Deal 88

By Vishal Patel Sports Central Columnist

You're Rangers GM Glen Sather and you saw your team complete an absolutely dismal season that ended with your best player in a substance abuse clinic. You also undoubtedly saw talented players like Keith Tkachuk go to St. Louis, Rob Blake to Colorado and Nikolai Khabibulan to Tampa Bay, while your team forgot it was supposed to trade for anyone. During the offseason, you also saw Jeremy Roenick pass to your Atlantic Division rival Philadelphia Flyers, as well as the NHL's hottest commodity in Jaromir Jagr pass to the nation's capital without a stop in NYC. Realizing you're a big market team with little talent after the first line, the NHL's once most talented commodity, but now most pampered crybaby, seems to present a solution to all your problems.

Now imagine you're Flyers GM Bobby Clarke, a hard-nosed, gritty guy who takes no nonsense from anybody. You had yourself a better season than your counterpart "Slats" did, but you still came short of your immediate goal of unseating the New Jersey Devils as representatives of the East in the Stanley Cup Finals for the past two years and your ultimate goal of winning it all. You know you're a guy who's had his way in negotiations with GMs, as well as with agents. You also know you live by the fear factor - instill fear in others to make your goals reality.

Too bad the only time this methodology ever backfired was on the player who you traded for - the player who was immediately tagged "franchise." Of course, you know it wasn't the player who couldn't be controlled, it was his parents. Realizing then that his parents weren't worthy of your time, you dismissed this player as well as his parents and would let him sit until his contract expired in 2004. That was before you got a call from a team that you last heard from 15 years ago asking about Mr. Franchise.

X-Factors

By the time the deal was completed and approved by the NHL, the Rangers sent Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl, and a middle-round draft pick to the Flyers in exchange for Eric Lindros and a first round draft pick if Lindros suffers a season-ending injury before game 21 of the 2001-'02 season. Unlike many deals that are made in the NHL, both teams could gain from this trade. This trade is all about the x-factors -- for both teams. Let's start with the less obvious.

The 20-year-old-the-sky-is-the-limit prospect Pavel Brendl, who recorded 75 points in 49 games playing the WHL, will determine if Clarke came away with a pot of gold or just came out getting something for merely nothing. In the words of NHL analyst Brian A. Schactman, Brendl "could be the next Alexander Mogilny or Alexander Daigle." The rationale behind the statement lies in Brendl's work habits, which have been under heavy criticism as of late when he showed up to camp out of shape.

The upside includes his instinctive ability to score and be a Mogilny-like offensive force. If he does live up to this potential, Clarke has without doubt won this trade, no matter how well Lindros plays since it's unlikely with the lack of depth the Rangers have right now that they have a shot at the post-season, let alone the Stanley Cup. If Brendl disappoints, however, Clarke still won't lose anything since Lindros was supposed to sit till 2004 and he got two very young, but respectable complements to Brendl: 24-year-old Jan Hlavac and 25-year-old Kim Johnsson.

The x-factor for the Rangers is obviously Eric Lindros. The book on Lindros says his leadership qualities and defensive attributes are questionable, although his offensive talent is anything but. Lindros is sitting out until 2004 more or less because his parents convinced him that he shouldn't play for Clarke or maybe vice versa, where Clarke was convinced that Lindros wasn't worth it. Clarke believes that because of Eric's extensive concussion history and the fact he injures way too much for a player his size. He also has yet to complete a full season since being drafted in '92. Why exactly then did Slats trade for Lindros? It was more a compromise to trade for Lindros than a commitment to him from the start.

The first reason presents a healthy Theo Fleury. A more humble and physically adept Theo Fleury, after admitting to a mysterious substance-abuse problem. He should complement Lindros on the first line to give the Rangers a lethal mix of speed in Theo and power from Eric. With Fleury claiming he was "in the best shape ever," the Rangers felt success was imminent and pulled the trigger on the trade. Fleury blames part of his S-A problem with New York itself claiming, "I'm a prairie kid from a town of 1500. I felt like I'd been dropped in the middle of Manhattan and left to fend on my own." With more help to carry the heavy load in the form of Lindros and hopefully more love from Slats, Theo should recover nicely.

