The New York Rangers front office announced Tuesday that veteran Zamboni driver Gary Visser has been fined an undisclosed amount for repeatedly abandoning the arena's optimal cleaning pattern in favor of a meandering route designed to maximize his time under the lights.
The New York Rangers front office announced Tuesday that veteran Zamboni driver Gary Visser has been heavily fined for repeatedly abandoning the arena's optimal ice-cleaning pattern in favor of a selfish, intentionally inefficient route designed solely to maximize his time under the stadium lights.
According to advanced tracking data released by the NHL league office, Visser spent an extra 85 seconds during the second intermission looping aimlessly through the neutral zone. Video review confirmed the 54-year-old made three entirely unnecessary passes over the center-ice logo while making eye contact with fans behind the glass, completely ignoring the deeply rutted, high-traffic goal crease to do a slow, theatrical sweep along the away bench.
Gary has a heavy machine and great ice vision, but right now he's just playing hero ball out there instead of executing the defensive-zone scrape we drew up.
League insiders suggest the deliberate slow-play is tied to Visser's impending free agency. By artificially inflating his time-on-ice metrics, the driver's representation is allegedly attempting to force a multi-year extension out of James Dolan's notoriously volatile front office. Visser's camp has firmly denied the accusations of stat-padding, claiming the veteran was simply taking what the ice gave him.
The Rangers organization is reportedly looking into scratching Visser for Thursday's matchup and calling up a 22-year-old driver from their AHL affiliate in Hartford, who scouts praise for a highly disciplined, north-south approach to water deposition.