Michael Nylander

[Lion Hound]

According to HockeyDB, of players that played over 30 games:

Bathgate - 729 in 719
Jagr - 319 in 277
Gretzky - 249 in 234
Poddubny - 175 in 152
Nylander - 162 in 160
Nicholls - 110 in 104
Verbeek - 97 in 88

Nice work...he's in some good company. Surprised Nicholls had such good numbers.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Nylander was one of our best and most underrated signings. He could carry the mail from defense to offense really well and boy could he stop on a dime. He was "the Swedish Wayne Gretzky"

 

[Lays]

Straka-Nylander-Jagr is probably one of the top lines the Rangers have had in recent memories. Unreal.

I was a kid at the time but I remember watching them play and being in love with them. Nylander is actually one of my favorite all time players. I tried to argue with my dad that Nylander>>>Jagr.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Nylander was a legit first line center for this team. Those were some good seasons.

 

[Chimpradamus]

That first line of Straka - Nylander - Jagr was indeed epic and had great chemistry. It had Straka as the skilled hard worker, Nylander as the puck wizard dangler and Jagr as the big star power forward with great hands. It was the best line in the NHL at that time and as for Nylander's part, well, he surely did his part. He was a big risk, big reward player, that gave a big net plus on the reward part. Then everything fell apart when Straka retired, Nylander didn't like his contract and NYR management could seemingly not come to an agreement with Jagr, for some weird reason, as he was still one of the best players in the world at that time.

Then came another dark era in NYR history with the Fumblez, Dreary and Dreaden debacle, that alone should've been enough to fire $ather, but nope, not with a shitty owner like Dolan.

The things that stuck out with Nylander was how great he was at keeping the puck in the offensive zone. He was very difficult to read, as he would twist and turn until the defenseman would skate up to the stands to buy a hot dog. Then there was usually a crisp pass after he had the attention of another opponent. A shifty, dangling playmaker who wasn't afraid to do the unexpected, is what I would've called Michael Nylander.

One thing for sure, those old NYR teams were very top heavy. The rest of the roster was garbage especially the defensemen.