Last week, I met with a good friend for dinner. She was visiting New York City from Lithuania. She just so happens to be the sister of my all-time favorite defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.
As we talked both NHL and KHL hockey, I couldn’t help but feel a bit saddened after we talked. I didn’t know what it was about that conversation, but today, as I was coming into the city, I realized that I know what was saddening me.
For those who follow KHL hockey, you will see that Darius Kasparaitis is listed on injured reserve. Since I know what his status is, I cannot say anything that his club SKA St. Petersburg hasn’t said beyond him being on injured reserve.
But the truth is that Darius is 37 years old. Retirement is bound to happen soon.
But Darius’ retirement wasn’t what we were discussing…that actually wasn’t on the table.
We were discussing someone else’s future…that being the last of the NHLers that contributed in making me into the passionate hockey lover that I am.
This guy is a UFA skating down at Chelsea Piers these days, waiting for that phone call with an offer from some team out there that is willing to make him an offer.
That last of the NHLers is none other than Brendan Shanahan, a friend of Kasparaitis.
Since his departure from the Devils, and what looks to be a suggestion into a forced retirement, I can’t help but feel that the passion I once had for hockey is waning. It’s not as strong as it used to be.
Sure, there are players lingering somewhere else in the world that helped contribute to the passion…like Chris Chelios. He is lingering somewhere in Chicago in the AHL, but I’ve been preparing for his retirement for several years now.
I’ve been preparing for the time when Jaromir Jagr makes the decision to let his playing days go. I’m just praying he’ll finish his career back in the NHL, and not the KHL. There’s got to be one last desire in him to achieve the Stanley Cup one more time.
There’s Kevin Weekes, who is still able to play, but no teams have signed him.
Marcel Hossa has disappeared into Russian territory.
Martin Brodeur will be bringing his career to an end in the upcoming years.
Michael Nylander…who knows where he’s going these days…reports now say to Russia.
Marty Straka has been in the Czech Leagues for over a year.
Do you see where I’m going with this? The guys that fueled that passion are either retiring, can’t get a job, or have sailed across the Atlantic blue.
Only one name I mentioned above has a current NHL job.
The thing is…I’ve been preparing for this for some time now…the retirement of the legends and the rising of the new demi-gods. But the truth is, it’s not the same.
Alexander Ovechkin will continue to astound the NHL like Wayne Gretzky once did. Sidney Crosby will continue to become a greater athlete. Evgeni Malkin will still be my favorite Russian, but none of those three will make me feel the way Jagr, Shanny, or Kasparaitis made me feel about the game.
Their passion for the game was so strong, it rubbed off on me. I remember sitting there in the front row at Nassau Coliseum on March 30, 2006 and seeing Jagr skate over to where I was sitting after he broke the record for most points scored by a New York Ranger.
The smile on his face was worth it all. For any fan of Jaromir Jagr, the 2005-2006 season was the season to watch Jagr at the height of his career. He broke record after record.
To be a witness to HIS history in the making was what made hockey so special to me. It made the player even more special to those who are, dare I say it, huge fans.
That was also the season that I got into hockey. I wasn’t into hockey before that season. The reason why I got into hockey…it was because of Jaromir Jagr.
I had seen him play for the Washington Capitals on January 3, 2001. That was my first hockey game ever. The only name I got out of that game was Jaromir Jagr’s name because every other word out of every Caps fans’ mouth was Jagr, Jagr, Jagr.
So 4 years later, sitting in Madison Square Garden, hearing that last goal that was scored on Martin Brodeur on October 13, 2005 was scored by Jaromir Jagr…just left me flabbergasted. I had no idea Jagr was playing for the New York Rangers, but in my second hockey game ever, Jaromir Jagr was playing for the home team once again.
Jagr was the guy that fueled all of my passion for hockey…and it was a passion for really good hockey…the stuff that makes hockey legendary.
Marty Brodeur is currently the last of those legends that are currently playing in the NHL that contributed to my passion for the game. October 13, 2005 was the night that if you were on the ice, you contributed to the night I was made into a hockey fan. So it’s no surprise that the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils are two teams that helped to form me into the person I am today…as far as hockey is concerned.
