Matteau, Matteau, Matteau
Rangers Deal Stanley Cup Hero
(from the NY Daily News)
By John DellaPina
Staff Writer
December 29, 1995 - VANCOUVER - The man who scored two of the most important goals in franchise history is a Ranger no more.
Stephane Matteau, who went from unlikely hero to bitter disappointment within a couple of months, yesterday was dealt to the St. Louis Blues for young, feisty center Ian Laperriere, long the object of the Rangers' desire.
The deal, which Rangers' president and general manager Neil Smith had been trying to make almost since the beginning of the season, was agreed to last Saturday night but had to await the passing of the NHL's Christmas trading moratorium. It finally was consummated just after midnight yesterday, keeping Laperriere from appearing in last night's game against the Canucks.
"If we were going to trade Steph to St. Louis, this was the player I wanted," Smith said.
St. Louis GM/coach Mike Keenan had been trying to acquire Matteau for even longer than Smith pursued Laperriere "Since July 16, 1994?" Smith joked, referring to the day after Keenan left the Rangers one month after the Stanley Cup was won.
The deal, then, reunites Matteau with the coach who got the most out of him and thinks most highly of him.
It also ended a brief but eventful Ranger career for Matteau, whose 6-3, 215-pound body never produced the physical play it promised or, at least, as much as the Rangers wanted from it.
Asked if he felt a twinge of remorse at trading Mattteau, Smith said: "Not because of anything that had to do with the Stanley Cup, but I think more that you wished he'd have fulfilled his potential here. The way he can skate and at 6-3, he had a lot of potential. At times, he gave you flashes of it."
Matteau scored two of the most important goals a Ranger has ever scored. The first was a goal 6:13 into the second overtime of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals that gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead in that epic series with the Devils.
The second was the one Rangers fans never will forget the one immortalized by Howie Rose's call on WFAN: "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!" Circling behind Martin Brodeur's cage 4:24 into the second overtime of perhaps the greatest game ever played at the Garden, Matteau somehow wrapped the puck through the goaltender to win Game 7 and the series for the Rangers, sending them into the Stanley Cup Finals.
"We said to Steph, 'We really appreciate what you did to help us win the Stanley Cup,' " Smith said of the early-morning conversation in which Matteau was informed of the deal. "Steph said right back, 'Yeah, but that was two years ago and I haven't done anything since.' "
Laperriere, 21, is five years younger than Matteau and much lower paid ($240,000 as compared with $575,000). He is a hard-nosed player who was coveted by several teams.
A fan favorite who scored 13 goals and 14 assists in 38 games as an NHL rookie last season, he had three goals and six assists in 33 games with the Blues this season. He also had a highly visible, highly abrasive game against the Rangers Nov. 14 that only raised his stock in their eyes. He will become the Rangers' fourth-line center, playing between bruisers such as Darren Langdon, Joey Kocur and Nick Kypreos while rookie Niklas Sundstrom takes over Matteau's job as third-line wing.
"I compare him as center to Mattias Norstrom as a defenseman robust and physical," Smith said of Laperriere. "Like Norty, he plays sometimes with a little overzealousness. He puts a high energy level on the ice."