Rumors are going around suggesting veteran right-winger and seventh all-time goal scorer Brett Hull will also sign with the Rangers. The addition of an all-star winger would easily give the Rangers the most dangerous and effective offensive line in the Eastern Conference when healthy. The other option is to put Hull on the second line to spread the talent and give Mark Messier or Petr Nedved some much needed help. They may also want to consider moving either Radek Dvorak or Michal Grosek to the left side since the talent is obviously lopsided with more talent on the right side than the left.

After the recent acquisition Andreas Johansson, the Rangers have no proven talent on the left side so it is crucial for them to move either Dvorak or Grosek or trade for another LW. Offers from Montreal, Vancouver, and a "very good team," in the words of Hull's agent, have been confirmed to have an interest in the winger aside from the Rangers, although NY has gotten the most publicity.

The biggest reason why the Rangers pulled the trigger was because they felt they missed out on too many good opportunities with such aforementioned marquee players like Rob Blake, Keith Tkachuk, and Jaromir Jagr flying to new destinations. With an offer supposedly from the L.A. Kings including Lindros and a Friday deadline issued by Clarke, Slats felt he couldn't let this one go when he went this far. The last time he bailed on a deal when he was this close, he saw Jagr fly to the D.C.

The last time the Rangers traded for an injury-prone, concussion enthusiast? The ill-fated Pat LaFontaine just a few seasons ago.

Breakdown

We'll start with the Flyers, since they get an array of players. The initial "centerpiece" of this deal was promising prospect Pavel Brendl, but after showing up to camp out of shape, Clarke made sure he got enough insurance with Brendl to appease his needs.

The 24-year-old Jan Hlavac completes the third line on the wing and while scoring 28 goals and assisting on 36 others on a team with little talent depth after the first line, he out to fill-in nicely behind Recchi on the first line and Tocchet on the second line. Although, if he were to have trouble adapting, Clarke has plenty of depth to choose from to easily replace him (Fedotenko and Ranheim). Hlavac's scoring ability is no doubt his best quality, but he also offers some other atypical attributes of Philly linemen such as his ignorance to check anybody and lack of defensive awareness. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to Clarke's offense.

Another above average complement to this trade for the Flyers was 25-year-old Kim Johnsson, a smart and polished second year player who can play the point on the power play. Since many of the Flyers's D-men are groomed to be defense-minded power checkers, Johnsson might see a lot of time on Philly's dismal nineteenth-ranked power play. This kid may actually be counted on to produce and carry the heaviest burden, possibly more than Brendl or Hlavac carry, since the Flyers' defensive corps is aging fast and Johnsson represents one of two members of the defense under the age of 28.

The pressure is on these kids to replace aging stars Rick Tocchet, Mark Recchi, and Eric Weinrich. These three kids along with Simon Gagne also represent the future of Flyers hockey.

For the Rangers, Lindros was definitely worth the risk, although I do agree that many Ranger fans should feel disappointed that they didn't grab Jagr, who would have been a safer bet in terms of durability and offensive productiveness. A confident Lindros, like the one at the press conference on Monday, will no doubt have an alarming effect over the Rangers, but even the acquisition of Lindros alone won't help this hockey club compete for the Stanley Cup let alone the postseason. Of course, the money is still there for the Rangers, as well as FA's Jason Allison, Brett Hull, and Alexei Zhitnik.

Closing Thoughts

Flyers' GM Bobby Clarke obviously held the upper hand through all the trade negotiations with Rangers' GM Glen Sather since Clarke had really no need of keeping Lindros with his acquisition of Jeremy Roenick, while the Rangers were in desperate need of a complement to Theo Fleury on the first line after seeing that Messier wasn't the solution.

This upper hand also allowed Clarke to grab almost proven players in Hlavac and Johnsson along with touted prospect Pavel Brendl. Had Clarke been forced into trading Lindros due to salary cap issues, the unproven Brendl would no doubt been the centerpiece of a trade that might not have included such great complements as Hlavac and Johnsson and the advantage in this type of trade might have gone to the Rangers, inheriting a proven yet injury-prone Lindros over the unproven, carefree Brendl. I give props to Clarke for not making that a reality when it easily could have been.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.