Former Rangers captain details ‘complete nightmare’ before being traded
The 2013-14 NHL season, which included a memorable run to the Stanley Cup Final, is looked back on fondly in the annals of New York Rangers history. But former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan doesn’t exactly remember it in such positive terms.
“As I go back to that year, that was a complete nightmare for me, just with everything going on with me behind the scenes,” Callahan told the Cam and Strick podcast.
A pending unrestricted free agent that season, Callahan endured painful and prolonged contract negotiations throughout the 2013-14 campaign. When talks finally collapsed, Callahan was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for future Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis on March 5, 2014, weeks before his 29th birthday.
“I went through that whole year of contract talks, dealing with the media,” Callahan explained. “I mean, I wasn’t sleeping at night. It was a nightmare of a year.”
The popular forward and respected captain still produced 31 points (16 goals, 15 assists) in 45 games before being traded. But the off-ice drama took a major toll on him.
“It was a long year, I’ll put it that way.”
Now 40, Callahan contended that he had “all intentions” to re-sign with the Rangers. And why not? Callahan loved the Rangers, who selected him in the fourth round (No. 127 overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft, and New York City. In return, he was beloved by the fans, who appreciated his grit, and passion — and voted him winner of the prestigious Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award four times.
But business is business. When contract negotiations stalled, the Rangers explored trading Callahan, in some instances letting him speak to interested teams.
“It got to the point where I knew they were starting to shop me, and then a little bit of your pride comes in too. I was a homegrown player there, took a lot of pride in wearing the C,” he recalled. “There was a lot of stuff that went on.”
Ryan Callahan was ‘shocked … hurt’ when Rangers traded him in 2014
In the midst of all this, the Rangers turned their season around under first-year coach Alain Vigneault. After a terrible start, the Rangers were the hottest team in the NHL in the second half of the 2013-14 season.
Behind the scenes, there was optimism that the Rangers would re-sign Callahan. Until there wasn’t, that is.
“Then we’re about two weeks out from the trade deadline, and I thought we agreed to a price, a number,” Callahan shared. “I wanted a no-move [clause] for the first portion of that contract, just because of everything that happened before that. I’ve already talked to others teams … I’m not going to sign this contract and then be shipped off somewhere I don’t want to be for six years.
“So, I asked for that. We didn’t get a phone call back, so I kind of saw the writing was on the wall that something was going to happen.”
Watching TSN in the players lounge after a morning skate on trade-deadline day, Callahan found out via Bob McKenzie on TV that he’d been traded to the Lightning. Moments later, he was told to go to general manager Glen Sather’s office.
And with that, Callahan’s 450-game tenure on Broadway was over.
“I was shocked, I was hurt, it hit me hard. You think about it, about moving on, the possibilities, but when you actually get the news that you’re leaving, it hits you.”
Ushered out a back door to avoid the media, Callahan soon found out that there was a silver lining to the season-long drama. He flew to Tampa that night, was picked up at the airport by Lightning coach Jon Cooper — “What coach does that?!” — and checked into a hotel room that was filled with Lightning merchandise for Callahan’s children, and beers on ice for him.
“I needed some cold ones after that day,” Callahan joked.
Callahan ended up signing with the Lightning that offseason, and played five more seasons with them. Notably, he helped the Lightning reach the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. To get there, the Lightning won Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden, shutting out the Rangers 2-0.
Just a bit of sweet payback for their former captain, after Callahan missed out on the Rangers’ run to the Cup Final — fueled in part by St, Louis — the previous spring.
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