Pavelich Comes Back Just in Time : While Ranger Center Was Out, the Team Hit Bottom

NEW YORK —  Few people realized how devastating an injury it would be. Herb Brooks knew.

Brooks, the coach of the New York Rangers, was dispirited the night of Oct. 13 and it wasn’t his team’s 3-1 loss in Minnesota that had him down. Center Mark Pavelich had crashed into the boards and broken his leg, an injury that would cost the Rangers’ creative sparkplug 11 weeks and send the team plummeting in the standings.

“So much of what we do depends on Pav,” Brooks said. “He’s in the middle of everything.”

Pavelich’s accident started a spate of injuries that cost the Rangers more than 200 manpower games, a league high. They have lost defensemen Ron Greschner and Simo Saarinen and forwards Don Maloney, George McPhee, Mike Allison, Mark Osborne and Anders Hedberg for extended periods.

Around Christmas, they hit bottom, falling to last place in the Patrick Division. Then Pavelich returned and, suddenly, the team had some life, some balance and a much better chance of reversing its slide.

“Not only does Pav add to our centers but he adds to our defensive play,” Brooks said. “We have confidence with him. He bridges that gap. His effect rubs off on everybody.”

This is Pavelich’s fourth National Hockey League season. If not for Brooks, the shifty 26-year-old from the University of Minnesota-Duluth might still be playing in Europe.

Following the 1980 Olympics, when he was one of Brooks’ favorite players on the gold medal-winning team, Pavelich was ignored by the NHL. He got some feelers from Montreal, which wanted him to go to the minors. Instead, he headed for Lugano of the Swiss League.

Brooks was coaching at Davos in the same league that year. When Brooks signed to coach the Rangers, he insisted that Pavelich, a free agent, be signed.

Pavelich responded with 76, 75 and 82-point seasons.

“Pav was written off because he was too small to play in the NHL,” Brooks said with dripping cynicism. Pavelich is 5-foot-8, 170 pounds--maybe. “On the Olympic team, I knew Mark Johnson (now with Hartford) and Neal Broten (Minnesota) were both going in the league and I knew he was better than them.”

Pavelich’s importance in the Rangers’ scheme is not only evident from the lift he gives the team. Pierre Larouche, a 48-goal scorer last season but a target of tight checking with Pavelich out this year, has only 12 goals thus far. He knows why.

“If you have only one offensive line, the coach can say, ‘We have to stop them to beat them.’ It’s like in baseball, if you lose four of your best five hitters, it’s easier to pitch around the fifth guy,” Larouche said.

Pavelich feels he is nowhere near peak form. He just hopes to make a contribution, while heading back toward full strength.

“I’ve got to get my timing back, though it’s not too bad,” Pavelich said. “The pressure is not too bad. Pressure is what you put on yourself and I’m not putting any on me.

“We have enough good players that the team doesn’t depend on me too much. I don’t have to score 50 goals, that’s not my role.”

His role is as a catalyst and team leader.

“Now,” Larouche said, “we’ve got our big hitter back.”