The Most Damaging Player In Each New York Team's History

Note: I'm only going to include the "Big Four" leagues: MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. No Liberty, no Cosmos, no Red Bulls, no NYCFC, no whatever Sky Blue FC are calling themselves now.

I'll lead off with not (yet) the most damaging, but the most recent:

New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets: Kyrie Irving. All he had to do was get vaccinated, and he would have been playing all along, home and away. There wouldn't have been a poisonous atmosphere at the Barclays Center. Chances are, they would have beaten the Boston Celtics in the 1st Round, and possibly dethroned the Milwaukee Bucks, and at least reached the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat. There could have been a Championship in the future. If not this year, then a serious run at it this year, and building on that for next year.

Instead, Kyrie had to be... Let's put it this way: With some people, the worst advice you can give them is, "Be yourself."

The worst thing about what Kyrie has done to the Nets is that it could well still be a work in progress. In other words, it's unlikely that team management will buy him out, so he could still hurt them again. True, he could also lead them to that elusive title.

But who's kidding who? As Mike Lupica put it in the Daily News when they were eliminated:

The only way Kyrie Irving could make himself an easier mark is if he were trying to guard you. On Twitter the other day he said that “My name is worth billions to these media corporations.” Name one.

But the problem with the Brooklyn Nets, the greatest dynasty that never was and never will be, is much bigger than Irving, a self-indulgent and self-absorbed player whose vaccination status was the single biggest contributing factor to what became not just a lost season, but one of the biggest flops in New York City basketball history. Irving: Who somehow seems himself as the hoops version of Nelson Mandela.

The larger problem with the Nets is that the people in charge, owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks, look like patsies here for the way they have allowed Kyrie and Kevin — K in this case stands for strikeout in basketball, too — to walk all over them from the time the two stars came to Brooklyn to win all those championships they were going to win.

You know what the Nets are? They are the East Coast version of the Lakers, another dynasty that never was and never will be, who also allowed their stars to run their franchise. They were going to be a Super Team for the ages and ended up winning one title, and winning it when the NBA turned into BubbleBall during COVID.

New York Knicks: Stephon Marbury. The last of 5 brothers to play at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn's Coney Island, "Starbury" (a nickname he made up) was supposed to be the next great New York City point guard. He went one-and-done at Georgia Tech, then signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He might be the biggest reason why Kevin Garnett had to go to Boston to win a title.

In 1999, he was traded to the Nets, and they were 2 of the worst seasons in the history of a franchise with a rotten history, although he was named to the 2001 All-Star Game. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns, even-up for Jason Kidd, a "my headache for your headache" trade. He helped the Suns set after several good years, despite another All-Star appearance in 2003; while Kidd immediately turned the Nets into back-to-back NBA Finalists.

In 2004, the Knicks traded for him. Marbury was only 27, and a 2-time All-Star. And, because he was one of New York City's own, Knick fans believed he would be the man to return the Knickerbockers to glory. That it did not happen was not all his fault -- after all, he came with Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, a once-great player now saddled with injuries, who did his best but couldn't overcome them, and James Dolan was running the franchise -- but he led the way.

He didn't get along with head coach Don Chaney. Or with the next, fellow Brooklynite Lenny Wilkens, one of the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and once the winningest head coach in NBA history, coach of the 1979 NBA Champion Seattle SuperSonics. And he didn't get along with the next one, Larry Brown.

Brown was a success wherever he went in the NBA. As his longtime friend and fellow Long Islander, Tony Kornheiser of ESPN, put it, "He took the Clippers to the Playoffs! Nobody takes the Clippers to the Playoffs!" And he had taken the Nets to the Playoffs. In fact, he had pulled both of those feats off twice. At the time, this was considered a huge deal, because both teams were "little brothers" to the bigger teams in the area. Both teams were, and -- despite what they've done since -- still are joke franchises. And he had won an NBA Championship with the Detroit Pistons, and gotten the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals, eventually getting Allen Iverson to see the value in not just a game, but in practice.

The one team with whom he couldn't make the Playoffs was the Knicks: Unlike Iverson, Marbury could not be convinced that Brown knew what he was doing. They feuded like crazy, and, as Frank Isola and Michael O'Keefe wrote in the Daily News, Marbury had become "the most reviled athlete in New York."

Brown left in 2006, while Marbury continued to poison the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden until 2009, when the Boston Celtics finally took him off the Knicks' hands, reuniting him with Garnett -- and taking them down from their title perch of the season before. So that's 5 different NBA teams Marbury messed up, 2 of them in the New York Tri-State Area. He is a serious contender for the overall Number 1 on this list.

China was starting up a pro basketball league, and Marbury played in it from 2010 to 2018, and is now the head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters.

