THEY ARE REAL DEAL
Rangers, Kings on top with swaps
LOS ANGELES — Glen Sather said something about last spring’s trade of Marian Gaborik that applied so perfectly to the Rangers’ road to the Stanley Cup Final.
“It was like every trade,” Sather said. “It’s complicated and difficult.”
In one sentence, the Rangers’ tenured general manager captured the essence of why nearing hockey’s summit is so significant and worthwhile: Because it required so much to earn, from firings to hirings to deals and signings and 102 games, playoffs included.
The Los Angeles Kings are no different and, in fact, the paths they and the R angers took here are connected.
For one, as Sather reminded everyone on media day at Staples Center, the Blueshirts acquired Brian Boyle and Dan Carcillo in trades with Los Angeles, beginning with Boyle’s acquisition for a third-round pick in 2009.
For another, Sather and Kings GM Dean Lombardi both made differencemaking deadline deals this spring that have directly led to their teams’ trips to the Final, the second in three seasons for L.A., and the Rangers’ first in 20 years.
Lombardi snagged Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets for forward Matt Frattin, a second-round pick and a conditional third-rounder. Gaborik has 12 goals this postseason, tops in the league.
Sather bet the house on Martin St. Louis, sending captain Ryan Callahan and the next two years’ first-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning. St. Louis is tied for the team lead with 13 postseason points and, through the death of his mother during the second round, became an inspiration and leader almost overnight.
“I was reading, Martin St. Louis said every game is a big game in the playoffs. Experience is a great teacher,” Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup champion Adam Graves told the Daily News recently. “It’s important when you have guys with that type of experience, like St. Louis or Brad Richards, where what they’re saying makes a lot of sense.”
Sather also profited in the long-term from dealing Gaborik to Columbus in April 2013, even though the focus now is on Gaborik’s departure because of his production. In that trade, Sather acquired Derick Brassard, who became the Blueshirts’ top center in the second half of the season when they made their push back into the playoff picture.
“I was pretty excited to be in that same trade,” Brassard said Tuesday. “I didn’t feel any pressure. He was a 40-goal scorer and everything. I wanted to prove that I could play, and when I got traded, I think I did a pretty good job at it. This year I only tried to do the same thing.”
Richards, meanwhile, explained that the result of St. Louis’ teammates finding out about the death of his mother together — and St. Louis returning to play in Game 5 the very next night in Pittsburgh — was that the team “embraced” St. Louis, “knowing the way he is and the heart he has.”
St. Louis’ incredible stor y of sadness and uplifting motivation was just the latest turn in the Blueshirts’ winding road on this improbable run, however.
Tuesday afternoon, it was nothing short of unbelievable to see Lundqvist sitting at a podium the day before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, in the same state of California where this team looked so disjointed to open the regular season. Back t hen, t houg h, when the Rangers needed something to turn their fort u nes, it wa s coach Alain Vigneault who laid a steady hand on an uncertain roster.
“I ex pected after losing a lot of games early on to have someone really rattled and someone impatient and upset,” Lundqvist said Tuesday. “But A.V. showed a lot of poise and patience with the entire process and with the group. I think that it was refreshing to see. I just enjoyed that, to see that how he handled everything — not only him, but the entire coaching staff, and I think it made us relax and get back on track.”
Of course, postseason success i n general wasn’t unfamiliar to the Rangers under John Tortorella, either. The Blueshirts are entering their 16th postseason series since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, having qualified for the postseason in every year since then but one: 2010.
The Kings’ brief appearance in the 2010 playoffs, on the other hand, was their first postseason trip since 2002. But that kick-started a dominant period in Los Angeles hockey that saw the Stanley Cup paraded through the City of Angels i n 2012 and has brought the Kings to their 13th series in just five seasons.
This has set up a showdown between two proud franchises well aware that those statistics only mean something if they are hoisting the Stanley Cup at the end.
“I’m satisfied that the team is here,” Sather said. “I think the job is (only) partly done.”
The work had begun for the Rangers even before Tuesday’s media day. Forward Derek Dorsett said on Monday night after the team arrived in Los Angeles, he intentionally made himself stay awake a few extra hours to acclimate to the three-hour time change.
But Dorsett said the unusual 5 p.m. start time Wednesday will have no bearing on the Rangers, a team that’s been through so much to get to this all-important stage.
“It’s one of those things where whenever it starts, you’ll be ready,” Dorsett said with a grin, beard and all.