CROMWELL, Conn – Despite spending a pleasant summer in picturesque Kelowna, British Columbia, with his wife and young daughter, Wade Redden experienced a bit of an unsettling offseason, proving again that money can’t buy you complete happiness.
While pondering his future, nothing materialized with NHL teams other than the New York Rangers for Redden, the second overall pick by the New York Islanders in the 1995 draft, largely because of his $6.5 million contract, and talks with European teams never got past the preliminary stage.
Then came the coup de grace, the tragic plane crash Sept. 7 that claimed 44 lives, most of them the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team, including two friends. Former Rangers defenseman Karel Rachunek was Redden’s partner for several seasons in Ottawa, and Brad McCrimmon, who never got to make his head coaching debut after three years as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings, was finishing his career as a Hartford Whalers defenseman as Redden embarked on his NHL career.
A week ago, Redden was in Farmington, Mich., attending McCrimmon’s funeral along with Red Wings coach Mike Babcock and his entire team and such NHL luminaries as former coach Scotty Bowman, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, Toronto Maple Leafs president and general and former Whalers GM Brian Burke and NHL executive Cliff Fletcher.
“It was a tough one,” the 34-year-old Redden said Saturday after his first workout in his second season with the Whale. “My wife told me about it after seeing it on TV. I knew McCrimmon was the coach, but I didn’t know Rachunek was on the team until I saw the list (of those killed).”
Now, only seven days later, Redden and his 994 NHL games with the Senators and Rangers was among 10 players doing tests on and off the ice at Champions Skating Center on Saturday morning before a two-mile run Saturday night starting at St. Joseph’s College, not far from his house in West Hartford. They were joined Sunday by 21 players assigned by the Rangers on Saturday for the first full-day of Whale camp, highlighted by a morning scrimmage.
Redden worked out in Kelowna with several NHL players and members of the local Western Hockey League junior team, and after the workouts jokingly asked the media, “How do I look?”
The answer was still slim and trim. And he hadn’t changed in the skating tests, working up a good sweat while chatting with players who had to be thrilled just to be cruising around the rink with someone with Redden’s credentials.
Whale coach Ken Gernander again gave Redden “top marks” for a high level of professionalism and willingness to help young players trying to get where he had been for 13 seasons. Redden was especially beneficial to rookie Ryan McDonagh, who improved dramatically with help from his partner and assistant coach J.J. Daigneault, who handles the defense. On Jan. 3, McDonagh switched places with Michael Del Zotto, never returned to Hartford and finished the season as part of the Blueshirts’ No. 2 pairing with former Wolf Pack defenseman Michael Sauer.
“I don’t know how much more a guy can do (to be a leader), but I don’t think it’s on your to-do list,” Gernander said. “You don’t get up in the morning and say, ‘I’ve got to come to the rink and be a leader.’ It’s just something that you bring with you that’s part of your package. If you see something or an area where you can help, you put that on yourself as far as a leadership role. I certainly expect him to be one of our leaders, but like I said, I don’t think it’s on his to-do list. That’s just something that’s kind of instinctive.”
Gernander will be delighted to know Redden is ready to be an even more positive influence. Redden looked back at “a big number” of coaches and players who helped him when he was learning to become a NHL All-Star and top international competition. The group included former Whalers wing Randy Cunneyworth, Lance Pitlick, a Senators teammate in his first season who played with Gernander at the University of Minnesota, and McCrimmon’s brother, Kelly, who was Redden’s general manager in junior hockey with the Brandon Wheat Kings and “touched so many lives in hockey as far as tutelage and his impact on the game.”
“I feel more comfortable and better this year knowing the situation,” said Redden, who might consider coaching as a post-playing career. “I’m more settled, and I want to help these guys. I remember guys who helped me. I obviously want to take care of myself first, but I want to be there to help my teammates.
“I’ve always been that kind of guy where I tried to be a good teammate, and that’s not going to change. There are some good, young players here, not that they need a lot of direction, but there are the coaches, myself and people with experience who can help along.”
Tomas Kundratek, another defensive partner last season, and Pavel Valentenko were among the Rangers’ first 21 cuts Saturday and could be prime candidates for Redden’s help.
“You see young guys come in every year, and you see them make another step so hopefully they can keep progressing,” Redden said. “ ‘Tank’ (Valentenko) had a solid year all-around, and I’d like to see him keep going.”
