OT: Let's Remember Some Guys

[Davenport]

Yes, remember all these guys well. Egers had that big shot but couldn’t skate. But he had a big game when the Rangers had to win the last game of the season to make the playoffs and the crazy tie breaker was goals scored. The Rangers scored ten times and kept pulling Giacomin. Kurtenbach was nicknamed KO, his initials in reverse as he was a feared fighter. Balon was with the team twice, once when they were terrible in the early 60s but returned during the Francis era before he was replaced by Steve Vickers. Brown was not the key player in the Bathgate trade. Rod Seiling was. Also Bob Nevin. He was really terrible at first but improved to become a key defender during the first few years of the Francis era. Here are random names: Gene Carr, Juha Widing, Larry Sacharack (spelling not right), Bobby Rousseau, Ron Harris. I could name dozens more.

Arnie Brown had a physical side I liked. He also demonstrated some scoring ability. Much preferred him to Larry Brown.

Speaking of the Bathgate trade, remember Dick Duff's short tenure in New York? Thanks to that trade - in 1963-64 - Duff missed the playoffs, the only time in the 1960s he missed the playoffs. When he was traded to Montreal the next season - just before Christmas - he ran all the way there he was so happy. Take a look at the image below, and tell me if you ever saw a hockey player happier to be a Blueshirt.

 

[bmoak]

One of my favorite players will always be Blair Betts. The prototypical fourth line center.

I'm convinced that Betts would have been even better if he didn't lose a lot of development time to shoulder injuries. I remember him as a rookie pro in the AHL where he was the shutdown center on a Calder Cup-winning team. He was a face-off winning machine and used his size and strength around the net to get scoring chances.

 

[bmoak]

Dwight Helminen.

A day or two after we traded for Bure, my brother and I got to be "GM for a day" from a Casino Night auction. I remember talking to Sather and he asked how I liked the Bure trade. I don't remember what I said about that, but I remember saying I wish we could get Malhotra back, and saying that I liked the signing of Helminen because he played with Lundmark in Seattle (back then I had been listening to radio feeds of Seattle playoff games). Sather was surprised that I knew that.

There was a really obnoxious poster at Outside The Garden who basically drove me off that site (I'm pretty sure he was permabanned here) who was absolutely nuts for Helminen. Helminen had that one big career offensive season (along with a lot of other Pack players) in theAHL post-lockout season which had hugely inflated scoring because of the rule changes and tons of power plays, and this guy was convince that offense would carry over to the NHL and the Rangers were morons for playing Dom Moore and Blair Betts in front of this guy.

Other than that, I remember Helminen getting a bunch of teeth knocked out when he was cross-checked in the face while celebrating a goal down in Charlotte.

 

[bmoak]

ivan baranka just because his name was pretty boss

his slash line is awesome too.

1 game (career)
1 point
+1

Baranka had problems with injuries. Specifically, he would play well in Hartford and then get injured late in the season, so he has unavailable for call-ups when the Rangers wanted to look at the kids.

 

[Larrys13]

Who was the enforcer tweener who elbowed someone in the head in his like first game with the Rangers and then got suspended and waived+claimed or outright traded right after?

Orland Kurtenbach

 

[bmoak]

You could probably do a list of players just from Phil Esposito's merry-go-round years as GM: Paul Cyr! Jim Pavese! Greg Bell! Jari Gronstrand!

 

[bmoak]

I could also do a list of players in the Rangers system who played down in Charlotte and never really made it:

Bruce Graham! Lee Falardeau! Corey Potter! Jakob Petruzalek! Rick Kozak! Zdenek Bahensky! Juris Stals! Chris Holt! Rory Rawlyk!

 

[Machinehead]

Remember LokiDog? He was kinda decent but then he flew to NY for a traditional polish wedding, got roped into the main wedding party, and died of alcohol poisoning at approximately 45 minutes from this post. RIP.

 

[VanIslander]

Teppo Numminen.

 

[eco's bones]

Ron Harris was on the smaller side. Sometimes played D—sometimes played RW. He had a huge OT goal against Montreal one time in the playoffs. He hit real hard and once in a while he’d dropped the gloves and he could fight really well even though he wasn’t very big.

Larry Sacharuk was another defenseman but he was not very good at defending. He had a rocket of a slap shot though.

 

[Ratelleitlikeitis]

Ab DeMarco Sr. And Jr. I remember having Jrs. hockey card one of my first years collecting them.

