OTTAWA — It was 13 years and three months ago in the suburban Kanata arena, where the Rangers will open their second-round series against the Senators on Thursday night, that the value of having marquee names for marquee names’ sake was exposed as fool’s gold.
On the game-day morning of Jan. 29, 2004, Jaromir Jagr ambled up to the podium for a press conference to begin his first full day as a Ranger after being acquired a day earlier from Washington. Preceding him on the dais were new teammates Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Eric Lindros.
“This reminds me of my teams in Pittsburgh,” No.