As games go, tonight’s Rangers’ match against the Boston Bruins should be just another step towards the playoffs for Tom Renney’s surprising team.

But as emotions go, this game will mean so much more to the Garden Faithful.

Brian Leetch will make his first return to the Garden after being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 3, 2004 and it marks an emotional reunion for the Rangers all time leader in assists [741] and goals by a defenseman [240].

But it may be a tough night for Leetch as he told John Dellapina of the New York Daily News he is not looking forward to this event because of all the feelings involved.

Whether he likes it or not, the Rangers and their fans will welcome back the future Hall of Famer, but, according to Larry Brooks in the New York Post, there won't be  some sort of video tribute in accordance to Leetch's wishes; the crowd, though, probably will have few surprises on hand. After all, Leetch is one of the all time fan favorites who came up in through organization and will eventually have his No. 2 raised aside Nos. 11 and 35 in the Garden rafters.

And it’s a reunion that’s long overdue because the Leafs never visited Manhattan for the rest of 2004 season and then after signing with the Bruins over the summer, Leetch missed Boston’s first trip to New York with a knee injury.

The Rangers will have to try and prevent this from being a distraction, because Renney expects the crowd to "acknowledge a great player, probably perpetually" throughout the game. But the coach will have his team ready.

"I allued to the fact that the [Bruins] will see this to circle the wagons around their teammate," Renney said. "We have to pay attention to what we have to do." 

No matter what happens and how unpopular it was at the time, the Leetch trade does seem to be working out for the Blueshirts. Toronto sent Maxim Kondratiev, who was subsequently shipped to Anaheim for Petr Sykora, highly touted prospect Jarkko Immonen and two high picks, which, after all was done, netted Lauri Korpikoski and Michael Sauer. It’s still remains to be seen if any of those players will have the impact of Leetch, but at the time the trade was made and the lockout following, made sense for the organization.

Leetch still has some hard feeling about the trade, but the Rangers did explore reacquiring him at the trading deadline this season and could resign as a free agent this summer if fences are mended between Glen Sather and the defenseman.

At 38 and only five goals and 25 assists in 48 games this season, Leetch – who will probably only want to play for a limited number of teams – may just retire if there’s no situation he’s comfortable with when he hits the free agent market.

And that will possibly make tonight his last appearance at the Garden.