New Jersey Devils: Ilya Kovalchuk. After 9 years as a sniper for the Atlanta Thrashers, the Devils traded for him. In 4 seasons with the team, he twice scored at least 30 goals, and was a key figure in the team that reached the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. (It's worth noting that, of the 9 teams in the "big four" leagues, only 2 have reached their sport's finals since: The 2014 Rangers and the 2015 Mets. So this is a big deal.)

But in 2013, he "retired" from the NHL, with $77 million and 12 years remaining on his contract. He was only 30, and his move left the Devils in the lurch: They've only made the Playoffs once since, in 2018.

But he only retired from the NHL. He went back to Russia, and signed with his former team, SKA St. Petersburg. It was all about the money: Not just a higher salary, but considerably lower taxes. Then the ruble crashed in December 2014, and he was making less money. Serves him right. In 2018, he applied to return to the NHL, but the Devils weren't interested. Good thing: At 35, was a shadow of his former self, playing just 2 more seasons, for 3 different teams, and scoring 26 more goals, raising his career total to 328.

New York Islanders: Alexei Yashin. From 1993 to 2001, he scored 218 goals and had 273 assists for the Ottawa Senators. As the 2001-02 season dawned, he was about to turn 28, was coming off back-to-back 40-goal seasons, and hadn't missed a game due to injury in 4 years. There was nothing wrong with wanting a healthy Alexei Yashin on your team.

The question was, What was a team willing to trade to get him? The Islanders traded Bill Muckalt, Zdeno Chara, and their 1st-round draft pick, who the Senators turned into Jason Spezza. Muckalt was a thrown-in, and played his last NHL game in 2003. In 2022, Chara and Spezza are still playing in the NHL, and both could end up in the Hall of Fame.

And Yashin? General manager Mike Milbury signed him to a contract extension worth $87.5 million over 10 years. He scored 32 goals in 2001-02, but that would be his peak. His production dropped, and because of his contract, he was "untradeable." He played his last NHL game at age 34, although he hung on in the Russian league for 5 more years.

Unlike some of these guys, Yashin didn't make a nuisance of himself, to his teammates, to the organization, or to the fans. He just didn't deliver. And it's not like he paid himself: Milbury was more to blame than Yashin was.

New York Rangers: Ken Hodge. BlueLine Station, a Ranger fan website, calls the 1976 trade that sent Hodge to Madison Square Garden and Rick Middleton to the Boston Garden the worst trade in Ranger history. Hodge was supposed to pair up with Phil Esposito to score a lot of goals, as he had with the Bruins. Instead, he played 96 games for the Rangers, with 23 goals and 45 assists.

Yes, they actually wore these uniforms.

In regular-season games.

That's not terrible: The Rangers got off luckier than most of these teams. But look what they gave up for Hodge: In Boston, Middleton played 12 seasons, with 402 goals and 496 assists. The Bruins retired his Number 16, and he should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Think that might have helped in the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals against the Montreal Canadiens? Or in those Playoff series against the Islanders? Or in the 1986 Conference Finals against the Canadiens?

New York Giants: Kerry Collins. First season, 1999: 7-9. Second season, 2000: 12-4, but became the 1st quarterback ever to lead an offense that failed to score in a Super Bowl, the Giants' only score coming on a kickoff return. Third season, 2001: 7-9. Fourth season, 2002: 10-6, with 4 losses by 7 points or less, costing them a Division title, and allowing them to fall into that humiliating road Playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Fifth season, 2003: 4-12. Collins was not only the worst starting quarterback in Giants history, he was the worst starting quarterback ever to play in a Super Bowl.

New York Jets: Mo Lewis. Now, this doesn't seem fair. Mo was a very good linebacker. He played 13 seasons for the Jets, including 3 Pro Bowl appearances, 4 Playoff berths, and a trip to an AFC Championship Game. But his tackle injured Drew Bledsoe and led to the rise of Tom Brady. What could be more damaging -- not just to the Jets, but to the entire NFL -- than that?

At such seemingly benign moments is history changed.

New York Yankees: Kevin Brown. I know, I know, I've ripped several Yankee pitchers over the 15 years I've written this blog. I even made a list of all the games one of them, Boone Logan, blew for the Yankees, which I suspect is a team record: Logan's Litany of Losing.

But Kevin Brown. Oy, gevalt, Kevin Brown! After pitching well against the Yankees for the Texas Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles from 1992 to 1995, he went to the National League, and helped the team then known as the Florida Marlins win the 1997 World Series. That team was immediately broken up, and he was traded to the San Diego Padres. They won the 1998 NL Pennant, and started Brown in Games 1 and 4 of the World Series, because of his success against the Yankees. Instead, the Yankees swept the Padres.

