What was unthinkable even a summer ago now seems inevitable. What probably would never have happened with Neil Smith occupying the general manager’s office is all but a lock with Glen Sather running the hockey operation on Broadway.
Mark Messier, an unrestricted free agent as of 12:00:01 this morning, kicked out of town out of spite three years ago, should be on his way back home in no more than a few New York minutes.
“The tampering rules are very strict so I can’t talk about any free agents until [today], but I’m sure that Doug Messier and I will be speaking,” the GM said yesterday from his home in Banff, Alberta. “I just want to say that I have so much admiration for Mark, we’ve had such a great relationship for more than 20 years, that I don’t want whatever is going to happen between us here to be difficult.
“And it’s not just Mark I have that relationship with, it’s Doug and the whole family. I consider them all to be my friends.”
Only The Captain himself knows what he’ll need to return to the Rangers, who are in desperate need of his leadership, presence and identity. Only Messier, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in January, knows whether he needs two years guaranteed, or whether one year at a time is good enough. Only No. 11 knows how much money it will take -$4 million per; $5M per? -to get his name on the bottom line.
Because no matter the mutual respect between the Messier Family and Sather; no matter their mutual admiration society; no matter that Brian Leetch wants Messier here and Mike Richter wants him here and Adam Graves wants him here and even Dave Checketts wants him here; no matter that the Rangers need to go back to Messier the same way the Devils needed to go back to Claude Lemieux before they could move ahead; no matter the mud the franchise has been dragged through since his exile; no matter of all that, this is still business.
And so there might be some hardballing and there might be some posturing even though Mark and Doug Messier will be able to look Sather in the eye, secure in the knowledge the GM isn’t working on some hidden agenda.
“I don’t want this to be tough, but it’s always complicated when you’re negotiating a contract,” Sather said. “It just is.”
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While Sather and Messier figure out the best way to remarry, the Rangers are believed to have significant interest in bruising 29-year-old Dallas power forward Scott Thornton, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent today by having played 10 years as a pro while last year earning less than the league average. Thornton, who earned $950,000 last season, was still being courted yesterday by the Stars, for whom he played so well in the Finals against the Devils.
The 6-3, 215-pound winger, obtained by Dallas from Montreal midway through the season, was in the Edmonton organization for five years and played three full years for the Oilers in the mid-’90s before Sather traded him to Montreal for Andrei Kovalenko in September of 1996.
“I never had any problem with Thornton at all,” Sather said. “I wound up trading him for a guy who scored 30 goals for us that next season.”
But while Sather is attracted to Thornton, sources indicate that the GM is less than enthusiastic about re-signing Mathieu Schneider, the 31-year-old unrestricted free agent who was selected by Columbus in last week’s expansion draft.
“Lukewarm,” is the way one individual categorized Sather’s interest in Schneider, who was, in fact, one of the team’s best and grittiest players last season, even given his personal conflicts with John Muckler.
While Schneider, who earned $2.75M last season, may earn too much for Sather’s liking, the GM is believed to have at some interest in lesser-paid veteran free agents such as Kevin Haller and Sean Hill.
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Ted Green, one of the most despised opponents in franchise history, is expected to join the Ranger coaching staff as an assistant to Ron Low, with whom he worked two years in Edmonton,, a well-placed source told The Post yesterday.
Green, vilified while playing for the Bruins – he nearly killed Phil Goyette with a spear to the kidney midway through the 1965-66 season, an act that prompted team president Bill Jennings to place a “bounty” on his head – has held a variety of coaching and executive positions with the Oilers since the 1981-82 season. An assistant coach for the last three seasons, Green’s contract with the Oilers expired yesterday.