By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- For most of their first nine seasons, the Wolf Pack rarely produced players who found their way from Asylum Street to Broadway.
That's changing, with the Rangers' housecleaning at the 2004 trade deadline expected to give the Pack an even younger look.
"Potentially this is the youngest team I've ever worked with," Pack general manager/coach Jim Schoenfeld said.
The Pack have reached the playoffs every season, but it has mostly been because of what are considered graybeards in the minor leagues. Dale Purinton and Manny Malhotra are the only Pack players to get significant ice time in New York, but that trend began to change with the trade of veterans such as perennial All-Star and former Cheshire resident Brian Leetch.
The lockout forced dozens of quality youngsters to spend a season in the AHL, with players such as Jed Ortmeyer, Dominic Moore and Ryan Hollweg graduating to the Rangers last season. Now, many of the younger players and draft picks acquired by the Rangers 21/2 years ago have completed junior and college eligibility.
Barring an acquisition during or after training camp, which starts today, captain Craig Weller, defenseman Bryce Lampman and goalie Steve Valiquette could be the only Pack players older than 25 and with more than two years of pro experience.
"The difference this year is there's really no situation where we'll say we've got to play the young kid over the old guy," Schoenfeld said. "We're going to play the young kid over another young kid, so it's going to be the best playing."
Players such as Lampman, All-AHL defenseman Thomas Pock (if he doesn't stick with the Rangers), Nigel Dawes, Jake Taylor, Daniel Girardi, Dwight Helminen and Ivan Baranka will need to step up in place of departed veterans Chad Wiseman, Alexandre Giroux, Martin Grenier and Martin Sonnenberg.
Marvin Degon, Greg Moore, Brandon Dubinsky, Lauri Korpikoski, Rick Kozak and Dane Byers got a taste of the AHL at the end of last season, and Chris Holt rejuvenated his career in the playoffs after a disappointing regular season. That group, plus Corey Potter, Marc Staal, Hannu Pikkarainen, Bruce Graham, Ryan Callahan, Jakub Petruzalek and Zdenek Bahensky helped the Rangers to a 2-2 record in a prospects tournament that ended Tuesday in Traverse City, Mich. All-Star goalie Al Montoya only participated in workouts to give him the best chance to go full tilt in training camp.
Rangers coach Tom Renney said Staal, Dubinsky, Korpikoski, Byers and several June draft picks distinguished themselves but hopes others emerge in camp.
"A lot of guys illuminated what they're all about more," Renney said. "There's a number of guys I think will have a good camp and will get a good, long look. And if they're worthy of a position on our team, they'll get it. There are the usual suspects likes Dawes and Korpikoski, but I'm interested to see where a guy like Jake Taylor is in his development in this [faster] game. Can he get his head around how the game has to be played? He's going to be a big, tough kid who's hard to play against, but is he capable of bringing to us what we need?
"Those are the more interesting questions for me because I think that by the time we go through this process, there are going to be five or six guys from Hartford who are serious contenders. If they pull it off, good for them, but I'm a little more curious on the guys in the grey area who were drafted earlier. We drafted some pretty good character two years ago, and we're excited about that, but we need to know if they can participate more than they have so far. And we have to give ourselves a chance to make an educated decision on whether they can play in this new game."