Kasparaitis was the one that launched my hockey writing career. He made sure the Rangers knew who I was…and he even created a few fans (Shanahan supposedly being one of them). You can’t help but feel even more connected to them when you know that 2 of those 3 favorite NHLers helped create your career for you.
Witnessing hockey history is like an addiction…just ask any Rangers fan who witnessed the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. That was 15 years ago, but they still talk about it like it was yesterday.
It will still be many years before Crosby, Ovechkin or Malkin will be the new legends. In the meantime, I’m left with only one legend who has yet a few more records to break…but those records are few, as he’s already broken the most important ones. I’m waiting on the shutout title now.
But for now, finding that passion I once felt for hockey…it seems that with each retirement, each sailing, and each one that stands on a naked ice waiting for that opportunity to play again…my passion starts to die with the end of each of their NHL careers.
You know how when you are passionate about your work, you tend to excel…well, things change when the flame starts to die out. When what made you so passionate about life is no longer there, how do you carry on?
At the beginning of this season, one of the last of the top 3 guys on my all-time favorite NHLer list stopped playing NHL hockey. Actually, he was forced to leave. Now, it’s become a hope that he will play…and I’m not big into HOPES. Hopes are not real. Beliefs are real. I stopped believing…
Sitting in Hell’s Kitchen with my friend talking about how the KHL is changing the face of hockey and how they are so good to their players…it has me asking myself…well, what about the KHL? Would that be the next career move in hockey? Braving the cold winters for Russian hockey?
Or how about expansion into Europe? The need for hockey in places like Lithuania seem to be very well in demand. A need for a national or a kontinental hockey league is needed in Europe. They love hockey just as much (or even more) than the Russian or North American counterparts.
Sharing hockey with the world is worth getting passionate about. Bringing hockey to places where children (like in Puerto Rico) have never seen hockey before is something worth being passionate about. When you see a child witness their first hockey game, there’s nothing in the world like it.
That’s what really made me fall in love with the game…seeing the face of children experiencing hockey for the very first time…that was a much better moment than Jagr smiling after he collected the most points as a New York Ranger that night in Long Island.
Jagr’s smile may have always brought a smile to my face…but a child’s awe of the game of hockey brought an even bigger smile to my soul.
This season, my aim in many of the articles I am doing with the New Jersey Devils focuses on their charitable contributions to the community. Not only do I want to know what it was like growing up hockey, I want to know how they’re giving back.
Seeing the look on David Clarkson’s face when he talked about how he used to be a huge Toronto Maple Leafs fan when he was a kid…and how he even sat on the knee of one of his heroes, Brendan Shanahan, when he was six years old to later playing on the same line as him…that’s the same face I see when I talk to kids witnessing their first hockey game. [Clarky, after all, will admit that he is still a kid at heart.]
But most of all, as we head into the holiday season, we also have to be charitable. Our economy hasn’t been favorable…every sector has been hit, including hockey. But one lesson I’ve always learned is that when we think we don’t have it good, someone else does have it worse off than we do.
We may look at our empty coin purses and think we can’t give to someone else if we can’t give to ourselves or our families…I suggest donating your time. Make time to donate it.
This year, as in past years, I’ll be donating to the Toys for Tots. I actually donate bags full of toys to both the Rangers drive and the Devils drive. I shop all year round…that’s how important it is to me. I think about it all year long.
I’m such a kid at heart that I actually started using my Disney Rewards points from all of the Disney movies I own and started donating my points to donate a toy to the Toys for Tots program.
The point I’m making is that a smile on a child’s face can put a smile on anyone’s soul. So make an effort to do that for children that will only get that one toy as a gift this year…and make it a good gift.
I have a NHL 2K10 game sitting in my office drawer courtesy of the guys next door (the NHL in case you’re behind). Some lucky kid will be getting that this year with a game system. But who? That’s the question…
So as I say goodbye to the last of the top three NHLers that ignited so much passion in me, my focus goes to something else…something that will make my soul happy, because if that was Shanny’s last goal of his career…I’m just thankful I was there to see it.
[I better get my visa ready, because I have a couple of KHLers I need to see one last time.]
