"Last season left a bad taste in our mouths," said newly-named team captain, Eric Staal. "After winning the cup the year before, maybe we weren't as focused as we needed to be. I know all of us thought about it a lot this summer."
The players weren't alone in thinking about it. Management made a number of changes in the off-season, starting with the buyouts of Joe Sakic, Pavol Demitra and Mathieu Schneider. All three had been key contributors to New York's most recent Cup in 2008 -- Sakic setting the single-season playoff scoring record with 40 points, Demitra the HBMHL all-time playoff leading scorer and Schneider as a consistent scoring threat from the blueline -- but all are also in the twilight of their careers and had large contracts.
"At the end of the day, we just felt like we could make our team more successful by putting those dollars into the free agency market,"noted Coach Kirk Muller, who is actively involved in player personnel decisions. "We identified some key players we wanted to bring in via free agency and are confident that we have put the pieces in place to achieve our goal of bringing the Cup back to New York."
By the close of the free agency period, eight players signed contracts to come to New York. None bigger than defenseman Chris Pronger, who spent the last 4 seasons with the rival Suffolk Fox.
"I'm excited to be here and to get the season started," said the 6'6" defenseman who is the all-time HBMHL plus-minus leader. "I've played for some great teams but never won the Cup, so hopefully this will be the year."
Someone not so new to New York is Daniel Briere, who re-joined the Highlanders during the free agency period. Briere was a key contributor to the 2008 Cup team before being sent to St. Louis as part of the 6-player deal that saw Jason Spezza come to the Big Apple early the following season.
Other newcomers include: Shane Doan, who scored 48 goals and put up 115 points with Detroit last season; Rod Brind'Amour, who only recently was bought out by Detroit; Roman Hamrlik, who split last season between Boston and Alberta; Manny Fernandez, who has spent most of his career with London; and defensemen David Hale and Ryan O'Byrne, who spent last season in the minors.
In addition to the buyouts, 4 free agents left New York during the offseason: Sergei Gonchar signed a deal with Boston; Kimmo Timonen went to fill the vacancy created by Pronger in Suffolk; and both Teemu Selanne and Cory Stillman signed with the Philadelphia Bulls.
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