The Odd Couple | SUNDAYS WITH STAN

Just about every sports team has what we've come to know as "The Odd Couple."
In baseball it was Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, a pair of teammates as different as pistachios and bagels.
The Devils once had an off-the-wall pair of their own - Patrik Elias and Robbie Ftorek.
What's noteworthy from the New Jersey viewpoint is that the Devils' odd couple were not teammates but rather player and coach.
And add to that; one was a Czech national and the other American. Their collaboration began at the start of the 1995 training camp.

New Jersey was flush from the June 1995 Stanley Cup Final four-game upset over the Detroit Red Wings with new ice to conquer.
By contrast, the young Czech had no idea whether he'd be good enough to play pro hockey on any level, let alone the NHL.
"We had heard good things about Patrik from our scouts," said then coach Jacques Lemaire. "They liked his offense but - after seeing him in camp - the feeling was that he'd be better off in the minors."
And that's where the odd couple coupled. Robbie Ftorek was coaching the Devils top minor league team in Albany, New York. The American Hockey League competition was just one rung below that of the NHL.
The River Rats, like its parent club, had won the Calder Cup, emblematic of AHL supremacy while the Devils were trouncing Detroit. It was a high-class adventure for the young man who had been selected 51st overall in the 1994 Entry Draft.
According to Leo Scaglione, Jr., Madison Square Garden Networks graphics guru for Devils games and a historian of all-things Devils, Elias was regarded as a "Can't-Miss" prospect.
Leo scrupulously studied the maturation of Elias from the moment Patrik set up shop in New York State's capital. Scaglione did likewise with Ftorek and the result was a compelling story which ran in the 2018 issue of New York Hockey Journal.
Likewise, my interest in the pair was rooted in several branches. For one thing I had followed Ftorek's career from his days as a whiz-bang New England high school prospect and on through his professional career.
And for another thing, I considered Albany my second home thanks to an aunt, uncle and kid-cousin who welcomed me there beginning in 1943.
I played hockey on the Lincoln Park rink and would attend Eastern Amateur Hockey League games across the Hudson River at RPI Field House in Troy.
Naturally, when I learned that an NHL-sized Albany rink was being built on South Pearl Street right near the site of my Uncle Paul's Clothing store (Moskin's) I was even more keen about visiting Albany.
In fact, during the 1994 NHL lockout, SportsChannel - seeking content - sent the Devils TV crew up to Albany to cover six games, from October 1995 through New Year's Eve. Our producer Roland Dratch and crew already had a solid working relationship with Robbie.
A year later we were back in New Jersey doing the Devils games while Elias wound up on the same team and same wavelength as Ftorek. As Scaglione, Jr. pointed out in his excellent article, it was as good a one-two player-coach combo for which any franchise could wish.
Scaglione, Jr.: "Elias told me that having Ftorek as his coach in the early stages of his career helped him mature as a person and as a player. Patrik said that he'd never forget what Robbie told him during their initial season together."
Elias: "Robbie told me, 'You have to start thinking of yourself as an elite player. You're not just a young kid trying to take someone's job. You have potential. Mind goes a long way."
When Leo interviewed Robbie four years ago, the coach was 66 but still immersed in the puck and stick business. As always, Ftorek glowed when asked about his young Czech prodigy.
"Patrik had the desire to be the best," Robbie remembered. "He had the work ethic and was an eager learner. When you have that type of player you don't really teach him a lot. You let him play and then you tweak him here or there."
When Scaglione, Jr. reached Elias in 2018, Patrik was 42 years old. The man who turned out to be one of New Jersey's all-time ice aces, says that Ftorek helped him mature as a person and as a player.
Elias: "Robbie told me, 'You have to think of yourself as an elite player. You're not just a kid coming in trying to take someone's job. You have potential. Mind goes a long way. I think of you higher than some of the top players in the world right now because I know you and I know what's in you. I'm going to give you the best opportunity to succeed.' And he did."
Patience and fortitude were attributes that enabled Elias to climb the professional ladder. Meanwhile, GM Lou Lamoriello kept an Argus eye on his prospect with no intention of rushing him to The Show.
Ftorek had impressed Lou enough to win a promotion to New Jersey's assistant coach prior to the 1996-97 season. In his in-depth interview with Leo, Robbie delivered a compelling insight into what makes or breaks a potential star. To wit:
"Patience is the hardest thing to teach somebody. Patience comes with a little bit of experience, but it mostly comes with confidence. If you have confidence in yourself and your game, and you're being supported to use your talents and skills, you don't worry about making mistakes.
"You feel free to do things on the ice. You take the puck and instead of going right into traffic, veer off of traffic, which gives you an extra half-second. If you get that extra half-second, then you can make a super play instead of a forced play. Patrik had the confidence to hold on to the puck and take that time to make plays."
By training camp in 1997 Lamoriello believed that Elias was ready for full-time work in the NHL. This odd couple - Elias-Ftorek - would unite again as Robbie was named head coach of the Garden State skaters.
It was midway through the 1998-99 schedule that Ftorek got a brainstorm that led to one of the finest lines in big-league hockey history. Robbie had watched the growth of another Czech youngster, Petr Sykora. Also, Lou had dealt for a big center from Edmonton, Jason Arnott. He figured that the trio could make beautiful music together.
"I reasoned it this way," Robbie explained. "Sykie didn't know much about the defensive zone. Arnie was frustrated being on the wing, and I was frustrated because he couldn't get moving. When it was brought up, Lou said Arnie has to be moving to be effective. And I said he had to play center because he could come through the middle, curl and get speed.
"If the puck goes to the wing, they could give it to Arnie who would now be moving with speed." And that's how the A Line was formed and even orchestrated the 2000 Stanley Cup-winning goal.
Ftorek: "You don't ever expect what they did. They were three different people who had three different assets. But when put together they complimented each other and had chemistry. Arnie had the size that Sykie needed. Patrik really didn't need anything. He just needed people to play with him who could keep up with him and think the way he did."
During the 2004-05 lockout Eiias contracted near fatal Hepatitis A while playing in Russia. I interviewed Patrik on his return and was appalled at how weak he seemed. Recovery took a long, long time. But when he did return to the Devils lineup in the 2005-06 season his game had changed ever so slightly.
"Patrik had become more patient," said Robbie. "He was more of a disher than a shooter. He picked his spots a little bit more and played more conservative until he felt one hundred percent again. Then, he continued to go because he had it in his heart."
Leo's tale has a sweet ending. When Elias was honored with his jersey hung from the Prudential Center ceiling, Patrik made sure that his original mentor was invited and, of course, showed up.
Then Ftorek was asked to pick his favorite Elias moment.
Robbie: "That Patrik called and asked me to come to the ceremony."
The final act of New Jersey's Odd Couple!