Tell me about the Rangers in the 80s

[surf]

I still have every daily news and post clippings from the 79 playoff run...JD was out of his mind good that year...

Yeah, that run they had during the 1979 playoffs must've prepared them well. Really surprising they could get that far without Davidson who many say was the key to their run in '79. Seems like a lot of players rose up to fill the voids of fallen superstars that year. Surprised not many people talk about that team. I was really impressed from what I read.

 

[Maximus]

80's were a tale of two teams

For me being a fan of the 80's Rangers was an exciting time for most part. But you have to break it down into two parts. The first half of the decade was all about the Herbie Brooks Smurfs led by Pavelich, Rejo, Rodgers, Maloney's, Hedberg...etc and we typically would have very competitive teams but every single year just when we would get our hopes up, we'd run into the damn Islanders and our hearts ended up broken and shattered. I believe we played them 5 straight years in the playoffs and other than the amazing 79 Cup run, we lost every single time.

I was in college during those years up in Brockport, NY and alot of my friends came from Long Island and we had all out verbal wars back than....great memories other than us getting our ***** handed to us. Funny thing is despite how dominant the Isles were back than, we always and I mean always other than one playoff series where we got swept, gave the Islanders all they could handle. Had we had better goaltending I firmly believe we could have beat them at least once but wasn't meant to be.

Second half of decade was a bit of slow period as far as success goes other than '86 when the Tomas Sandsroms, Bill Bakers, Mike Allisons, Mike Ridley's, Greshners of the world with Steve Baker between the pipes led us on a magical playoff run that was as fun as it ever got here in NY as far as Ranger fandom is concerned. We all started to have memories of '79 again and could we make it to the Cup. Don't forget also it was the year the Mets won the WS, the Giants won the Super Bowl and we Ranger fans were thinking holy ****...maybe it's destiny for us as we beat up on heavily favored Philly and Washington before heading into a buzz saw known as Montreal with a young Paddy Roy stoning us. But other than that year, rest of 80's blew chunks as it was symbolized by us choking in '88 and letting the Devils slip by us to make it to the playoffs for the first time. But all in all '80's was a fun period to be a Ranger fan especially the first half seeing we always had a good competitive exciting team to root for. Hope that helps.

 

[surf]

Anyone remember what goals created was in the stats? I don't remember this?



League Average 7.5 3.8 3.8 0.0 .500 23.2 23.2 0


Playoff Leaders Rate Statistic Requirements


Goals
1. Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 11
2. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 10
3. Phil Esposito*-NYR 8
4. Ron Greschner-NYR 7
Don Maloney-NYR 7
Don Murdoch-NYR 7
Jean Ratelle*-BOS 7

Assists
1. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 13
Don Maloney-NYR 13
3. Phil Esposito*-NYR 12
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 12
5. Mike McEwen-NYR 11

Points
1. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 23
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 23
3. Phil Esposito*-NYR 20
Don Maloney-NYR 20
5. Bob Gainey*-MTL 16

Goals Created
1. Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 9.5
2. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 9.2
3. Phil Esposito*-NYR 7.6
4. Don Maloney-NYR 7.3
5. Bob Gainey*-MTL 6.1


Penalties in Minutes
1. Tiger Williams-TOR 48
2. Dave Maloney-NYR 45
3. Doug Risebrough-MTL 32
4. Colin Campbell-PIT 30
5. Mario Marois-NYR 29
Willi Plett-ATF 29

Even Strength Goals
1. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 8
2. Don Maloney-NYR 7
3. Phil Esposito*-NYR 6
Bob Gainey*-MTL 6
5. Larry Robinson*-MTL 5
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 5
Don Marcotte-BOS 5
Peter McNab-BOS 5
Jean Ratelle*-BOS 5

Power Play Goals
1. Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 6
2. Ron Greschner-NYR 4
3. Don Murdoch-NYR 3
Reggie Leach-PHI 3
5. Phil Esposito*-NYR 2
Mike Bossy*-NYI 2
Darryl Sittler*-TOR 2
Yvon Lambert-MTL 2
Mike McEwen-NYR 2
Rick Middleton-BOS 2
Jean Ratelle*-BOS 2
Guy Lafleur*-MTL 2

Short-Handed Goals
1. Ron Duguay-NYR 1
Ron Greschner-NYR 1
Anders Hedberg-NYR 1
Lorne Henning-NYI 1
Eddie Johnstone-NYR 1
Dave Maloney-NYR 1
Walt McKechnie-TOR 1
Dick Redmond-BOS 1
Walt Tkaczuk-NYR 1


Game-Winning Goals
1. Ron Greschner-NYR 3
2. Phil Esposito*-NYR 2
Guy Lafleur*-MTL 2
Reggie Leach-PHI 2
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 2
Jean Ratelle*-BOS 2

Goals Per Game
1. Darryl Sittler*-TOR 0.83
2. Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 0.69
3. Jean Ratelle*-BOS 0.64
4. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 0.62
Reggie Leach-PHI 0.62

Assists Per Game
1. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 0.81
2. Ken Linseman-PHI 0.75
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 0.75
4. Rick Middleton-BOS 0.73
5. Don Maloney-NYR 0.72

Points Per Game
1. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 1.44
Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 1.44
3. Jean Ratelle*-BOS 1.18
4. Phil Esposito*-NYR 1.11
Don Maloney-NYR 1.11


