The Forum
July 6, 1983
(J.T. arrives at Rogie VACHON's office. George MAGUIRE is conspicuously absent.)
VACHON: "You alright? You're almost as white as a sheet."
"Sick as a dog, and still jet-lagged. Where's George?"
VACHON: "Then get out of here. George was complaining about being ill earlier this morning. I doubt he's coming in."
"Well, I had planned to make a couple deals. Today's the day to address our most glaring weakness."
VACHON: "Goaltending?"
"What else? This shouldn't take too long. We used to have a goaltender ... Doug Keans. What happened to him?"
VACHON: "George put him on waivers in May. Boston claimed him."
"Fantastic."
VACHON: "Are you thinking of re-acquiring him?"
"Well, he's a damned sight better than what we have now. I don't know how or why George didn't see that, but that's why he needs to be permanently kept away from player personnel decisions."
VACHON: "I can't disagree with that."
"It's gonna cost us to get Keans back. But I think the Bruins might do a deal. They already have a good number one goalie in Pete Peeters, and a credible backup in Marco Baron. We can send them Gary Laskoski, who's far better suited to be a number two or three goalie, anyway."
VACHON: "Okay. So we have a number one in Keans, now."
"Not so fast. Keans is a backup. At best, he's a co-number one. I wouldn't count on him to handle the load of a true top goalie. We're going to need someone else; another co-number one at least."
VACHON: "Understood. So, who else can we get?"
"I'm looking at the New York Rangers. They have a fine number one in Glen Hanlon, and one of the best up-and-coming goalies in the league in John Vanbiesbrouck. The guy who's lost in the shuffle over there is Steve Weeks. Again, it'll cost us, but he's our best option."
VACHON: "The Rangers probably have more young talent than anyone in the league right now."
"Indeed. I think there's a forward over there who's also lost in the shuffle. I'm going to try and get him, too."
VACHON: "Good luck."
"Alright, that'll do."
VACHON: "It cost us Terry Ruskowski, huh? George was mentioning that he was going to be a leader on the club for the foreseeable future. And, he was also going to be a top-six forward, wasn't he?"
"He's someone I didn't want to part with, but we have to do what we have to do. Goaltending was a more pressing need. Our top five is Dionne, Taylor, Nicholls, Simmer, and Fox. We might need to use Bozek or prospect Brian MacLellan to round out the top six. Or we might use Doug Smith."
VACHON: "I thought Smith wanted out, though?"
"With Perry out and Maguire's role limited to the Draft, I'm hoping I can chat with him, let him know the direction we're moving in, and get him to change his mind about us. I think there's still a lot of unrealized potential there."
VACHON: "I'm going to be with you on this. But be prepared to take the heat if you're wrong."
"Comes with the job, Rogie. Anyway ... now we have two co-equal number one goalies, and at this point I'd say they're nearly identical talent-wise."
VACHON: "Right. Looks like we're about fair to middling at this point."
"We've moved from the slums to the suburbs, I suppose. I'm headed home."
VACHON: "Get better. See you in a few days."