The Padres didn't keep him, either, and he signed the 1st $100 million-plus contract in baseball history, with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After the 2003 season, angry at Jeff Weaver's incompetence in the World Series, the Yankees traded Weaver and 2 pitchers who never amounted to anything to the Dodgers, for Brown, and also got Javier Vázquez, knowing they would need to replace the departed Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

Some replacements. Brown went 10-6, and after a bad loss in September, punched the dugout wall with his right hand. His throwing hand. He broke it, but was ready to pitch again come the postseason. Despite making the All-Star Game, Vázquez only went 14-10. And, due to injuries, in the all-important Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the arch-rival Boston Red Sox, manager Joe Torre started Brown, and he didn't make it out of the 2nd inning. Torre replaced him with Vázquez, who didn't get out of the 4th.

Before Kevin Brown became a Yankee, the Yankees were, beyond any question, the team in baseball, and the Red Sox were their bitches. We'll never know if he would have pitched better in October if he hadn't broken his hand in September, but since that game in October, the Yankees have fallen behind not just the Red Sox, but the Tampa Bay Rays and the Houston Astros, and that's just in the American League. Brown pitched 1 more year, through injuries, and retired with a record of 211-144, 216-149 if you count the postseason -- 15-14 as a Yankee.

I had considered long-ago 1st baseman Hal Chase, a great fielder and a good hitter, whose hiring as player-manager late in the 1910 season, and his known throwing of games for gamblers, turned a 2nd (but not close 2nd)-place team into a 102-loss last-place team in just 2 years. But, at the time, they were the New York Highlanders. They weren't officially the Yankees yet, let alone the Yankees.

New York Mets: Bobby Bonilla. There aren't too many athletes who messed a team up, left, returned, and messed them up again. Although born and raised in The Bronx, Yankee territory, Bonilla was a Met fan growing up, and became a star on the Pittsburgh Pirates' early 1990s near-dynasty.

The Mets threw money at him, and he joined for the 1992 season. It was a disaster, as his hitting stats went way down, and the team had its 1st non-contending season in 9 years. The Mets had an even worse season in 1993, full of acts of carelessness that got people hurt, and, in 2 separate incidents, Bonilla threatened local reporters. They finally traded him in 1995.

And yet, they brought him back for 1999. At 36, he was washed-up, and was released. But they still owed him $5.9 million. His agent offered the Mets a deal: He would defer payment for 10 years, and the Mets would pay him $1.19 million every year from 2011 to 2035 (or his heirs if he died before 2035). The Mets took the deal.

Now, every year, July 1, the date of the payment, is known as Bobby Bonilla Day: There are still players the Mets are paying less to play than they're paying Bonilla to not play. Only 13 more years to go.

The New Jersey Devils/Arsenal Connection

I'm often asked why I, as an American, support Arsenal, a soccer team that plays in Islington, a neighborhood on the north side of London in England.

When I first got interested in European soccer, I needed a team. Arsenal had one major advantage: They had, or had recently had, players whose names I recognized from recent World Cups. From France: Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord. From the Netherlands: Dennis Bergkamp. From Germany: Jens Lehmann. From England: Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole.

But when I took a closer look at them, I noticed there were similarities to a team I already supported, the NHL's New Jersey Devils:

* Both the Devils and The Arsenal (the "The" is not official, but ingrained in the club's culture) wear red shirts with white trim.

* Both are for a neutral-zone trap that had many people calling them "boring," but was truly a misnomer, since they both also had quick-strike capability.

* Both were "United Nations" teams, not caring about a player's nationality, race, religion, or age: If they were good enough, they were old enough, and none of that other stuff mattered.

* Both had a renaissance in the mid-1990s, and stayed good through the late 2000s.

* Both had a genius general manager: The Devils had Lou Lamoriello, and The Arsenal had Arsène Wenger.

* And both were replacing what was, if not in truth then in practical fact, their original home venues. The Devils were moving out of the Continental Airlines Arena, a.k.a. the Brendan Byrne Arena, a.k.a. the Meadowlands Arena, the big drafty barn, with one inadequate level of concourse for two levels of seats, off the New Jersey Turnpike in East Rutherford, to the Prudential Center in downtown Newark.

While The Arsenal were leaving the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, first used in 1913 and with end seating that was relatively new, but whose side stands had gone up in the 1930s and, while beautiful Art Deco masterpieces, limited seating capacity to a little over 38,000. They were moving 500 yards away, over a railroad line, to the Emirates Stadium, which would seat 60,000 people and be suitable for European Champions League matchdays.

I watched Arsenal play, and saw the red shirts, and saw the style of play, and said to myself, "This looks familiar. I know this team. This is my team." (It had also helped my understanding of soccer is played that I had finally begun to see it as "hockey on grass" -- not to be confused with field hockey.)

Eventually, though, other similarities kicked in. Unlike North American sports (since World War II, anyway), where the field boss is rarely also the business manager (sometimes it's tried in the NFL, but it doesn't work), soccer expects one man to do both jobs, and it is often too much for any one man, even one as savvy and as passionate as Wenger.

