News

Tom Renney was excited about Alexei Cherepanov's future.

Even though the New York Rangers head coach had lost Jaromir Jagr to Russia's Continental Hockey League (KHL) over the summer, Renney has kept in touch with his former star with periodic phone calls.

Jagr recently had raved to Renney about his Avangard Omsk teammate and Rangers prospect, Cherepanov, in his latest scouting report. But all the good news turned bad when Cherepanov, 19, collapsed on his team's bench with heart-related problems while sitting beside Jagr in a game last Monday. He later died in hospital.

"We've been trying to deal with it as a team, but it hasn't been easy," said Renney, whose Rangers entertain the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden tonight. "This is a real tragedy. He was a great kid, a great talent. We're dealing with the loss of a member of our family."

Renney first met Cherepanov after the Rangers selected the Russian 17th overall at the 2007 NHL entry draft. The two were in New York a few days later at the Rangers development camp, which also included defenceman Marc Staal. Rangers assistant coach Mike Pelino visited Cherepanov in Russia and had dinner with him and Jagr in August.

"His skill was quite apparent at that camp," Renney said. "A couple weeks ago, the last time I talked with Jaromir, he was so excited about how well Alexei had been playing."

Jagr had been mentoring the teenage phenom in the same manner he did Brandon Dubinsky in his rookie season with the Rangers last year. Dubinsky is tied for the league lead in scoring (entering play last night) with teammate Aaron Voros with three goals and seven points after six games.

The Rangers were informed about Cherepanov's passing moments before their 4-1 victory at home against the New Jersey Devils on Monday.

Renney told the players before the game that best way they could honour their fallen comrade was to go out and win the game. The Rangers, of course, did pay homage to him with a victory and needed a win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday to set a franchise record 6-0 start.

But the winning ways ended at the skates of the Sabres, who prevailed with a 3-1 victory. Even though he has never played a single game for the Rangers, Cherepanov's death may have played a role in the setback.

"You just don't forget something like this right away, especially because there are no easy answers as to what happened," Renney said.

The KHL announced yesterday it would investigate the Cherepanov's death through a special commission.

The Rangers will return to work tonight and continue a frantic early season that has them deal with life without Jagr for the first time since he moved to Manhattan midway through the 2003-04 NHL season, a trip to Prague to begin the regular season with a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the integration of new faces like Wade Redden, Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev into the lineup.

"With the loss of Jags, we've stressed that we have to play more of a team game," Renney said. "Everybody has to be responsible. We have to play good team defence in order to succeed.

"We don't want to dwell on the fact we don't have [Jagr]. Otherwise, it can be cumbersome."

The Rangers have continued to get strong goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist and have yielded a stingy 1.83 goals-against average, third behind the Sabres and San Jose Sharks.

"We've had a good start," Renney said. "We've worked hard and met the challenge of opening in Europe. But it's early. There is room for improvement."

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS V. NEW YORK RANGERS

Game time: 7 p.m.

TV: Sportsnet Ontario

NOTES: Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jonas Frogren took part in practice yesterday for the first time since bruising a foot in last Saturday's loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Ron Wilson will determine his status after the game-day skate. … Wilson said after practice that backup goaltender Curtis Joseph will probably start one of the two games on this trip, although he did not specify if it would be against the Rangers tonight or the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow. … The Leafs' penalty-killing unit had the second-worst record in the NHL before last night's games. It had allowed six goals in 16 opportunities for a 62.5-per-cent success rate. Only the Colorado Avalanche's 58.3 percentage was worse. … Defenceman Jeff Finger still cannot skate because of a bruise on the top of his foot. He may not be able to play by late next week as planned.

Next game: Tomorrow, in Pittsburgh, CBC, 7 p.m.