 

[rvdnsx1]

Teppo Numminen.

Was he ever in the NYR organization?

 

[rvdnsx1]

Pascal Dupuis

Kelly Kisio

Alexandre Daigle

Mathieu Dandenault

Jozef Balej

Jason Doig

Russ Courtnall

Jarko Immonen

Brad Brown

Josh Green

 

[alkurtz]

Arnie Brown had a physical side I liked. He also demonstrated some scoring ability. Much preferred him to Larry Brown.

Speaking of the Bathgate trade, remember Dick Duff's short tenure in New York? Thanks to that trade - in 1963-64 - Duff missed the playoffs, the only time in the 1960s he missed the playoffs. When he was traded to Montreal the next season - just before Christmas - he ran all the way there he was so happy. Take a look at the image below, and tell me if you ever saw a hockey player happier to be a Blueshirt.View attachment 461996

Traded for Bill Hicke, if I remember right. When I think back to the Bathgate trade, the thing I most remember now is this: today, it is common for teams in all sports to trade aging stars for young prospects. The Bathgate trade kind of set the stage for those types of trades and is the first of that type that I remember. And, it worked out great for the Rangers. We got a young vet who became our captain (Nevin), a young D (Brown) who who important in the early Francis years, and a top prospect (Seiling) who, once they determined that he was a Dman and not a forward, became a stalwart part of our D for many years. He is pretty much forgotten and underrated today but was a key part of the team during the heart of the Francis era. In many ways, he was a forerunner of the versatile D that are so common today. The Bathgate trade helped set us on the right path and started the accelerated rebuild that would bare fruit when Gilbert and Ratelle matured, Giacomin was acquired, and Park drafted.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Pascal Dupuis

Kelly Kisio

Alexandre Daigle

Mathieu Dandenault

Jozef Balej

Jason Doig

Russ Courtnall

Jarko Immonen

Brad Brown

Josh Green

I remember watching the game both Courtnall and Tikanen were playing in when they got traded to the Rangers. Trade broke on air and the nucks sent both players to the dressing room. It was reported the rangers were not happy to see them playing after the trade had been completed

 

[duhmetreE]

 

[duhmetreE]

 

[eco's bones]

Traded for Bill Hicke, if I remember right. When I think back to the Bathgate trade, the thing I most remember now is this: today, it is common for teams in all sports to trade aging stars for young prospects. The Bathgate trade kind of set the stage for those types of trades and is the first of that type that I remember. And, it worked out great for the Rangers. We got a young vet who became our captain (Nevin), a young D (Brown) who who important in the early Francis years, and a top prospect (Seiling) who, once they determined that he was a Dman and not a forward, became a stalwart part of our D for many years. He is pretty much forgotten and underrated today but was a key part of the team during the heart of the Francis era. In many ways, he was a forerunner of the versatile D that are so common today. The Bathgate trade helped set us on the right path and started the accelerated rebuild that would bare fruit when Gilbert and Ratelle matured, Giacomin was acquired, and Park drafted.

My first team was 71-72--actually the 1972 part of the season. The first game I listened to on the radio was the Rangers against the California Golden Seals and it was the night that Ratelle broke his ankle and a Hicke was playing for the Golden Seals though it might have been Bill's brother Ernie. How it was then:

1st line--Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield. Hadfield gets his 49th and 50th goals on the last day of the regular season.
2nd line--Walt Tkachuk, Bill Fairbairn, Gene Carr. Dave Balon had been moved by then.
3rd line--Pete Stemkowski, Bruce MacGregor, Ted Irvine
4th line was made up of Bobby Rousseau, Glen Sather, Phil Goyette and Ron Stewart. Rousseau always played point on the power play with Brad Park and Demarco born in Ohio.

1st pairing--Brad Park, Dale Rolfe
2nd pairing--Rod Seiling, Jim Nielson
3rd pairing--Gary Doak, Ab Demarco Jr.

Goal--Ed Giacomin was the main guy but Gilles Villemure was also very good.

Teams dressed 17 players and two goalies back then so sometimes it was 12 forwards and 5 defensemen and sometimes it was 11 and 6. Every single player on the team was Canadian though Tkachuk had been born in Germany.

 

[Davenport]

Andre Dupont played seven games for the Blueshirts. Was one of the players traded to the St. Louis Blues in the trade to acquire Gene Carr. Won a couple of Cups in Philadelphia.

