Brendan Shanahan got tired of waiting for the New York Rangers to want him.
Settled in New York after two seasons of playing with the Rangers, the 39-year-old likely Hall of Famer didn’t have any interest in talking to any other team in the NHL. He even told his agent, Rick Curran, not to field offers from any club not residing in the heart of Manhattan.
Shanahan worked out at the Rangers’ practice facility in anticipation for the call that it was time to rejoin his teammates. But due to salary cap restraints, and possibly in part, the emergence of young forward Nikolai Zherdev, there was no longer any room on the Rangers – even for a guy with 650 NHL goals.
“I’ve told Rick that I can no longer wait and that it’s time to move,” Shanahan told the New York Post this week.
Rangers general manager Glen Sather asked Shanahan to be patient and wait for cap room and roster space to open up. New York raced out to a franchise-best 10-2-1 start and isn’t likely to make major roster moves anytime soon.
when it might. … I stayed out of the spotlight. I didn’t want to be a drama or a distraction, but my position was also an obvious commitment on my part to stay a Ranger.
“I have no regrets. Too many good things happened to me in my two years here.”
So what’s next for Shanny?
The St. Louis Blues, the team for which he starred for parts of four seasons before he won three Stanley Cup rings with the Detroit Red Wings, showed interest during the offseason. If Shanahan prefers to stay closer to New York, where his kids are in school, perhaps the New Jersey Devils – the club that drafted him – or the rival Philadelphia Flyers could provide a soft landing spot.
Or perhaps he will join up with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who could give captain Sidney Crosby a veteran winger to pass to.
Not that Shanahan needs any references to go with his impressive resume over 20 NHL seasons, but Rangers coach Tom Renney had only good things to say as the club officially parted ways.
“He brought a lot of wisdom to our dressing room, to our bench, to the ice surface,” Renney said. “He certainly helped me a lot, as a coach and a player, just with anecdotal things, a scenario, a hypothetical here and there. How could you not tap into that?”
A team other than the Rangers probably will soon.
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CAPTAIN JAROME: Whether he is speaking up in the dressing room or not, captain Jarome Iginla is leading the Calgary Flames the best way he knows how – with his stick.
“We had a lot of talk before this week about the fact that we definitely want to turn it around, but that’s something that happens when you’re not winning as a team,” Iginla said.
After a slow start, the Flames have turned things around. Calgary went 1-3-1 through its first five games, but carried a five-game winning streak and a points tie for first place in the Northwest Division into the weekend.
Iginla was the NHL’s first star of last week after putting up five goals and two assists in three Calgary wins.
“I personally want to be better, but every guy wants to be better in the room,” Iginla said. “Every guy thinks when you’re not winning that you can do just a bit more and you want to be a little bit sharper. I don’t think it’s because I’m a captain or anything. I think partly I’m a veteran and have been here.
“It’s just something that’s part of a team that every guy does look at himself and see how he can contribute and collectively be better as a group.”
One guy who has fit in well upon coming to Calgary is Todd Bertuzzi. He is still looking to shake the stigma of his blind-side punch against Colorado’s Steve Moore while Bertuzzi played for Vancouver in 2004.
Bertuzzi had six goals in his first 10 games with the Flames.
“He’s been really, really good for us,” Iginla said. “He’s come in and he’s playing really hard. He’s having a lot of fun. Talking to him, he’s really enjoying himself.”
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DAZZLING DEBUT: Jamie McGinn had quite a memorable first week with the San Jose Sharks.
The second-round draft choice in 2006 made his NHL debut on Tuesday night against Sidney Crosby and Stanley Cup runners-up Pittsburgh, playing just over 5 minutes in a 2-1 victory.
He got an even bigger opportunity in his next game against the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Playing on the Sharks’ fourth line, McGinn scored his first career goal and added an assist in a 4-2 victory.
“This was a special game,” he said. “I had a blast out there again. I’m going to enjoy every minute that I’m up here.”
If he keeps playing like he did against the Red Wings his stay could turn out to be a lengthy one.
“I’m real excited about him,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “To play against Pittsburgh and Detroit, what a great start to his NHL career. It’s a really exciting time for him. Often when young players get called up they play on emotion the first three or four games. We’ll see how he responds as time goes on.”
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ll be an extra day of dealing in the NHL this season.
Due to a scheduling glitch, 12 games were put on the slate for March 3, the original date for the annual trade deadline. But the NHL and the players’ association agreed this week to push the deadline to March 4, when only two games will be played.
The collective bargaining agreement that ended the season-long lockout in 2005 stipulated that the trade deadline would be moved from the 26th day before the end of the regular season to the 40th day.
This time around, that date fell on March 3. The problem is all but six of the 30 NHL teams will be in action that day. So general managers will get another day to swing some deals.
Clubs have complained they often have to play with limited rosters on trade deadline day since there isn’t time for newly acquired players to arrive, and traded players aren’t eligible to play once they are dealt away.
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AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in San Jose, Calif., contributed to this report.
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