Danny Wild-Imagn ImagesExhibition games are like three-dollar bills. Cup champion coach Rod Brind'Amour says they should be abolished and The Maven agrees.
These pre-season tilts – like "tilt" on a pinball machine – have curiosity value because they make you think for a second until you realize two seconds later your team – as in Rangers – could suffer a senseless injury.
Exhibit A is prize prospect Adam Sýkora who will be "involved" in Blueshirt games from a tv monitor in the MSG press box. The poor guy is a goner for three-quarters of the season.
So what if the Blueshirts successively lost to the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders! No big deal. No sweat. Losing Sýkora = big sweat.
If you choose to still get hot and bothered over exhibitions, be my guest. This is not a time for worrying; or as Bela Lugosi warned in "Zombies On Broadway," worry is but a futile gesture.
The Maven's theory on exhibition games is that the only issue of importance is the issue of injuries, no more, no less. Sadly, it already has hurt the Blueshirts who don't need injuries to start hurting.
When the Boys In Blue start playing REAL, honest-to-Dolan two-point games we can get serious.
Poor Sýkora is gonna have to worry about October, November, December, January and maybe even the month after that.
All because of an exhibition game. I have only two more things to say: Oy Vay!