Because of having to pay off the construction debt for the new stadium, Wenger was forced to sell off several good players, turning Arsenal from 1 of the 2 best teams in England (along with Manchester United) into 1 of the 4 best (along with Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea -- with Liverpool since having dropped off and been replaced by Manchester City).

With the Devils, Lamoriello's hand was never financially forced until the end of the lockout in 2005, when the NHL's 1st salary cap kicked in. Before that, he seemed happy to cut good players loose because of their cost. But one big difference is that he changed head coaches as often as some of the big soccer teams do, whereas Wenger has been Arsenal's boss for 20 years now, since September 30, 1996.

Salary caps can be worked around, though. But the Devils don't seem to be willing to do that for a top scorer, especially after being burned the last time they did, with Russian diva Ilya Kovalchuk. Without a League-imposed salary cap, but with budget restrictions that finally seem to be coming to an end, Wenger seems unwilling to sign, as some fans say, "a world-class striker." Like Lou, who has finally left and been replaced by Ray Shero, Wenger is sometimes too stubborn for the team's good.

Arsenal had a Spanish midfielder named Cesc Fabregas, whom some people were calling the best young player in the world, but always got hurt. In 2011, he whined his way back to his hometown club, Barcelona. He even went on strike, lying about being injured to force a move. When he got his move, he was suddenly, magically healed. Yet many fans of the club forgave him, even now that he's gone to a team those fans despise, Chelsea. In this analogy, he's Kovalchuk and (until recently) Scott Gomez. (At least Fabregas didn't leave for money.)

At that point, Arsenal still had a Dutch forward named Robin van Persie, who looked like he was developing into that "world-class striker," despite countless injuries, through which Wenger stood by him. He wanted more money, and he wanted the team to change its philosophy to go all in, do whatever it took to win now, instead of building for the future. But while he was doing that, he went all-out in 2011-12, did his damnedest, and honored his contract. 

Only at the end of that season did he make public his demand to be sold, which he got. He's "Judas," "Robin van Rat," "the Dutch Skunk." He's despised. He's not forgiven, but Fabregas is. In this analogy, van Persie is Zach Parise (the names are even similar-sounding).

Of course, van Persie didn't have the kind of family excuse that Parise had. Nevertheless, like with Parise, I don't see too many people wanting van Persie back. (Of course, at this point, van Persie is pretty much washed-up.) In contrast, when Fabregas wasn't reacquired, there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments and cursing of the manager. Will the Devils do the same if the Devils have the chance to bring back Kovalbucks, and they don't do it?

Another connection is the songs. Soccer fans rewrite famous songs for their players, and I've done that with the Devils. To the Christmas carol, "The First Noel," they've sung, "Born is the Ki-ing of Hi-igh-bur-y!" for Charlie George in the early 1970s ("Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie... "), Liam Brady in the late 1970s ("Brady, Brady... "), and for Henry in the 2000s. With Martin Brodeur, I did, "Marty, Marty, Marty, Marty! Born is the Ki-ing of New-ew Jer-sey!" Or, once the new arena opened in 2007, "Brodeur, Brodeur, Brodeur, Brodeur! Born is the King of Pru-den-tial Cen-ter!"

Arsenal forward George became famous for his extra-time goal that won the 1971 FA Cup, just as the musical Jesus Christ Superstar was hitting the London stage, and so Arsenal fans sang, "Charlie George, superstar! How many goals have you scored so far?" So, back when I still liked Kovalchuk, I said, "Kovalchuk! Kovalchuk! He scores a goal and the Rangers suck!"

The 1958 Italian hit "Volare" has been reworked for many players. Patrick Vieira played for France, but grew up in Senegal, so... "Vieira, whoa! Vieira, whoa! He comes from Senegal! He plays for Arsenal!" With RVP, when we liked him, we referenced Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. "Spurs": "van Persie, whoa! van Persie, whoa! He comes from Rotterdam! He hates the Tottenham!" When we had former Zenit St. Petersburg and Russia national team star Andrey Arshavin, it was, "Arshavin, whoa! Arshavin, whoa! He's from St. Petersburg! He hates the fucking Spurs!"

It doesn't always have to rhyme exactly, and profanity is actively encouraged. It doesn't work for every player, as the rhythm of the song, the player's name, and his place of origin have to fit. One Devils player it did fit for was Jay Pandolfo: "Pandolfo, whoa! Pandolfo, whoa! He comes from Boston, Mass! He'll kick the Rangers' ass!" Sadly, putting a song together doesn't work for a lot of players.

At any rate, despite all their recent troubles, I still love the Devils, and I still love The Arsenal. I have regretted watching some individual games, but I have never regretted supporting either.

Arsenal's 2016-17 season is already in full gear. The Devils' 2016-17 season begins in a few minutes. With the Yankees not having made the Playoffs, the Rutgers football team dropping weekly stink bombs, and my interests in the NFL and the NBA being at all-time lows, I am more than ready.

