This Day In New York Rangers History: Denied

This day in New York Rangers’ history can be considered either a disaster or a lucky break.

On June 30, 1992, arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi (yes, a relative of NHL’er Todd Bertuzzi) played Soup Nazi to the New York Rangers’ hopes of trading for a bowl of gazpacho….err….rookie center Eric Lindros.

The Quebec Nordiques drafted Lindros with the first pick of the 1991 NHL draft, but he didn’t report to camp and chose to play for the Canadian Olympic Team instead. As mentioned by Blue Line Station in recent articles, the Rangers offered such a tremendous package in trade to the Nordiques, they jumped at the opportunity to trade him to New York.

But there was a problem.

Quebec had already agreed to a less attractive trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. So the matter went to arbitration, where the first deal was certified as the official one and Philadelphia gave up forwards Peter Forsberg and Mike Ricci, goalie Ron Hextall, and defensemen Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman, as well as a first round pick in the 1993 NHL Draft. And cash.

Remember this was the less attractive deal.

New York G.M. reportedly offered Quebec Tony Amonte, Alexei Kovalev, Doug Weight (or Sergei Nemchinov and James Patrick), their choice of John Vanbiesbrouck or Mike Richter, as well as first-round picks in 1993, 1994, and 1996.

AND $12 million.

So did the Rangers get hosed or did the team dodge a bullet?

Lindros is a Hall-of-Famer who got the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals (where they were swept by Detroit), but concussions limited what he could have done, especially by the time he finally came to Madison Square Garden in 2001 for two and a half seasons.

Would he have had an even better career with less injuries in New York? Probably not, as evidenced by brother Brett’s medical history. The Lindros family grew them big and tough, but hampered by a glass skull.

Plus, Quebec might have taken Kovalev, Nemchinov, and Richter, as well as the trade value of Tony Amonte, who was eventually dealt for Stephane Matteau.

In other words, the ’94 Cup would never have happened if the Rangers had succeeded in trading for Lindros.

I will take the bird I have in hand for who knows how many might have been in the bush.