What if the New York Rangers actually signed Joe Sakic?
Joe Sakic once signed an offer sheet with the New York Rangers. However, the Colorado Avalanche wisely matched it. But what if they didn’t?
Hello everyone, and welcome to a new series here at Puck Prose. I’ll be looking at a “what if” scenario for each team. I’m a huge history buff and hockey fan, so this is perfect for me. Today, I’ll be looking at one of the more fascinating parts of my series – what if the New York Rangers actually signed Joe Sakic from the Colorado Avalanche?
Sakic played his entire career with the Avalanche franchise. But in August of 1997, his future was in limbo. Sakic signed an offer sheet with the Rangers in 1997 for three years and $22 million. This was back when the Rangers had just lost Vancouver Canucks legend Mark Messier. The Rangers wanted to get his replacement and they targeted Sakic.
They did this despite knowing they’d have to give up first first-round picks for him. Considering how those five first round picks went for them in real life (plus they traded two others), the Rangers would have come out like bandits.
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When the Rangers didn’t get Sakic, they decided to trade for Buffalo Sabres center Pat Lafontaine instead. The 1997-98 Rangers were a disaster, as they failed to make the playoffs and head coach Colin Campbell (yes, that one) was fired midway through the season.
So let’s get into our hot tub time machine and go back to see what would have happened if the Rangers got Sakic.
I used Franchise Hockey Manager to put Sakic on the Rangers. Below is is the result of the simulation.
Joe Sakic On The Rangers
The Rangers were just coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in five games. They knew they were losing Messier, so naturally, they thought Sakic would be a good replacement.
Sakic would have been a perfect fit on Broadway. By this time in his career, he was already a Stanley Cup champion, though he had never played in a huge hockey city, seeing as how he had played for the Quebec Nordiques and Avalanche to this point in his career. Still, Sakic was a focused man and would have been able to focus on Broadway.
As far as the 1997-98 season is concerned, Sakic probably doesn’t change too much. The Rangers are probably closer to being a playoff team, but their defense was atrocious. Sakic wouldn’t help there.
However, it’s the year after this that it starts getting interesting. Aided by the signing of John McLean, the Rangers saw improvement in real life in what was ultimately Wayne Gretzky‘s last season, but they still didn’t make the playoffs. Not re-signing Lafontaine certainly didn’t help. But Sakic would have put them into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, allowing The Great One to play one last time in the postseason.
In the first round, the Rangers would have faced the New Jersey Devils, coming out on top four games to three, much like the Pittsburgh Penguins did. However, the second round would have seen them lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games.
At this point in real life, the Rangers started a rebuild. Or at least what the late-1990s Rangers would call a “rebuild”. With Sakic, they’re still a competitive team. At the deadline, they would have had to make a fascinating decision. Do they trade Sakic or keep him in hopes for a playoff run? They’d certainly consider the former because the 1999-00 Rangers were a mess.
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In short, the Rangers certainly would have been better with Sakic. But it’s probably good for hockey history, for Sakic, and certainly for the Colorado Avalanche, that the Avalanche decided to match the Rangers offer sheet.