Let's go, Devils! Up The Arsenal! #LGD #UTA

One Legend In, One Legend Pre-empted

Yesterday, Derek Jeter returned to the Yankee lineup to lead the big tough nasty city slickers of N'Yawk against those Kay Cee country boys, rednecks, farmers, sheep-shaggers.

On the one hand, as a certain thief from Texas would say, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. He got a hit and an RBI in 4 trips to the plate, and the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4.

Two hits each by 3 guys you wouldn't expect to do it: Eduardo Nunez (who boosted his batting average to .222), Austin Romine (.153), and the rookie Zoilo Almonte (not yet a "rookie sensation," but he is batting a fine .284).

Old man Andy Pettitte wasn't great, but good enough to win (7-6) with that kind of run support. The Yankees smacked around Ervin Santana (5-6), while 3 Yankee relievers -- Shawn Kelley, not-quite All-Star David Robertson, and, managing to not blow a 4-run lead in the 9th, Boone Logan -- held the Royals to just 2 baserunners over the last 3 1/3 innings.

On the other hand, Jeter left the game in the 8th inning with a tight quadriceps. (That's the muscle on top of the thigh.) He may not have been fully ready. He was playing a game sooner than he was intended to, and perhaps keeping him out until after the All-Star Break would have been better -- keeping in mind that our 1st series after the All-Star Break is on Friday, in Boston, against The Scum.

Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers went on a bit of a rant about Jeter's too-soon return, (potentially) yet another futzup of Brian Cashman's. Could it have been less about Jeter's bat in the lineup and his presence in the dugout and locker room (DJ's famed "intangibles"), and more about putting meat in the seats and boosting the YES Network's ratings? If Lisa's rant is correct, Cashman needs, at the least, a Gibbs-slap. (By all means, watch the clip to the end.)

Jeter had an MRI last night. As of this writing (10:31 AM), no results announced. He thinks he can play today. Well, he always thinks he can play. Much like his fellow Tri-State Area sports legend, Martin Brodeur, unless he's in too much pain to actually move, you need a crowbar to get him out of the lineup.

*

Which brings me to the subject of Brodeur's team, the New Jersey Devils. Brodeur is 41, and gives no indication of wanting to retire. Nor should he, as, still, "MAR-ty's BET-ter! (Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)"

But Ilya Kovalchuk is 30, and he announced his retirement yesterday. He says he wants to spend more time with his family.

Uh... huh. When a politician says he's resigning, or not running for another term, because he wants to "spend more time with my family," that means "I did something wrong, and my wife found out about it, and I have to make it up to her."

Did I mention Kovalchuk is just 30 years old? This past season was shortened because NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is an asshole and locked the players out, so Kovy only played 37 games and scored 11 goals. But look at this chart: Year, age he was when the season ended (his birthday is April 15), goals scored:

2002: 19, 29 (debuts in NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers)
2003: 20, 38
2004: 21, 41 (leads the League)
2005: 22, 0 (entire season canceled, lockout, Bettman's an asshole)
2006: 23, 52 (Jonathan Cheechoo led the League with 56)
2007: 24, 42 (Vincent Lecavalier led with 52)
2008: 25, 52 (Alex Ovechkin led with 65)
2009: 26, 43 (Ovechkin led with 56)
2010: 27, 41 (1st season with the Devils; Sidney Crosby & Steven Stamkos both had 51)
2011: 28, 31
2012: 29, 37
2013: 30, 11

Total goals in NHL play: 417, seemingly well on his way to Hall of Fame election.

Total goals with the Devils: 89.

In 2012, the Devils reached the Stanley Cup Finals, and in the Playoffs Kovy had a league-leading 8 goals, plus 11 assists.

He came from one of the great sports clubs on this planet, Spartak Moscow, better known for its soccer team, which, from its 1935 founding, was the most popular sports team in the Soviet Union, and it remains the most popular in the Russian Federation. He's also scored 6 goals for Russia in Olympic play.

What bothers me about Kovy's "retirement" is not that it happened, but how, when, and the appearance of why:

How: At the age of 30, when most hockey players are well in their prime. True, since the 2010-11 season began, he hasn't been what he was from 2002-03 to 2009-10. But he sure seems like a good option, especially since there are only 2 players on the Devils who scored more goals in 2012-13, and one of them, David Clarkson, has already buggered off to his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Right. Have fun trying to win a Stanley Cup there. It's only been 46 years.) The other is Patrik Eliáš, and he signed a new contract with the Devils, and at age 37 shows no sign of slowing down.

Indeed, this should be another sign: For whatever reason, hockey players maintain their peak longer than athletes in the other major sports. Dainius Zubrus just turned 35, and while he's not an out-and-out scoring cog, he's still a good all-around player, and shows no sign of slowing down.

When: After the NHL Draft, making it harder for Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello to make the kind of moves that have Devils fans frequently saying, "In Lou we trust."

