When Martin St. Louis was finally traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the New York Rangers on Wednesday, he said in a statement that he did not want to discuss his reasons for asking for a trade from the team he spent more than 14 seasons with.
Rangers lose in Martin St. Louis debut
Martin St. Louis made his debut with the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. It ended with a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bruce Bennett
Following his Rangers debut just hours later, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, he admitted what had long been speculated ever since his name started to come up in trade rumors -- being initially left off of the Canadian Olympic team, which was assembled by Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, played at least a small part in his decision to ask for a trade.
He also acknowledged that the idea of playing for New York had been in the back of his mind for a while -- even thinking about asking out a while ago before Steven Stamkos came along -- and on Wednesday night he finally had the opportunity to make it happen.
The Rangers didn't get the result they were looking for, and St. Louis was kept off the scoresheet, but he at least showed some flashes of what might be ahead for his new team. He was one of the Rangers' best skaters throughout the night and seemed to fit right in on a line with Brad Richards, his former teammate in Tampa Bay, and Carl Hagelin. He helped create a couple of scoring chances while his line was constantly in the offensive zone. St. Louis himself attempted six shots, getting three on net.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said his main goal for Wednesday was to make sure St. Louis was comfortable and to ease him into the system which is why he put him with Richards, adding that he hasn’t committed to the line on a permanent basis.
Other than St. Louis and the chances his line created, the only other highlight on the night for New York was a second period penalty kill that saw them score a pair of goals just one minute apart to tie the game. It’s the second time in four games that Toronto’s power play has allowed two shorthanded goals on the same advantage.
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