it changes the situation. It’s just the reality of it. Again, it doesn’t change what tomorrow night means and the players and the moments. And Tom Renney called me two years ago and expressed that he thought it would be a perfect fit. … It was up to me if I wanted to end my career in New York, and I just decided at that t ime that that was enough.”
Too bad it ended like that. But tonight Leetch gets a proper sendoff.
I wrote a column about Leetch’s special relationship with Mike Richter for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow. Josh Thomson has more on Leetch from the press conference. And tomorrow night we’ll be all over it, too.
I’d love to hear what you think.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm by Carp.
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that day leetch got traded was one of the worst days in my hockey life. thankfully we’ll be able to focus on all the great memories tomorrow night. i’m looking forward to being there, i have been since he left new york.
Carp:great to hear your take on Leetchie finally getting his due. I always enjoyed your insights on the team, so glad to have you on this one. Hearing Brian acknowledge his bitterness about Slats is somehow gratifying. I think we were all of the same mindset, and still harbor a grudge for Glen denying Brian the chance to hang up his skates as a Ranger. True to form, Leetchie always took it in stride, but he deserved much, much better. Hopefully seeing his number ho up tonight will give him a tangible reminder of what he means to the team, the fans, and the game itself.
Nice work, Carp. I’m sure you miss many things about the Rangers beat, but watching Brian play is something we all miss. I too hate the way his trade was handled, but at the same time I try not to let that cloud my memory of what an absolute joy it was to watch him play and have him as ours all those years. The greatest Ranger ever, no doubt!
Thanks gang.
It’s funny how they’re getting these tags. Messier was the greatest Ranger ever. Now I guess he’s the most important Ranger ever. Leetch is the greatest Ranger ever, so designated by Messier himself tonight. And Adam Graves is the most popular, or beloved, Ranger ever. And that’s why his number is going up there next season.
Carpinello should get his nose out of Leetch’s backside.
Selfish team cancer still whining because he lost all those years.
How much did Dolan pay all of them to show up for that sham ceremony.
You have no tradition at all. As an Islander fan I laugh because we could retire another ten players who are far more deserving than Leetch who was worthless after 97 unless he was trashing hotel rooms with Richter in Nagano or demanding 9m a year to not play defense so he could get his numbers.
Just fold your team and that joke tradition from Edmonton.
Brian Leetch, the only player in league history who got hurt falling on ice on a street because he was drunk in 93.
Doug Messier had to demand at least five million for the appearance and a million for the phoney tears.
Hi Rag,
Yeah, Dave Langevin was better than Leetch, right?
Are you just a bit jealous, still?
What are we supposed to be jealous of Rick other than the fact that three Rag fans provide subjective fanboy coveage of New York Hockey and the spin surrounding it because they are scared to provide equal coverage of three teams?
Go ask Langevin who’s team swept Gretzky, Messier in a final while Leetch crawled to a seven game win against a
35-34 Canucks team.
One Langevin’s Islanders swept handily.
Best thing of all was all three city papers put the Giants in the primary spots on the backpage and barely threw Leetch a crumb.
Almost pity how sad Ranger tradition is compared to a true dynasty like the Isles.
You keep wearing the Rag jersey when writing about hockey Rick, outside of the media and the Dolan spin the real truth is if the Rags folded tomorrow no one notice.
Giants, pitchers and catchers.
Rags are below NASCAR in Manhattan, remember last year’s playoff ratings?
Have a nice day.
RC – you do realize that we’re in 2008 some 25 yrs from your last cup you’ll ever see. and Brian Leetch was the ultimate class act. evidently you’re too brain damaged to realize that.
boat black clean dog letter tree white see steven