Why (apparently): The rumor is that he's sick of Bettman's assholery and the shenanigans of his puppetmasters, the NHL team owners, and would rather play back home in Mother Russia, in the Kontinental Hockey League. (That's not a purposeful misspelling, meant to tweak the Russkies: It is actually spelled with a K.)

On the other hand, playing in the KHL, which doesn't have a salary cap, means that he can pretty much make as much money as he can con someone into paying him. Considering that Spartak are building a new stadium for their soccer team, I'm guessing it won't be them. Anzhi Makhachkala, for the moment, only play soccer, not hockey, but if they start a hockey team, they can certainly afford Kovalchuk.

Ilya, you could have been a Devils Legend. Instead, you're a weasel.

Granted, there have been more hated former players. The most hated would have to be Scott Gomez, for going to the hated Rangers for more money. But he has done nothing since leaving the Devils: Not for The Scum (hockey edition), not for the Montreal Canadiens, not for the San Jose Sharks. Whereas, for the Devils, he appeared in 3 Stanley Cup Finals, winning 2 Cups.

Eventually, we should forgive Gomer. But Kovy? He's a rat jumping off a ship he thinks is sinking.

In the short term, we're going to have to come up with a player, or players, capable of scoring 30 goals in a season. In the long term, that's a lot of money we won't have to pay him.

But I'm reminded of something that Angelo Cataldi of Philadelphia sports-talk station WIP said of the only 2 coaches ever to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl berth, and how Delaware Valley fans compare them.

In spite of winning more regular-season games, winning more Playoff games, reaching more Playoff berths, and reaching more NFL or NFC Championship Games, than any other Eagles coach, Andy Reid, now gone, is not as loved as Dick Vermeil, who was bossman of the Broad Street Birds for a comparatively brief time and left while he still should have had a lot of good years left.

However, but, by his own admission, Vermeil might not have had a lot of good years left if he had stayed, because he was running himself ragged. "Burned out" was the term he used. Since he's still alive, and, after a long layoff that included college football broadcasting on ABC, won a Super Bowl with another team, it's hard to say he made the wrong decision.

Cataldi: "Vermeil has friends all over America. Reid has money under the cap."

So, again, in another league, a salary cap dictates how competitive a team is allowed to be.

I hate salary caps. Sure, they give lesser teams a chance. But they don't give them much of a chance. And when your team does start winning, it means that winning has to stop sooner than it would have if you were allowed to make the adjustments necessary to stay on top.

So Kovalchuk is gone. He could have been a Devils Legend.

Instead, he's a reminder that, while our club is a good one, with a good history, it could have been so much better.

This is not the time to rip into the Cult of Saint Lou. There will be other times to expose Lamoriello as The Big Bald Cheapskate. This is not his fault.

This is Gary Bettman's fault, for being an asshole who has harmed the National Hockey League far more than he has helped it.

And this is Ilya Kovalchuk, for taking a bad situation, and making it worse, when he could have stayed and, at least for his own team, made it better.

The dirty Russian weasel. Ilya Kovalchuk. A quitter of a hockey player from Russia. Sarah Palin can see his contract from her house.

*

UPDATE: Kovalchuk signed with SKA Saint Petersburg, and played with them until 2018, winning 3 KHL titles. In 2018, with the Russian Federation suspended from Olympic competition, a team called "Olympic Athletes from Russia" was set up, and he led them to the Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, South Korea, and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

He then returned to the NHL, playing the 2018-19 season with the Los Angeles Kings. He played the COVID-interrupted 2019-20 season with the Kings, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Washington Capitals, bringing his NHL goal total to 443. He then returned to Russia.

As if I needed another reason to despise Kovalchuk: In 2018, he joined Putin Team, a group of Russian celebrities founded by Ovechkin, to support President Vladimir Putin. Among the other members were hockey stars Pavel Bure and Evgeni Malkin, and figure skater Evgeni Plushenko.

He retired in 2024, after 1 last season with Spartak. As of the elections of 2026, he has not been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

A Devil of a Playoff Push

My continuation of my top 10 Yankees at each position will have to wait. In other words, We interrupt this broadcast to bring the following special announcement:

One-nil! We beat The Scum, one-nil! We beat The Scum, one-nil! We beat The Scum, one-nil!

Devils 1, Rangers 0, last night at the Prudential Center in Newark. The only goal came midway through the 2nd period, thanks to Ilya Kovalchuk, who is now living up to his $102 million, 17-year blockbuster contract: Points in his last 9 games, including 7 goals.

English soccer fans of the early 1970s used to honor players by singing songs to the tune of "Jesus Christ, Superstar," so Devils fans could sing, "Kovalchuk! Kovalchuk! He scores a goal and the Rangers suck!"

