Two years, 123 games, 27 goals, minus-31 and $14.33 million later, the Valeri Kamensky Error has come to a close on Broadway.
Signed by ex-GM Neil Smith to a four-year, $17M deal during the summer spending orgy of ’99, the 35-year-old winger was notified yesterday by Glen Sather that the Rangers would exercise their two-thirds buyout on the $8M remaining on the contract over the next two seasons.
Kamensky, sidelined much of 1999-2000 with a broken arm and much of last season with a bruised kidney, now becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The Post has learned that Sather met with agent Paul Theofanous on Wednesday in an attempt to persuade Kamensky to accept less than the two-thirds figure, the GM hinting that a failure to do so might invite John MacLean-like treatment. But player and agent stood firm.
While Kamensky was released, the Rangers managed to trade buyout-bound Tim Taylor.
Taylor, 32, who missed the final 43 games of the season with a deep abdominal pull, was sent to Tampa Bay for a pair of minor-league wingers – 25-year-old Nils Ekman and 22-year-old Kyle Freadrich. The Rangers will pay two-thirds of the $3.15M remaining on Taylor’s contract.
The Rangers now will dive into the free-agent pool with a 2001-2002 payroll of approximately $46M, including the anticipated contracts of Group II’s Petr Nedved, Jan Hlavac, Manny Malhotra, Kim Johnsson and Sandy McCarthy.
Cablevision is believed willing to spend another $30M-40M on a potpourri of available talent including Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, Jaromir Jagr, Martin Lapointe, Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy.