The Rangers’ front office is becoming one big alumni party.
The Blueshirts announced that former players Brian Leetch and Brad Richards would join the staff as “hockey operations advisers,” starting immediately. The roles will be to help general manager Jeff Gorton and the hockey operations department “in both hockey-related decisions along with off-ice player and prospect development,” according to a statement released by the team. Both will also work with the on-ice development of prospects, including those with AHL Hartford.
Leetch, 49, is a Hall of Fame defenseman who retired in 2006 and had done some television work for MSG. He played the first 16 seasons of his career with the Rangers, who drafted him with the No. 9-overall pick in 1986 and eventually ignominiously traded him to the Maple Leafs as part of a failed rebuild in 2003-04.
Leetch had been an integral part of the 1994 Stanley Cup champions, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP, and is still the franchise leader in assists (741) and ranks second in games played (1,129) and points (981).
Richards, 37, only retired after the 2015-16 season, but his family has spent a lot of time in New York since singing here as a free agent in the summer of 2011. Always a cerebral player and interested in the business side of the game, a move up to the front office seems a natural progression for Richards.
His three-year tenure as a player with the Blueshirts might not have lived up to his nine-year, $60 million deal, which was cut short with a buyout after the team’s run to the 2014 Stanley Cup final, but Richards was an integral leader on that team. He was fully cognizant that the Rangers had to make a difficult decision in cutting him loose.
He stuck around the league for two more seasons, signing one-year deals with the Blackhawks and Red Wings, winning his second Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2015. His first came with the Lightning back in 2004, winning the Conn Smythe for coach John Tortorella.
Filip Chytil, the Rangers’ first-round pick (No. 21 overall), suffered a groin strain and will not join the other prospects going to play in the Traverse City tournament in Michigan this weekend. The injury is not considered too serious, and Chytil may still be able to participate in training camp, starting Sept. 15.