Mark Messier changes his pick and goes with Rangers
Mark Messier on the set of NHL on ESPN at Amalie Arena in Tampa on October 12, 2021. Credit: ESPN Images/Allen Kee
Mark Messier picked the Lightning before the season began to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup, even though he knows how difficult a task that is, having twice failed to achieve it with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s.
But now that Tampa Bay is only two steps away from making him look smart, the ESPN analyst has rethought his position, thanks to the emergence of a certain New York team he used to captain.
“I’m going to have to change my allegiance, I think, and go with the Rangers,” Messier told Newsday on Tuesday. “They’ve got a great shot to upset Tampa [in the Eastern Conference final].
“It’s not going to be easy. They’re going to face a goaltender [of a quality] they haven't faced yet in these playoffs. But they’ve got one of their own that can actually match him. So it's going to be a great series.
“I’m going to go on a limb and go with the Rangers, as much as I love the Tampa Bay Lightning and I have so much appreciation for what they're trying to accomplish. I've been there before and not been able to do it. But I’ve got to stick with the hometown team and go with New York.”
Messier sticking with the Rangers might come as no surprise given his ties to the franchise, but he was high on them from the beginning of the season, picking them to win their division — they missed by only six points — and then to win their first two playoff series.
Asked about the rebuild that began in February of 2018, Messier said, “I don't think anybody thought it would happen this fast.” But he praised “some good signings and beautiful trades,” capped by additions for this season such as Ryan Reaves and Barclay Goodrow.
“They gave a little bit of a different look from the physicality department,” he said, “and, of course, there were more moves at the trade deadline.”
Messier won six Stanley Cups as a player, five with the Oilers, including two back-to-back championship years, and another with the 1994 Rangers.
Now he is in his first season with ESPN, and the Oilers and Rangers both are in the NHL’s final four.
“It’s amazing to see both teams back in it, obviously with my affiliation, but not only that, just knowing the fan bases and how passionate they are,” he said. “It just has been really, really exciting to watch.”
Messier said his first season with ESPN has been “an amazing experience” and praised the help he has gotten from colleagues on and off the air in learning the ropes.
ESPN will carry the Rangers-Lightning series and Turner has Oilers-Avalanche.
“When [ESPN] got the [television] contract back, that was just such an amazing vibe,” he said. “We are thrilled to be back in there with ESPN. I think it's great for the game.”
Messier would not predict a length for the series, other than to say it likely will go long, in large part thanks to two elite goaltenders in the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin.
But the Rangers could benefit from all of this being new and fresh for them, while the Lightning must fight the natural forces against three-peating, including personnel changes and injuries.
“There are a number of things that can go into it, not to mention other teams are on their trail,” Messier said. “So it's a big challenge in front of them. But they’ve got the firepower and of course they’ve got the goaltender to be able to do it.”
He just doesn’t think they will.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
