At The Center Of It All
Going into the 2002-03 season the Rangers looked set up in at least one position, center ice. With Lindros, Nedved, Holik and Messier as well as the likes of Lundmark, Lyashenko and Donato in the system, it appeared that if anything the Rangers would finally have the dominating presence down the middle of the ice that they had long been searching for.
But while they had indeed addressed an area long in need of attention, they had also handicapped the team from the beginning. The first mistake of course was the lack of depth on the wing, and in particular the left wing position. The Rangers expected big things from Pavel Bure this year, and so did many of the fans. An injury scare in the preseason that caused him to miss the first three games proved to be just a preview for the entire season that saw the Russian Rocket miss a total of 43 of 82 games.