Johan Hedberg was phenomenal in goal, showing that, while we all want him healthy for the Playoffs should we make it, the Devils do not have to rely on Martin Brodeur.

The Devils have won 14 of their last 17, and since 2 of those 3 losses were in overtime, that's points from 16 of our last 17. ("Their"? "Our"? I know, "What do you mean, 'we,' white man?")

The Devils complete their "three-game series" with the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in the Your Company's Name Here For the Right Price Center in Raleigh. If the current standings hold, the Canes would be the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference... the Rangers, the 7th.

Having taken the 1st 2 games of the "series" with the Canes, the Devils are now 12 points out of the last Playoff spot, with 24 games to go, including a game in hand on the Canes.

If the Canes go .500 the rest of the way -- winning 11 of 22 and getting an overtime loss and thus a point in the 23rd -- it will give them 87 points. To get to 88, the Devils would have to get 36 points -- roughly, winning 18 of their last 24, or 3 out of every 4.

That's going to be tough. The schedule shows the following: Home games against Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, the Islanders twice, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto and Boston; and visits to Carolina, Dallas, both Florida teams (the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers), the Islanders, Atlanta, Ottawa, Columbus, Boston, Pittsburgh twice, Buffalo, and the home regular-season finale against the Rangers (who suck).

Of the home games, we play 6 out of 11 against teams that would make the Playoffs if the current standings held. Of the road games, 7 out of 13 are against prospective Playoff teams.

I can see the Devils taking 8 of 11 at home, which would give us 16 points. I could see them taking maybe 8 of 13 on the road, which would be another 16, for a total of 32. We'd need another 4, unless the Canes go into a tailspin -- or the Rangers, currently 14 points ahead of the Devils, would would require an even bigger tailspin, which I would love to see happen.

What Jacques Lemaire has done, getting more out of the veterans than they'd previously been giving and getting the kids to show they're ready for the big time, is remarkable. Especially with the kids, who don't remember him as a player (even the veterans probably never saw him play, and he was a legitimate Hall-of-Famer with the 1970s Canadiens), and may not even be old enough to really remember him as the coach of the Devils team that won the 1995 Stanley Cup.

Yet, "Quebec combover," gum-chewing, and all, Lemaire has turned a horrible team into the hottest team in the League -- if only, for the moment, the 13th seed and well out of the Playoff hunt. A case can be made that he should get the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year, even though he did not start the season as a head coach. (He previously won the Adams Trophy in 1994 with the Devils and 2003 with Minnesota.)

Whenever he leaves, the Devils have got to hang a banner in the Prudential Center honoring (or "honouring," as they'd write it in his country) for this man. Either with his number of victories as Devils' coach or with the Number 95 for the '95 Cup.

The Hockey Hall of Fame does not elect a man twice if he's been Hall of Fame quality as both a player and a coach -- which has produced the oddities of men better known as "Builders" (as the Hall would say), such as Lester Patrick Art Ross, Jack Adams and Conn Smythe, the 4 men for whom the League's divisions were named from 1974 to 1993, being elected only as players even though there were, at the time of the Hall's establishment, few people alive who'd seen them play.

(The College Football Hall of Fame has elected Amos Alonzo Stagg and Bobby Dodd, but not the deserving Johnny Majors or the still-actively-coaching Steve Spurrier, as both players and coaches. The Basketball Hall of Fame has done it for John Wooden, Bill Sharman and Lenny Wilkens.)

Jacques Lemaire is a Hall of Fame player. He should be recognized as a Hall of Fame coach. If you doubt this, look at where the Devils were before he took over: Totally pretenders, not contenders. And he practically built the Minnesota Wild franchise from scratch, and got them to the Western Conference Finals in just 3 seasons.

He is also a Hall of Fame man. A class act. A good soldier for the game that made him rich and famous, and one of those who has paid his debt to the game in full.

But if he can take the Devils from 30th in the NHL during Christmas week to the Playoffs in April, he will have done something beyond any of his previous accomplishments. The team may be called the Devils, but Lemaire has been heaven-sent.

*

Speaking of Lemaire's previous accomplishments, a film based on Mordecai Richler's novel Barney's Version is currently showing in New York. One of the scenes, that of Barney's 2nd wedding, takes place in Montreal on May 14, 1977, when the Canadiens were on the verge of sweeping the Stanley Cup Finals, and Lemaire scored the overtime goal that won it.

The footage is not shown in the film, but here's a link to Lemaire's winning goal, at 2:35 of this clip, and, yes, I know it's in French. Deal with it.

Barney (played by Paul Giamatti, son of former Baseball Commissioner Bart) seems more interested in the game than in his bride, even though she looks like Minnie Driver (who plays her). The movie takes a few liberties, such as combining the characters of the cop who investigates Barney for murder and the former friend who writes a book basically saying the jury that acquitted Barney got it wrong; and moving the time periods up (instead of 1955 to 1995, the film takes place from 1974 to 2010). But it's a really good film, and Rosamund Pike is a dream as Miriam, Barney's 3rd and last wife.