The Rangers' blueline corp would have been a lot more fun to play against with the "Moose."

 

[will1066]

I'm gonna go with Cory Cross and Jayson Megna.

And Chris McAllister ftw.

 

[NYR94]

Pavel Buchnevich

 

[Davenport]

My first team was 71-72--actually the 1972 part of the season. The first game I listened to on the radio was the Rangers against the California Golden Seals and it was the night that Ratelle broke his ankle and a Hicke was playing for the Golden Seals though it might have been Bill's brother Ernie. How it was then:

1st line--Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield. Hadfield gets his 49th and 50th goals on the last day of the regular season.
2nd line--Walt Tkachuk, Bill Fairbairn, Gene Carr. Dave Balon had been moved by then.
3rd line--Pete Stemkowski, Bruce MacGregor, Ted Irvine
4th line was made up of Bobby Rousseau, Glen Sather, Phil Goyette and Ron Stewart. Rousseau always played point on the power play with Brad Park and Demarco born in Ohio.

1st pairing--Brad Park, Dale Rolfe
2nd pairing--Rod Seiling, Jim Nielson
3rd pairing--Gary Doak, Ab Demarco Jr.

Goal--Ed Giacomin was the main guy but Gilles Villemure was also very good.

Teams dressed 17 players and two goalies back then so sometimes it was 12 forwards and 5 defensemen and sometimes it was 11 and 6. Every single player on the team was Canadian though Tkachuk had been born in Germany.

You've really sparked some memories. For anyone who was a Rangers fan during the Emile Francis era, 1971-72 was the year of great promise. I remember listening to game 39 which represented the end of the first half of the season. Going in to that game - against the Kings at MSG - Jean Ratelle and Phil Esposito were neck-and-neck in the points column. The Bruins had played their 39th game the night before, so Ratelle - depending on how many points he picked up - could finish the first half in top spot. The Blueshirts laid a beating on Los Angeles, the G.A.G. had a big night, and Jean picked up the points he needed to pass Esposito. I can still recall how excited the broadcasters were. Would that have been on 660am in those days?

Two years earlier, two future Hall of Famers joined the Rangers:

Terry Sawchuk, and

Tim Horton

 

[eco's bones]

You've really sparked some memories. For anyone who was a Rangers fan during the Emile Francis era, 1971-72 was the year of great promise. I remember listening to game 39 which represented the end of the first half of the season. Going in to that game - against the Kings at MSG - Jean Ratelle and Phil Esposito were neck-and-neck in the points column. The Bruins had played their 39th game the night before, so Ratelle - depending on how many points he picked up - could finish the first half in top spot. The Blueshirts laid a beating on Los Angeles, the G.A.G. had a big night, and Jean picked up the points he needed to pass Esposito. I can still recall how excited the broadcasters were. Would that have been on 660am in those days?

Two years earlier, two future Hall of Famers joined the Rangers:View attachment 462026Terry Sawchuk, andView attachment 462027Tim Horton

660am sounds right. Where I lived that signal wasn’t always clear and sometimes I had to try to find them on other teams radio stations. When they were on the west coast it was a nightmare. WBZ had the Bruins I remember that. That usually came in good. St. Louis was always easy to find. Upstate WOR carried about 30 Rangers away games a year on television. To get MSG back then you had to buy a cable package and my dad wasn’t going to do that and there was one TV for my parents, myself and five other siblings so the radio was kind of my lifeline for a while.

 

[jacko23]

Orland Kurtenbach

Andre Deveaux

 

[Davenport]

660am sounds right. Where I lived that signal wasn’t always clear and sometimes I had to try to find them on other teams radio stations. When they were on the west coast it was a nightmare. WBZ had the Bruins I remember that. That usually came in good. St. Louis was always easy to find. Upstate WOR carried about 30 Rangers away games a year on television. To get MSG back then you had to buy a cable package and my dad wasn’t going to do that and there was one TV for my parents, myself and five other siblings so the radio was kind of my lifeline for a while.

More memories - going across the radio dial looking for hockey games. Where I was - in Ontario, up on the Escarpment, with my big radio - lots of stations with NHL hockey came in clearly. The Leafs, of course; the Canadiens, in French; the Sabres; the Wings; the Rangers; the Blues; the Bruins; and the Hawks. Remember being up all night and in to the early morning hours for the playoff game in 1971. Had the Rangers lost that game - after all that - don't know what I would have done.