Bure's Effect on the NYR/Vanc tonight??

[saint]

Yes, the Canucks are streaking, and the Rangers are going the other way. But it is do or die time for the Rangers, and they all know it. Think Bure (assuming he is playing tonight which it looks like he will) will provide the adrenaline shot they desperately need? Or do you think it makes no difference. IMO I think it will give them a little edge tonight and I see good value in the ML (-105). I would appreciate any other opinions.

 

[fatdaddycool]

IMO

IMO

I like Vancouver in this game.....sorry.....Rangers not playing well and Pavel's rep as a selfish player won't sit well in New York. That and other reasons are why I really like Canucks

 

[Terryray]

AP sez Bure giddy and fired up for tonite

AP sez Bure giddy and fired up for tonite

Bure officially joins Rangers

By URSULA REEL
AP Hockey Writer
March 19, 2002

NEW YORK (AP) -- An overjoyed Pavel Bure had just one concern when
he joined the New York Rangers on Tuesday: Would his choice of a No. 9
jersey offend anyone?

Bure, traded to New York from the Florida Panthers on Monday, participated
in the Rangers' morning skate to get ready for the game against Vancouver.

The 30-year-old Russian forward laughed as he chatted on the bench with
Brian Leetch and Theo Fleury, and furrowed his brow in deep concentration
as he talked strategy with new linemate Eric Lindros.

``I'm here to help the team make the playoffs,'' Bure said. ``I can tell you, I
will do what I can to help. I will do whatever the coach and the GM want me
to do.''

The only glitch was working out his jersey number.

Bure asked Rangers GM Glen Sather on Monday if he could wear No. 9,
made famous by former Montreal Canadiens forward Maurice ``Rocket''
Richard. The NHL trophy named after Richard -- awarded to the league's
leading goal scorer -- has gone to Bure the past two seasons.

The last Ranger to wear the number was the beloved Adam Graves, and Bure
was extremely concerned he'd insult the veteran, now with San Jose. But
Graves gave his blessing to a Rangers public relations executive, and Bure
hoped to thank him in person after leaving a cellphone message.

``It's a good number,'' Bure said, smiling.

No. 10, which Bure wore in Florida, is worn by Sandy McCarthy.

``I don't think the number really matters to him,'' McCarthy said, adding Bure
had not approached him. ``He's going to score lots of goals either way.''

Bure, often described as quiet and aloof, looked like an excited little boy as he
was introduced by Sather.

``It's great to be part of the New York Rangers -- one of the original six
teams,'' Bure said. ``It's been a dream of mine for such a long time.''

Bure began dreaming of playing with the Rangers when he first took the ice at
Madison Square Garden in 1992.

``I saw how great the fans were, how the building was crazy,'' Bure said.
``Plus, New York is the greatest city in the world. For a long time, I've wanted
to be here.''

Sather, smiling and smoking a cigar, knew he'd pulled off a deal of a lifetime.
Besides Bure, he got back from Florida a second-round draft pick for 2002.
He gave up only little-used defenseman Igor Ulanov off the club's NHL roster
and turned over minor league defenseman Filip Novak along with three draft
picks.

``I'm happy we were able to get Pavel without hurting our team,'' Sather said,
grinning.

Sather also made a trade with Edmonton on Tuesday, giving up Mike York
and a fourth-round pick in this year's draft for defenseman Tom Poti and
forward Rem Murray.

Bure is counted on to help take the slumping Rangers into the playoffs. New
York began the day two points behind Montreal for the eighth and final playoff
spot in the East.

``This is a team game,'' Bure said, dismissing questions of feeling pressure.
``There are 20 guys. One guy can't turn it around.''

Yet he feels New York will provide him with a fresh start after scoring just 22
goals this season. Bure finished the last two seasons with 59 and 58 goals,
respectively.

``While Pavel can't carry us,'' coach Ron Low said, ``he definitely adds to the
whole overall scheme.''

