ok, so the rangers re-acquired kovalev from the penguins. big deal. so what if you look at the team page and kovalev already is the leader in all scoring categories? who cares? sather fires trottier and goes behind the bench himself. yawn.

as a longtime fan, i've been through the entire range of emotions. the overwhelming joy of them winning the cup. the sense of loss when messier went to vancouver. the dread when lindros came to town, one concussion away from retirement. and i've sat and watched them miss the playoffs for the last 5 years.

yes, kovalev is proven talent... at least, he is when he's in pittsburgh, and most notably playing against the rangers. doesn't matter. they need a team, not the collection of aging, overpaid "superstars" that they have now. sather needs to use his $70 million payroll, cut everyone over the age of 30, and use all that freed-up money to secure some good draft picks and promising young players, like blackburn and lundmark. i know that sather has to placate the n.y. fans who are getting pretty damn impatient with being the team with the highest salary and not even an 8th place spot to show for it, but just suck it up, prepare to suck for a few years, and start fresh. that's the only way to build a strong team that will actually play as a team. the knicks are going to have to learn the same painful lesson over the next few years, too...