THE BEST year hockey ever had was 1987, when Valeri Kamensky was one of the five very best players in the world lifting the game to a level we may never see again. Kamensky was spectacular in his North American introduction at RendezVous, the two-game February series pitting the NHL all stars against the Soviet National Team in Quebec City, and one of the Soviets greatest assets in the classic 3-game Canada Cup final that September.
If it is even slightly arguable whether two more talented teams have ever been assembled, it is unequivocal truth that two teams of all-stars have never tried any harder to win, or kept such a relentlessly breathtaking pace, or created so many goals that were unstoppable by some of the best defensive players on the planet, too. All three games had scores of 6-5, two decided in overtime, one in the final minute, and yet Canada’s triumph was also anti-climactic because nobody watching the games wanted to see them end.
Anybody who saw the greatest hockey series ever played wanted it to go on and on and on, but nothing does, not even the Cold War. Three years later, Communism was crumbling, and Kamensky, drafted in a late round by the Nordiques in 1987 on the long odds that the world would drastically change, was playing for them by 1991.
That now seems a lot longer than eight years ago now, watching Kamensky as a 33-year-old, skating for the Rangers, a team with a $60-million payroll that suggests the discredited works of Marx and Lenin may deserve another hearing.
Capitalism does not always work. The Rangers, who tried to buy a new team this summer, cannot buy a goal. In the last seven games, none of which they have won, John Muckler’s club has scored 15 goals. Kamensky, one of six players age 30 or older, signed for $67.1 million in guaranteed salaries to prop up a franchise that had missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons, has so far, been the least productive.
After missing 26 of the first 32 games with a crack in his arm, Kamensky has been back for six games. In them, he has one point. He made a terrific play to set up Kevin Hatcher’s tying goal in Phoenix that gave the Rangers as good a point as they have had all year, and seemed to project a hint of chemistry with Petr Nedved.
But they weren’t as good together in Dallas, and were out-and-out awful in Montreal. By Monday night’s game against St. Louis, John Muckler had replaced Nedved with newcomer Radek Dvorak on the line with Nedved and Jan Hlavac, in the latest of his never-ending attempts to make this amalgamation of guys who are both too old and too young, make enough sense to challenge for a playoff spot.
“I didn’t think it was the right combination,” said Muckler of Nedved and Kamensky before last night’s game. “I’m not saying it’s something we wouldn’t go back to. Kamensky plays awfully well with [Jan] Hlavac, so we kind of kept that combo together.”
That was until last night, when Muckler put Kamensky with Tim Taylor and John MacLean for the game against Toronto.
“Kamensky wants to play the left side,” said Muckler. “Taylor and MacLean will do the defensive work for him. Is that enough speed to make it work, I don’t know?
“He’s healthy. I think his attitude is good. We’re just really waiting for Kamensky to come on.”
Muckler can get in a long line of coaches waiting for Kamensky to come on. First impressions turned out to be the best impressions. He showed up for his first Nordique camp with cracks in both legs and has missed major portions of four of his eight NHL season. The most goals he has ever scored are 38, in Colorado’s Stanley Cup year, when he was a point-a-game player in the playoffs, playing with Peter Forsberg and Claude Lemieux.
There were beautiful goals, great moments, and in flashes Kamensky has been able to carry lines. But he has acquired the reputation of playing when he wants to play, which is rarely when he is suffering from marginal hurts.
Still, after Theo Fleury, Kamensky was the best guy out there last summer who wouldn’t cost the Rangers anything in a trade, so he was signed for four years and $17.1 million, which was at least one year and probably about five million more than anyone else would have offered.
But if healthy, if motivated, Kamensky should still be an asset for a team suffering for speed and ability to make a play. He made several in Phoenix that begged for several more. He is so stupendously skilled that if he has lost anything at age 33, there would be a lot still left.
The Rangers are waiting for it, as patiently as they can, as games that could be wins remain ties, as playoff position lays a tantalizing four points away that might as well be 40 if players who took salaries that implied they can still help carry a team don’t consistently produce.