John Tavares (Getty Images)
It was a four-month ordeal, one that many people on both sides of the argument thought was unnecessary. But now that the latest lockout is all but over, the NHL is getting away from the negotiating table and back on the ice.
It might take a while to draw some fans back to arenas — if they come back at all after the third prolonged work stoppage in the past 20 years — but the good news for New York is that the three local teams likely will be in constant action. They also have new additions to watch for, and having it all crammed into a 48-game schedule should make for blur of excitement.
The official paperwork of the labor agreement was being finalized last night. Training camps were to set open today, assuming the documents were completed. Teams would have physicals today and — finally! — on-the-ice practice tomorrow.
Here’s a look at what each team is dealing with when the season opens Saturday.
RANGERS
For a team that finished the regular season atop the Eastern Conference and advanced to the conference finals last season, the Rangers unquestionably are in the conversation for Stanley Cup favorites.
And a lot of the optimism has to do with their biggest addition, star power forward Rick Nash.
The Blueshirts spent five months during the season trying to pry Nash from the Blue Jackets, and they eventually got the deal done in July. General manager Glen Sather sent forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, defensive prospect Tim Erixon, and a first-round pick in the 2013 draft to Columbus for Nash, a conditional third-round pick and minor-league defenseman Steve Delisle.
It could have been a touchstone moment for the franchise, getting a bona fide superstar who, at 28 years old, is just entering into the prime of his career. It was a deal Sather “couldn’t turn down.”
“By adding Nash, it doesn’t break up the core of our hockey club,” Sather said at the time of the deal. “This quality of hockey player doesn’t come around very often.”
With Nash’s scoring touch and team-first demeanor, he will address a need for the low-scoring Rangers as well as fit in with the hard-nosed style that coach John Tortorella preaches with unrelenting enthusiasm. Add him to a healthy Marian Gaborik — now fully healed from offseason shoulder surgery — and center Brad Richards, and the Rangers have arguably the best top line in hockey.
They also have the reigning Vezina Trophy winner in nets, as Henrik Lundqvist looks to repeat on one of the best goaltending seasons in franchise history. In front of him on the back end is the whole of last year’s defensive corps, led by Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh, a stout group with room to improve offensively.
ISLANDERS
The move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was the real news this year for the once-proud Islanders, but that new home is still three seasons down the line.
For now, they continue to play at The World’s Most Decrepit Arena, Nassau Coliseum, and probably will do so until their lease runs out at the end of the 2014-15 season. But it does not diminish hope, which for most of the past two decades has been the only thing the Islanders have had.
The team constantly is reminded of the fact that they have not won a playoff series since 1993, and have had five consecutive seasons without postseason hockey — very often, not coming close.
But now, the beacon of light sits with the 22-year-old wearing No. 91, John Tavares, who signed on for a six-year, $33 million contract before last season — before he even knew for sure the team was moving. Tavares emerged last year as one of the best playmakers in all of the game, scoring a career-high 31 goals with 50 assists while not missing a game.
He will need help up front with scoring goals, as Matt Moulson has had to carry too much of the load to sustain any consistency. Big years will be needed from Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey, while a little boost would be nice from new-addition and former 43-goal-scorer Brad Boyes.
As has been the case in most of the past decade, the Islanders’ defensemen are a thin group, this year again relying heavily on 35-year-old captain Mark Streit. They do have some promise in Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic — the latter of whom still is recovering from a concussion sustained playing in the AHL — but that is just about where their depth ends.
And with time in nets being split between veteran Evgeni Nabokov and oft-injured Rick DiPietro, questions are more abundant for the Islanders than answers.
DEVILS
At the very least, the Devils knew where Ilya Kovalchuk was and what he was doing.
The team’s superstar forward was in his native Russia, playing in the KHL, until he planned to come back on Tuesday and rejoin his team a couple days late. It might have rubbed some teammates the wrong way — although the voicing of those opinions hardly were audible — but the Devils need Kovalchuk even more this year than they did last, when they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before losing to the Kings in six games.
The weight on Kovalchuk mostly is transferred from the back of Zach Parise, who left this offseason to sign a massive free-agent deal to play in his home state of Minnesota for the Wild. Now Kovalchuk’s 37 regular-season goals will not be enough to, and more will be asked offensively from veterans Patrik Elias, David Clarkson, Dainius Zubrus and Travis Zajac. There also is ample opportunity for Adam Henrique to improve on his wonderful rookie season, which got him a third-place finish in the Calder Trophy voting.
The defense should be almost identical to the group that helped the team finished ninth in the regular season by allowing 2.50 goals per game. That group is founded on the reliable play of Bryce Salvador and Anton Volchenkov, coupled with the flair (and risk-reward) of Marek Zidlicky.
Then, of course, there is the franchise backstop, Martin Brodeur, now in his 20th year, knowing no other organization besides the Devils, who drafted him in the first round in 1990. At 40 years old, Brodeur still has one more year on his contract after this one, and he cannot be the workhorse he once was. But no need to look further than his performance in last season’s playoffs — where at times he single-handedly dominated stretches of games, especially in the conference finals against the Rangers — to know that he can be relied upon.
CAMP LOOK-AHEAD
RANGERS
COACH: John Tortorella (fourth full year).
LAST SEASON: 51-24-7 (109 points, first in conference). Lost in six games to Devils in Eastern Conference Finals.
KEY ADDITIONS: RW Rick Nash, C Jeff Halpern, LW Taylor Pyatt,
RW Aaron Asham, C Micheal Haley
KEY LOSSES: C Artem Anisimov, F Brandon Dubinsky, LW Brandon Prust, LW Ruslan Fedotenko
ISLANDERS
COACH: Jack Capuano (second full season)
LAST SEASON: 34-37-11 (79 points, 14th in conference). Missed playoffs for fifth straight year.
KEY ADDITIONS: RW Brad Boyes, D Matt Carkner, LW Eric Boulton,
D Lubomir Visnovsky (if he is forced to return from KHL)
KEY LOSSES: RW P.A. Parenteau, D Steve Staios, LW Jay Pandolfo,
D Milan Jurcina, D Mark Eaton, G Al Montoya
DEVILS
COACH: Peter DeBoer (second full season)
LAST SEASON: 48-28-6 (102 points, sixth in conference). Lost in six games to the Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals.
KEY ADDITIONS: RW Krystofer Barch, RW Bobby Butler
KEY LOSSES: C Zach Parise, LW Alexei Ponikarovsky,
LW Eric Boulton, RW Petr Sykora (unrestricted free agent)