Last season, Redden tied for fourth in Whale scoring with 42 points (eight points, 34 assists) and was their best player during a critical 14-4-0-1 run from early February to late March that allowed the team to make the playoffs.
“I have to be honest with myself that I don’t think I’ll go anywhere,” Redden said. “It’s a long shot that anybody is going to pick up my contract, so I’ll play and hopefully something will happen where I can be free of it and move on or something happens. Everything is up in the air.”
Redden considered opting out of his contract and playing for less money elsewhere but didn’t think that was possible under the current collective bargaining agreement. But there also was no assurance that another team would sign him.
“All I can do is keep a positive attitude and go from there,” Redden said. “I had some contact with people I know in Europe, but this was a good situation for me last season. I felt good here as far as the hockey and the situation that I was in. As far as my family was concerned, it was a nice area, and I didn’t want to shake things up too much that way.”
Others who tested Saturday after not being invited to Rangers camp were goalie Jerry Kuhn, defensemen T.J. Fast and Dan Lawson and forwards Max Campbell, Chris Chappell, Brendan Connolly, Jeff Prough, Connor Shields and Jordan Owens, who was signed as an undrafted free agent to an entry-level contract with the Blueshirts on June 12, 2007 and played parts of four seasons with the Wolf Pack before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings for center Kris Newbury on March 3, 2010.
Chappell, Connolly and Fast played last season with Greenville, the Whale’s ECHL affiliate. Owens had one goal and four assists in 17 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins at the end of the 2006-07 season and then had six goals and 14 assists in 60 games last season before an injury in early March ended his season and scared away a lot of teams, according to Owens.
“There’s no better place to be because this is where I started my (pro) career,” said Owens, who didn’t have any place to go until he got a call from the Rangers on Monday. “I’m in exactly the same position as I was coming out of juniors, trying to earn a contract. I was looking for a job, and I still am. I was away for a little bit, but I’m back for the time being. I don’t know if there are any spots, but the only thing at this point of my career is that you can’t really worry about that stuff. I just have to worry about coming and playing to the best of my ability.”
The players assigned to the Whale were goalies Chad Johnson, Jason Missiaen and Cameron Talbot; defensemen Kundratek, Valentenko, Lee Baldwin, Collin Bowman, Sam Klassen, Jyri Niemi and Jared Nightingale; and forwards Chad Kolarik, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Tommy Grant, Tayler Jordan, Kale Kerbashian, Chris McKelvie, Matt Rust, Scott Tanski, Kelsey Tessier and Jason Wilson.
The Rangers also returned seven players to their junior teams: defensemen Peter Ceresnak (Peterborough, OHL) and Samuel Noreau (Baie-Comeau, QMJHL) and forwards Shane McColgan (Kelowna, WHL), J.T. Miller (Plymouth, OHL), Michael St. Croix (Edmonton, WHL), Christian Thomas (Oshawa, OHL) and Andrew Yogan (Peterborough, OHL).
“It was all the Rangers decision, and I’m not going to second-guess anything they did,” Gernander said. “It’s still training camp to some extent, so there might be varying reasons for different players who maybe get a little bit longer look because of experience or whatever the case may be. We’re all one big organization, and our job is to work the guys who are here and get them there.”
The Rangers still have 35 players, 12 more than the opening-night limit, including three goalies, 11 defensemen and 21 forwards. Surviving the first round of cuts were top prospects Dylan McIlrath, Ryan Bourque, Carl Hagelin and Tim Erixon, all of whom played in the Rangers’ first two preseason games.
After two days of practice and scrimmages, the Whale’s first preseason game is Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Albany Devils at the Koeppel Community Sports Center on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford. The game benefits the Ryan Gordon/Connecticut Whale Community Scholars Fund, with donations accepted at the door in lieu of an admission charge. The fund memorializes longtime Wolf Pack fan Ryan Gordon, who died in 2006 from cancer and asked that the money set aside for his college education be donated to three charities, including the Connecticut Whale Community Foundation.
The Whale also will play at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Falcons and then host the Worcester Sharks at the TD Bank Sports Center on the campus of Quinnipiac University in Hamden on Friday at 7 p.m. ($5 admission benefits Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford) and on Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. at Champions Skating Center ($5 admission benefits Junior Wolf Pack youth hockey). The entire AHL preseason schedule is available at www.theahl.com .
Story by Bruce Berlet of the Connecticut Whale
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