So where are the boys of June now?

(No, we mean NOW now)

By the summer, many of those guys had moved on from where they were on March 10, 1997, the 1000th day after the Stanley Cup was hoisted at the Garden. So this is an update. If you have corrections or updates, please let me know at the address below.

This page has been updated sporadically. Some of it may be out of date.

• #2, Brian Leetch: Still here, a three-year captain, who gave the C back to Mark Messier.
• #3, Barry Richter: Richter will apparently play 2003-04 for EV Zug in Switzerland.
• #4, Kevin Lowe: With Glen Sather moved to New York, Kevin's now the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers.
• #5, Mattias Norstrom: Tossed away in the infamous Kurri/McSorley deal, he's playing regularly for the Kings.
• #6, Doug Lidster: After winning the Cup as a late addition to the Dallas Stars (didn't play in the finals, so won't get his name again on the Cup), Lidster retired. He's now an assistant coach for the Medicine Hat Tigers.
• #8, Joby Messier: After being involved in a serious automobile accident, Joby Mess struggled to regain his form. He played in the IHL with Long Beach in 1997-98, but we seem to have lost him for the moment.
• #9, Adam Graves: Now a member of the San Jose Sharks after a trade in the summer of 2001.
• #10, Esa Tikkanen: With a clothing line out in Europe, Esa played the 2000-01 season for Moskito Essen of the Deutsche EL. We're not sure if he's playing this year.
• #11, Mark Messier: Heave, ho! As of July 12, 2000, the Captain is back.
• #12, Eddie Olczyk: Head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Eddie will have to do a lot of heaving and hoeing.
• #13, Sergei Nemchinov: After being the second player (Pat Conacher, and later John Vanbiesbrouck) to play for all three New York area teams and winning his second Cup in New Jersey in 2000, Nemchinov is back in Russia with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
• #14, Craig MacTavish: Retired as a player in 1997, MacT joined Colin Campbell's coaching staff as an assistant soon thereafter, remained on John Muckler's, and moved to Kevin Lowe's in Edmonton in 1999 before getting the Oilers show for himself.
• #15, Mike Hudson: Playing in Germany for the Mannheim Adlers (thanks Daniel Mahoney).
• #16, Brian Noonan: Checking winger bounced around after leaving the Rangers the second time. He retired from the Chicago Wolves of the IHL after the 2000-01 season; as the team joined the AHL, he joined their radio broadcast team.
• #17, Greg Gilbert: After coaching the Worcester Icecats of the AHL for several years, took an assistant's job with Calgary in summer 2000 and was then named head coach on March 14, 2001.
• #18, Mike Hartman: After winning a Calder Cup in Hershey with the Bears, the Avalanche's top farm team, in 1997, Mike retired -- for a moment. He surfaced (with a scoring touch) in the ECHL in 97-98, went to Germany, came back to Charlotte in the ECHL, then retired on Jan. 31, 2001.
• #19, Nick Kypreos: Retired, 8/24/98, after concussion kept him out of the 1997-98 season. Now working as an analyst for CTV Sportsnet, we'll always remember Nicky if only for crashing headlong into the boards in Game Seven, and for his later quote: "This is a class organization, and good things happen to good people."
• #21, Sergei Zubov: Interim captain of Dallas for a while, Zubov helped the Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1999.
• #23, Jeff Beukeboom: Retired in the summer of 1999 after numerous concussions left him unable to play. "Basically it took about 2 1/2 years to heal from the concussion problem," he said in an online chat in January 2002. "Since then, I've started a recycling advertising company and trying to get it to grow as fast as we can." He took a job as assistant coach for the Toronto Roadrunners in September 2003, where his fellow assistant is former Ranger Joe Paterson.
• #24, Jay Wells: Jay retired in 1997, and after spending a year as an assistant with the AHL's Portland Pirates under Bryan Trottier, Jay is now an assistant under Mike Foligno in Hershey (AHL).
• #25, Alexander Karpovtsev: Dealt away in October 1998, for Mathieu Schneider, and after holding out from the Leafs, got traded to Chicago for Bryan McCabe.
• #26, Joey Kocur: Back in the NHL, and back in his old stomping grounds, Detroit, playing pugilist as always, Joey got his third Cup in 1998 and remained a good part of our reason for rooting hard for the Wings. His all-but-official retirement took effect with the end of the 1999-2000 season. He's now an assistant coach with the Red Wings.
• #27, Alexei Kovalev: The sobbing began on 11/25/98, as Alex got dealt to Pittsburgh in the larger Petr Nedved deal. He's playing well there, so we're a little happier.
• #28, Steve Larmer: Happily retired--VERY happily--in Ontario. VERY happy. HAPPY. Most recent sighting: coaching a team of nine-year-olds in Peterborough.
• #30, Glenn Healy: Retired during the summer of 2001, he's working with Hockey Night in Canada.
• #31, Corey Hirsch: The only one of the 29 to cut out before the parade, he's now a Philadelphia Phantom.
• #32, Stephane Matteau! MATTEAU! MATTEAU!: The Florida Panther hasn't scored a double overtime goal since his two in four games.
• #35, Mike Richter: Retired, Sept. 4, 2003, with severe post-concussion syndrome.
• #36, Glenn Anderson: Reportedly living in the Caribbean.

• Bob Gutkowski: Working in sports marketing, his bid to buy the Islanders scuttled by politics.
• Ken Munoz: Still Exec. VP and General Counsel.
• Neil Smith: Fired in 2000, now a consultant to the front office in Anaheim.
• Larry Pleau: General Manager of the St. Louis Blues.
• Mike Keenan: Landing again, he's head coach of the Florida Panthers.
• Colin Campbell: He went from prodigy Head Coach of the New York Rangers to under-fire Head Coach of the New York Rangers to contract-extended Head Coach of the New York Rangers to under-fire Head Coach of the New York Rangers to fired Head Coach of the New York Rangers (2/18/98) (a shame, because he wasn't the problem) to Discipline Czar of the NHL.
• Dick Todd: Relieved as a Ranger assistant in 1998.
• Dave Smith: Deposed as trainer of the Florida Panthers in 1999.
• Joe Murphy: Retired--perhaps forcibly.

• Nathan "DING" LaFayette: Having hit perhaps the most important post in 54 years of Ranger history in the final minutes of Game Seven of the 1994 Finals, LaFayette may have retired. The last listing we can find for him was in 1999-2000.

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