Goals Created Per Game
1. Jacques Lemaire*-MTL 0.59
2. Guy Lafleur*-MTL 0.57
3. Jean Ratelle*-BOS 0.50
4. Phil Esposito*-NYR 0.42
5. Don Maloney-NYR 0.41

Games Played
1. John Davidson-NYR 18
2. Ken Dryden*-MTL 16
3. Denis Herron-PIT 7
4. Gerry Cheevers*-BOS 6
5. Billy Smith*-NYI 5
Glenn Resch-NYI 5
Mike Palmateer-TOR 5
Robbie Moore-PHI 5
Gilles Gilbert-BOS 5

Wins
1. Ken Dryden*-MTL 12
2. John Davidson-NYR 11
3. Billy Smith*-NYI 4
Gerry Cheevers*-BOS 4
5. Gilles Gilbert-BOS 3
Robbie Moore-PHI 3

Losses
1. John Davidson-NYR 7
2. Denis Herron-PIT 5
3. Ken Dryden*-MTL 4
Tony Esposito*-CBH 4
5. Mike Palmateer-TOR 3
Glenn Resch-NYI 3
Wayne Stephenson-PHI 3


Goals Against
1. John Davidson-NYR 42
2. Ken Dryden*-MTL 41
3. Denis Herron-PIT 24
4. Robbie Moore-PHI 18
5. Mike Palmateer-TOR 17

Goals Against Average
1. Billy Smith*-NYI 1.90
2. Glenn Resch-NYI 2.20
3. John Davidson-NYR 2.28
4. Ken Dryden*-MTL 2.48
5. Gerry Cheevers*-BOS 2.50

Shutouts
1. John Davidson-NYR 1
Glenn Resch-NYI 1
Billy Smith*-NYI 1

Minutes
1. John Davidson-NYR 1106
2. Ken Dryden*-MTL 990
3. Denis Herron-PIT 421
4. Gerry Cheevers*-BOS 360
5. Billy Smith*-NYI 315









Question, Comment, Feedback or Correction?

 

[Crease]

Is that scraped from Hockey Reference? It's a proprietary stat. Not NHL-sanctioned.

Goals created; calculated by adding goals scored to 0.5 times assists, then multiplying by team goals divided by team goals plus 0.5 times team assists. For example in 2006-07, Sidney Crosby had 36 goals and 84 assists. The Penguins as a team had 267 goals and 468 assists. Thus Crosby is credited with (36 + 0.5 * 84) * (267 / (267 + 0.5 * 468)) = 41.57 goals created. Note that the sum of player goals created is equal to the sum of player goals scored for all teams.

 

[surf]

Interesting..My first thought was secondary assist was only worth .5 back then but odd numbers squashed that theory..


Back to the 80's boy was Carol Vadnais a very under the radar great defenseman...Steady smart physical d man who also put up numbers that RM can hopefully dream of one day...Looking back at these stats I was shocked to see Vadnais had such offense to his game the first thing you thought about him was his defensive game...If G is worth 6m I can only imagine what Vadnais would get today.

 

[The Lone Ranger]

For some reason, the 1985-86 Rangers were the first team I thought of when I saw this thread. Not only did they get to the conference finals, but they had the players you thought of when you think of the 1980s Rangers. Also Vanbiesbrouck's Vezina makes you notice that season more.

1986's playoff run was memorable. But rookie head coach Ted Sator's martinet approach turned out to be costly as he locked horns with Mark Pavelich and Barry Beck on numerous occasions. Both were gone by season's end, and the optimism for bigger and better things dissipated into a chaotic and disappointing '86-87 season.

Ironically, history would sort of repeat itself in '94 when Mike Keenan (Sator's former boss) enjoyed a glorious postseason as a first year Ranger coach, only to be undermined by unhappy players in a turmoil-filled locker room.

 

[HFsNumber1Heel]

The 85-86 team also drew well. Sometimes it's about how you draw in rounds 1 and 2 and then it takes one upset. Look at the Devils in 2012, they drew well in rounds 1-2.

Nashville in 2006 had a Cup contending team, but they drew bad.

The Rangers went against two teams with awful goaltending in the Flyers and Capitals. So they exposed them. Philly was still suffering from the loss of Pelle Lindbergh, and the Caps had Pete Peters who wasn't much better.

 

[Thesensation19*]

The New York Rangers tried to get Herb Brooks immediately after the 1980 Olympics but they did not want to give him final say on rosters.

Craig Patrick was brought in as GM however.

Herb Brooks went to coach HC Davos. A so-so season and Herb Brooks resigned due to restrictions on making any roster moves. They were cheap apparently.

Brooks talked with Patrick and got a job for the 81-82 season. They did very well. Especially considering Brooks came in and changed their philosophy from dump and chase to possession like the Team USA and Minnesota teams before it.

In the first year Brooks brought them to the playoffs, 2nd round and lost in 6 to the championship Islander team. That's a tough call

Same exact thing happened to the Islanders in 82-83 and AGAIN in 83-84...

I mean, you have to give Brooks credit. Took a team of young guys and they battled until the met with the Islanders who went onto winning 4 Cups. If not for the Isles, the Rangers would be in a whole different boat.