Low said Bure will play on the power-play and the penalty-kill units. The
Rangers, weak offensively, are particularly poor on special teams.

``Oh, we're only hoping for 20 goals,'' New York center Petr Nedved said,
joking about the expectations. But Nedved added the trade provided ``a big
lift'' to the team.

As for learning how to play with the speedy, creative Bure, the Rangers have
had little preparation.

``Right now, we don't have the bonus of time,'' Lindros said. ``We have to find
something real soon. We've got to win the majority of our (final) 12 games --
if not eight or 10.''

Bure said he's up to the task of getting to the postseason.

``I've been in this league 11 years and I haven't won the Stanley Cup,'' he said.
``I want that and that's what the Rangers' organization wants, too. We're on
the same page there.''

 

[Terryray]

Larry Brooks from "Post" on Bure

Larry Brooks from "Post" on Bure

SATHER GETTING JOB DONE




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March 19, 2002 -- YOU could hear the whispers all around the league. Glen Sather had lost his fastball somewhere on the road from Alberta to Broadway. Right. Turns out that he lost his fastball just the way Roger Clemens had lost his.
Acquiring Pavel Bure for essentially the difference of a dozen or so spots in this year's Entry Draft and an expendable prospect on defense doesn't guarantee anything this year for the GM or for his Rangers, who have played so poorly in the last few weeks they've lost sole control of their destiny. It sure helps, but it doesn't guarantee that the Rangers will make the playoffs.

It does, however, guarantee that the Rangers will have a far stronger platform on July 1 from which to make offers to impending free agents Bobby Holik and Billy Guerin, each as essential as Bure and Eric Lindros in the team's necessary bid to shortcut the unacceptable length of time a 30-team league demands of a rebuilding program.

Acquiring Bure - just another one of those one-dimensional 60-goal scorers who are absolutely ruining this NHL with their creativity, flair and skill, don't you know? - will open the eyes and ears of Holik and Guerin because great players want nothing more than to be surrounded by other great players. The money will be there this summer. What Guerin and Holik will want, in addition to the money, is the chance to win.

Bure gives the Rangers that chance to win. Bure gives Holik and Guerin every reason to wait until July 1 to see what the Rangers will come up with. Bure makes the Rangers worth watching every night, the way Lindros does when he's healthy.

Sather threw down yesterday. The GM left small-market Canada behind and stood up for New York, where the people who support his franchise have to pay $7 in tolls if they're driving in from Queens, $6 if they're coming across the Hudson, and then maybe $32 more to park before even stepping foot into the Garden to use the tickets for which they pay premium prices.

The Rangers and Cablevision can afford the $20 million over the next two years they now owe Bure, can afford whatever it is that Holik and Guerin are going to want in July. What the Rangers and Cablevision can't afford is to keep missing the playoffs.

The league can't afford that, either. The NHL can't have Broadway dark in May and June every year. It can't. Sorry if this offends, but the NHL needs a strong New York more than it needs a strong Calgary and Edmonton. That's reality, if not romance.

Bure, not quite yet 31, comes with a reputation as a selfish player. Some of that reputation is a result of bad-mouthing from coaches by whom he has been betrayed. Duane Sutter, whom Bure recommended for the job when asked his opinion by ownership, turned on him quickly this year. Terry Murray can't say enough bad things about Bure.

This is the same Murray, who, in Game 1 of the 2000 playoffs against a Devils team terrified of losing in the first round for the third straight year, decided it was time to teach his 58-goal scorer a lesson, and thus gave him 3:27 of ice in the first period of what turned out to be a New Jersey sweep. This is the same Murray who wouldn't allow Lindros to get on the ice against Sergei Fedorov in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals in what turned out to be a Detroit sweep.

Bure will succeed here, I am sure of that. He will be fine here, just the way Lindros has been fine here, and I am sure of that, too.

And he will have that chance - and we will have that chance to be entertained by him - because the guy from western Canada can still bring it.