New Ranger keeps home amid rival Isles fans

By Arthur StapleSTAFF WRITER

August 22, 2002

Darius Kasparaitis, a newly minted millionaire Ranger, was strolling with his girlfriend in Huntington a few weeks back. As in every offseason since the Islanders dealt him to the Penguins six years ago, Kasparaitis has been spending a chunk of time at his house in Northport.

"We were walking along and I just hear someone yell, 'Rangers stink!'" Kasparaitis said. "I've been away for a while, so you sometimes forget about the rivalry. I remember now."

Kasparaitis took his first spin on the ice wearing a Rangers sweater yesterday. Never mind that it was merely a white practice jersey and that Kasparaitis and four of his new teammates, including Brian Leetch, dressed amid a stack of boxes at Rye Playland, with the team preparing to move into its new practice facility next week.

Kasparaitis has always known he would someday be a Ranger, even back to his days on the Island.

"That's why I never did anything crazy against the Rangers," he said with a grin. "I think it's a lot of players' dream to play in the Big Apple. The Rangers are always big news, always getting the headlines, like the Yankees. I always felt overshadowed by the Rangers when I was an Islander. The Rangers are the No. 1 team in New York."

They were the only team in New York that made a pitch for Kasparaitis in the barely 36-hour window of free agency the 29-year-old had before the Rangers signed him to a six-year, $25.5-million contract.

The fact that Kasparaitis, an Islander for the first four-plus seasons of his career, has kept his Northport home led many observers to whisper that he would take a discount to return to the Islanders once he hit free agency.

"They made a lot of noise that I wanted to go back there because it's my home," Kasparaitis said. "But it's no big deal to drive into Westchester or into the city. It was my first team and I have special memories, but the Islanders didn't try to do anything for me. That's OK. Hopefully, I'll be a big pain in the butt when I play them."

His butt-paining ability is one of the chief reasons the Rangers targeted him as highly as they targeted Bobby Holik, their other major free-agent acquisition.

Kasparaitis is also reunited with Bryan Trottier, the new Rangers coach. Trottier was an assistant with the Penguins when they acquired Kasparaitis from the Islanders in the 1996-97 season; the two were together again at the end of last season, when Kasparaitis was dealt to Colorado at the March trade deadline.

Kasparaitis is well aware of the shortcomings of his new team the last five seasons. "It's sad, really," he said of last year's Rangers team, which was star-laden but fell apart. "I don't know what went on, but it's sad, with such a big payroll, no playoffs. But the changes they have made are good."

Change might be in Kasparaitis' future. He looked for apartments in Manhattan last month and is thinking about Westchester as his home base. Northport may be too far away to commute. There are those pesky Islanders fans, as well. "There a lot of Rangers fans on Long Island, too," he said. "It feels good to be back in the middle of this rivalry. I just have to remember who the enemy is now."

Notes & Quotes: The NHL's rejection of Darius Kasparaitis' contract with the Rangers is, in his mind, just the latest swipe the league has taken at him ... Dale Purinton, Tomas Kloucek and new Ranger Krystof Oliwa joined Brian Leetch and Kasparaitis at Rye yesterday. Leetch said he knows his contract talks likely will wait until the season ends.