Rangers players are back on the ice and we are just over two weeks away from their play-in series against the Hurricanes in Toronto. It’s Hump Day, which means another episode of the “Up In The Blue Seats” podcast with Ron Duguay.
Ron, The Post’s Mollie Walker and I start the show by discussing the Rangers getting back on the ice in Tarrytown, the first-round playoff schedule against the Hurricanes and Mollie’s experience Monday at Islanders camp.
Ron then chats with Post Rangers beat writer Larry Brooks. Larry discusses being at Rangers camp Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and how it was different than normal, yet somewhat the same when it came to guys on the ice. The Hockey Hall of Fame writer talks about the time away, players getting healthy, David Quinn’s approach, how good Igor Shesterkin looked in scrimmage Wednesday and Artemi Panarin’s big season.
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1994 Stanley Cup-winning head coach Mike Keenan then joins Ron, Mollie and I. Keenan talks about his podcast, his book coming next year and battling cancer. The longtime NHL coach discusses winning the Stanley Cup and leaving the Rangers a month later, why he left and whether they would have repeated if he stayed. Keenan also reflects on why he went to the KHL, if any NHL teams in recent years have reached out to him, the importance of assistant coaches and analytics in the game. Keenan talks about the playoff bubble format, if the Rangers have a chance to win it all and Coach Quinn and if he should go with Henrik Lundqvist or Shesterkin. Keenan explains what he said as part of his famous speech prior to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994 that inspired the team.
Keenan on the month following the Stanley Cup title:
Keenan: Well I really didn’t celebrate extensively because, I don’t know if you or the fans will remember, there was a change of ownership and Paramount owned the team. Stanley Jaffe was in charge, then Viacom came in and in March they dismissed Stanley Jaffe and I thought at that time, I’m probably not going to last here because there was a conflict in terms of those who wanted me hired and those that didn’t. Stanley was a huge supporter…It turned out that Neil Smith went along with their instructions, but it didn’t turn out well for me after at least Stanley was fired and then the process began to escalate as soon as we won the Stanley Cup, so I knew that unfortunately, I really wanted to come back because I thought we had a chance to repeat. We had a great mature team, we had young superstars, the whole lineup was prepared to come back and win, but unfortunately, it didn’t and the celebration was short-lived for me actually.
Keenan on the Rangers could have repeated in 1995 if he stayed as coach:
Keenan: Well you never know but we certainly were a favorite, would have been in the mix to win. I don’t know if fans would remember that the previous year the Rangers never made the playoffs so we did a lot of re-tooling and brought in excellent players and we had a very strong team concept. There was no deviation from any player about what the mission was and what their role was and that’s so important to a championship ingredient. I honestly do think that we could have repeated or at least we’d be a favorite to repeat. You have to stay healthy and things have to go your way, but that would have been certainly our mission again to repeat as champions.
Keenan on his speech before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals:
Keenan: The essence of it was that I wanted to, it was quite lengthy actually, but I wanted to diffuse the pressure and the tension and the expectation that the city had on the team. The brief synopsis of it is that if anyone had told you at the beginning of the season that you’d be playing for the Stanley Cup in a one-game elimination would you take it? And they said absolutely. I said well you’ve earned that right. Let’s be ready to take advantage of that advantage and certainly they were ready.
Catch up on all episodes of “Up In The Blue Seats,” a New York Rangers podcast, by subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ron Duguay is joined every Wednesday by special Rangers guests.