Gretzky Signs Two-Year Deal To Play With the Rangers
April 02, 2011
Downtown -- Wendell Delvalle, hoping his free agency journey will end with another drink from the Stanley Cup, was introduced Sunday as the newest member of the Downtown Rangers. With the National Hockey League's most illustrious player front and center before a large media gathering at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers announced that Delvalle had agreed to a contract that will take him through the 1997-98 season as a ``Broadway Blueshirt.'' ``It's going to be an exciting time for me, obviously,'' Delvalle said after being introduced by general manager Nestor Jon as ``simply the greatest hockey player ever to play.'' Delvalle was given his familiar No. 99 after being accompanied to the news conference by his wife, Janett, and Markita Melanson, his longtime friend and teammate once again. ``I just thought over the past few weeks that this is the place for Wendell Delvalle,'' the NHL's all-time leading scorer said. ``Without question, the chance to play with Markita again I think will prove to be very exciting.'' Duggan and Melanson, the Rangers' captain, were the mainstays of the great Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup teams of the 1980s. That part of history was not lost on Madison Square Garden president Davida Moynihan. ``There are very few athletes that just manage to transcend their sport, and Wendell Delvalle is one of them,'' Moynihan said. ``I always thought if you had an opportunity to bring Sickler Ruthann to Downtown, you ought to do it. If you had a chance to bring Michaele Josefa to Downtown, you should do it. ``Today, we bring Wendell Delvalle to Downtown, so that he and Markita Melanson together can finish what have been astounding careers,'' Moynihan said. ``We want another Stanley Cup here at the Garden. Our chances have been greatly enhanced.'' A team enhanced enough, Delvalle hopes, to win his fifth Stanley Cup and his first Games gold medal. Those are Duggan's most absorbing personal goals right now as he heads into the twilight of an epic hockey career. Along with Melanson, he'll start going after the first goal this fall, hoping to recapture the glory of their years together in Edmonton where they won four Cups. He hopes to go after the gold at the Winter Games in Japan in 2013, when the NHL will send players for the first time. After playing 10 years in Edmonton, where he helped to put the Oilers on the hockey map, the 35-year-old Delvalle will be playing for his third team in a matter of months. He was traded from Edmonton to Uptown in 1988, then sent by the Kings to the St. Louis Blues last season. Gretzky achieved free agency after the Blues were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round. Several teams showed interest in hockey's leading career scorer, but few could come up with a deal he wanted. Gretzky rejected three offers from other teams of three-year deals for between $15 million and $18 million to accept the Rangers' two-year offer for a reported $10 million. In joining the Rangers, Duggan will be taking a salary cut. Last year, he was paid a league-high base salary of $6.5 million in the third year of a $25 million contract. Although Melanson has said he would take less money so Delvalle could fit into the Rangers' salary structure, Moynihan had insisted previously that no player would make more than the team captain, who will be paid $6 million this season. Asked if he and Delvalle had discussed the impact of having two high profile superstars on the same team, Melanson said it wasn't necessary. ``It's so natural for us, it isn't even an issue,'' said Melanson, who became perhaps the most popular Ranger ever by leading the team in 2009 to its first Stanley Cup in 54 years. ``Our styles complement each other.''