Sympathy, and Hope, for the Devils

Please allow Jacques Lemaire... and perhaps also Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston, Jason Arnott, Ilya Kovalchuk, Colin White and Andy Greene, to reintroduce themselves. They are men of wealth and taste. (UPDATE: Given how he ended up leaving the Devils, we now know that Kovalchuk's taste is very questionable.)

And, with the infusion of young talent like Mark Fraser, Mark Fayne, Henrik Tallinder, Adam Mair, Nick Palmieri and Mattias Tedenby, the New Jersey Devils have gotten off the deck, and started winning, and gaining ground on the Eastern Conference.

Their last 3 games have been wins, the last 2 coming from behind by a goal late in the 3rd period and winning in overtime.

Tuesday night, it was 3-2 over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh. Last night, it was 2-1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto.

Ilya Kovalchuk, about whom so much fuss was made in the off-season due to the size and makeup of his contract and how difficult it was to get it approved by the league office, scored the winner last night against the Make Beliefs. I'm beginning to think "Kovalchuk" is Russian for "Alka-Seltzer." When he scored that goal, oh what a relief it was.

These last 3 wins have been with Johan Hedberg in goal, as Martin Brodeur got hurt in the win against the Canadiens this past Sunday in Montreal. There is still no timetable on his return from a sprained knee.

The Devils have now won 3 straight, 5 out of their last 6, and 12 of their last 15. And both of their recent losses were in overtime (to the same team, the Florida Panthers), so they even got points in those games. Meaning they've gotten points in each of their last 13, 24 of a possible 26 points.

They play again tonight, at home at the Prudential Center, against the San Jose Sharks. Then the Hurricanes at home again on Wednesday, then a week from tonight at home against The Scum, followed by another game the next day in Raleigh, for their 3rd game against the currently-8th-seeded Canes in a span of 12 days.

*

I haven't done a countdown in the new year yet. Here goes:

Days until Yankees' pitchers & catchers report: 3, this coming Monday. Finally, a reason for me to look forward to February 14.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 7, as I said, a week from tonight, against The Scum. RANGERS SUCK! They next play the Islanders on Sunday, March 6, a matinee at the Nassau Coliseum. Their next game against the Flyers is Friday, April 1, at home. Appropriate that they would play the Broad Street Bozos and their fool fans on April Fool's Day.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown. It was supposed to be Saturday, February 26, at White Hart Lane. But the League Cup Final (a.k.a. the Carling Cup Final) is the next day, at the new Wembley Stadium in London, and Arsenal advanced, to play Birmingham City. So the Derby had to be postponed. It could very well happen in May, which means, as Arsenal have twice before (1971 and 2004), they have a chance to clinch the league title at the ground of their most hated, and hating, rivals.

Days until the Red Bulls play regular-season soccer again: 36, the season opening at home at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, Saturday, March 19, against the Seattle Sounders.

Days until the Yankees' Opening Day: 48, Thursday, March 31, at Yankee Stadium II, against the Detroit Tigers.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 56, Friday, April 8, at Fenway Park. Just 8 weeks. Under 2 months.

Days until the Red Bulls play another "derby": 57, Saturday, April 9, against the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. They next play their biggest long-term rivals, D.C. United, on Thursday, April 21, at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. And they next play the team that SHOULD be their biggest rival, due to the whole New York-New England thing, the New England Revolution, on Saturday, June 11, at Red Bull Arena.

Days until Derek Jeter collects his 3,000th career hit: 123. About 4 months. (estimated: June 14, 2011)

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 200, on Thursday, September 1, home to North Carolina Central. Not UNC, a.k.a. Chapel Hill. Not N.C. State. North Carolina Central. They're in Durham, almost certainly set up as a black people's counterpoint to once-segregated Duke University in the same city. This is another chance for RU to play a historically black college (as we've recently done with Howard, Morgan State and Norfolk State), give them a huge payday, rack up a lopsided win, and hear their great band while booing our own usually good band for being inadequate by comparison. Because the Big East Conference still hasn’t set its conference schedule for 2011, this opener is 1 of only 5 Rutgers games that are yet set. The others are as follows: At North Carolina on September 10, home to Ohio University (thank God it’s not Ohio State) on September 24, home to Navy on October 15, and against Army at the new Yankee Stadium on November 12. In fact, aside from the Yankee Stadium date, every date is in flux, due to the whims of the TV networks: September 3, 10, 17 and 24; October 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29; November 5, 19 and 26; and December 3.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 208, on Friday night, September 9, 2011, and the opponent and location are TBD.

Days until the Rutgers-Army football game at Yankee Stadium: 275.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 286.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 437 (estimated).

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 493.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 841 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 963 (estimated).

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 1,088.

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,583 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,697 (estimated).