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Who is the greatest Ranger ever?

Who is the greatest NYR ever?

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Maximus said:
Where's Ratelle??

I'm, I think fairly close to you in age as I'm 57 and started to follow Rangers right around 1970ish. Ratelle was other than Esposito the dominant center in hockey for close to 10 years....agreed? He has to be in the top 3-4 of all Ranger players ever even tho he went to Boston and had some outstanding years there.

I'm with you on Park and said so in my comments previously, as he also in the conversation as well seeing other than Orr, he was the dominant defenseman in the game for a 10 year period as well.

If I had to rank my top 5 Rangers I ever saw it would be:

Leetch
Ratelle
Park
Lundqvist
Greshner tho it's close between he and Steve Vickers
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Maxi -- I think people tend to hold it against Ratelle because he played for the Bruins. Same with Park.

I'm also surprised Howell is not in the discussion.
 
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I've got to go Leetch. Had Henrik won the Cup, I think I would have gone with him and I hate dumbing it down to something like that but I think that and the Conn Smythe push it in Leetch's favor.
 
Frank? Bryan? Andy? Rod?

Overwhelming recency bias in OP ?
or misunderstanding of meaning of 'ever' ...
 
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Best player I've watched wear a Ranger jersey was Messier, i just think he meant so much to that cup team in terms of leadership, ability, toughness and being clutch in the moment as well as just making this team credible for brief period. I still dont understand why they let him go to vancouver...it made 0 sense. Having said that i never watched Gilbert or the other older fellas.
 
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Henrik was the greatest. He almost won a CUP with no outstanding skaters and Girardi and Staal as defense pillars (admittedly much better at that stage, but still). I can't imagine another player, particularly a non-goalie, who could have single-handedly raised that team to a Cup winning level. We might have have beaten the Kings in 2014 if the ref didn't blow the obvious goalie interference call in game 2.

I look back at that roster in amazement that Henrik almost carried us to the promised land. Fans question our center depth now - imagine Stepan being our best center!
 
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mjolnir said:
Maxi -- I think people tend to hold it against Ratelle because he played for the Bruins. Same with Park.

I'm also surprised Howell is not in the discussion.
Click to expand...

You may be right. However the #1 reason I think Ratelle isn't, for the most part in the conversation as best Ranger ever with most folks, is because I'll bet 80-90% of the peeps who are voting in this poll never saw Ratelle play. Had they seen him play, he was pretty much Jean Beliveau Lite....just an outstanding player with no weaknesses.

That said, him not only playing for the Bruins but playing at an elite level for them should not be held against him seeing his time with the Rangers was so impactful as he was the glue to all those great Ranger teams of the early to mid 70's.

I'm convinced and anyone who is old enough to have watched those great Ranger teams will agree with me on this, had he not had his ankle pretty much shattered close to the end of the '71 season, Rangers would have won the Cup that year....they were that good...yes better than the Big Bad Bruins who beat us in 6 games in the Cup finals. Ratelle played in the finals but he was a shell of his former self as he couldn't skate good enough to be his dominating self.

Anyways in my book Ratelle is top 3-5 Ranger of all time behind just Leetch and either Park or Lundqvist not necessarily in that order. You have to put Gilbert in that neighborhood as well.
 
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Maximus said:
You may be right. However the #1 reason I think Ratelle isn't, for the most part in the conversation as best Ranger ever with most folks, is because I'll bet 80-90% of the peeps who are voting in this poll never saw Ratelle play. Had they seen him play, he was pretty much Jean Beliveau Lite....just an outstanding player with no weaknesses.

That said, him not only playing for the Bruins but playing at an elite level for them should not be held against him seeing his time with the Rangers was so impactful as he was the glue to all those great Ranger teams of the early to mid 70's.

I'm convinced and anyone who is old enough to have watched those great Ranger teams will agree with me on this, had he not had his ankle pretty much shattered close to the end of the '71 season, Rangers would have won the Cup that year....they were that good...yes better than the Big Bad Bruins who beat us in 6 games in the Cup finals. Ratelle played in the finals but he was a shell of his former self as he couldn't skate good enough to be his dominating self.

Anyways in my book Ratelle is top 3-5 Ranger of all time behind just Leetch and either Park or Lundqvist not necessarily in that order. You have to put Gilbert in that neighborhood as well.
Click to expand...
I agree about '71....had Ratelle not gone down, the Cup was ours. To be honest, I always thought he was better than Gilbert....but what a team they made.
 
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mjolnir said:
I agree about '71....had Ratelle not gone down, the Cup was ours. To be honest, I always thought he was better than Gilbert....but what a team they made.
Click to expand...

Hard to believe that season was fifty years in the rear view. That was the team that I have the most sentiment for, other than '94.
I believe that was the season when "goal a game" GAG was coined. I think these combinations were close.

Hadfield Ratelle Gilbert
Balon. Tkaczuk Fairbairn
Irvine Stemmer McGregor
Sather Rousseau Stewart. Anyone recall Rousseau's slapper!

Park Rolfe
Seiling Neilson
Demarco Doak

Giacomin. Villemure
 
Gilbert, Park, Ratelle, Bathgate, and co. were robbed a fair chance by the racket that was the 50s-70s NHL. It’s hard to tell which franchise was actually better-run when James Norris basically owned half the league while having disproportionate interest in each team. Not to mention regional control and favoritism before and during the inception of the draft…
 
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Gnarpsviljan said:
Gilbert, Park, Ratelle, Bathgate, and co. were robbed a fair chance by the racket that was the 50s-70s NHL. It’s hard to tell which franchise was actually better-run when James Norris basically owned half the league while having disproportionate interest in each team. Not to mention regional control and favoritism before and during the inception of the draft…
Click to expand...
I don't think I've ever heard the story of how the Rangers ended up with Gilbert when the Habs had first dibs on every French Canadian player.
 
mjolnir said:
I don't think I've ever heard the story of how the Rangers ended up with Gilbert when the Habs had first dibs on every French Canadian player.
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Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, and Andy Bathgate played Major Juniors for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters, a team sponsored by the Rangers. I don’t know how they ended up in Guelph in the first place, but it gives some context to the bridge between Montreal and Manhattan.
 
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OrlandK said:
Henrik was the greatest. He almost won a CUP with no outstanding skaters and Girardi and Staal as defense pillars (admittedly much better at that stage, but still). I can't imagine another player, particularly a non-goalie, who could have single-handedly raised that team to a Cup winning level. We might have have beaten the Kings in 2014 if the ref didn't blow the obvious goalie interference call in game 2.

I look back at that roster in amazement that Henrik almost carried us to the promised land. Fans question our center depth now - imagine Stepan being our best center!
Click to expand...


Henrik Lundqvist was spectacular, I think Zucc getting hurt is what ultimately cost us. That team had a pitiful offense but he was the catalyst IMO. Our top 5 point getters this season are almost identical in production to the top 5 that year and played 26 fewer games. So I agree with you there. #1 Non skater by far I think.

Brian Leetch was really something else IMO. I don't think we win the Cup in '94 without him, he stepped up so many times for us that playoffs. #1 on D

Jagr might take #1F, it's hard to say. Playoff performance wise and overall team success aside, he was the absolute best. IMHO
 
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With hockey hair like this gotta be Ron Duguay !!

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Is this really a question?
Leetch, and it's not even close.

But

Glass a close 2nd!
 
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