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Who is the greatest Ranger ever?

Who is the greatest NYR ever?

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NickyFotiu said:
Maybe so, but how many posters can say if they never saw them play? I saw Rod at the end.
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Ok but then OP shouldn't make the topic 'best ever'

I saw Ratelle, Gilbert in their primes, Park/Tkachuk and after as rookies
My dad raised me a Ranger fan, he went back to the '30's, wish I could ask him for his list
 
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cwede said:
Ok but then OP shouldn't make the topic 'best ever'

I saw Ratelle, Gilbert in their primes, Park/Tkachuk and after as rookies
My dad raised me a Ranger fan, he went back to the '30's, wish I could ask him for his list
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I agree the title could be best ever that you saw or something else.
 
Edge said:
I feel like Hank was on the same level, but maybe for a bit longer.

Leetch, for a number of debatable reasons, really was never quite the same player after this 29th birthday.
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This is how I feel. The longevity henke held throughout his career and the fact he dragged teams into the playoffs that had no business kind of pushed him over for me, while also being an organizational icon for over a decade. Leetch was unable to do that throughout his career although he was an incredible player.
 
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bleedblue94 said:
This is how I feel. The longevity henke held throughout his career and the fact he dragged teams into the playoffs that had no business kind of pushed him over for me, while also being an organizational icon for over a decade. Leetch was unable to do that throughout his career although he was an incredible player.
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I do think Lundqvist thrived on being "The Guy" more than Leetch did. That's not a knock on the latter by any means. But Lundqvist had the same mindset that Messier did, and Jagr did. He knew he was the most important piece of the team, and he wanted everything that went along with it.

I think Leetch, for all his amazing talent, was probably more comfortable being one of the top guys on a team. I think that's why Messier was such an important addition to the Rangers and was really instrumental in Leetch being "Leetch" for us.
 
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Edge said:
I do think Lundqvist thrived on being "The Guy" more than Leetch did. That's not a knock on the latter by any means. But Lundqvist had the same mindset that Messier did, and Jagr did. He knew he was the most important piece of the team, and he wanted everything that went along with it.

I think Leetch, for all his amazing talent, was probably more comfortable being one of the top guys on a team. I think that's why Messier was such an important addition to the Rangers and was really instrumental in Leetch being "Leetch" for us.
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Good point. Leetch was a bit like McDonough in that the leadership role didn't really fit his personality. A bit of an introvert and he needed a real leader to supplement his outstanding play. Lundquist was in a class by himself in his prime, both as a superstar, the face of the franchise and a true leader; highly unusual for a goaltender. That is why IMHO he was the greatest Ranger of them all.
 
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I'm still salty about the Leetch trade. Guy should have played his whole career.

I'm even more salty they didn't bring him back for 05-06 given that their biggest need all season was an offensive defenseman and Leetch was allowed to finish his career as a Bruin, ugh.

Leetch would have done great on that '06 team. Instead we got late season Sandis Ozolinsh to try and fill the void. :oops:
 
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Probably Leetch, but I was so young when he was dominant that I don't really have the ability to assess honestly anymore. It was almost 30 years ago when he won us a cup. My memory of how he's played just isn't sharp like it is for more recent players.

Hank was the face of franchise during my entire adult life, but his legacy of greatness is tainted by not being on a cup winning team (through no fault of his own). Had they won in 2014 (i.e. had his teammates been just a touch better) I think it would be him bar none.

Hank was the most consistently game-breaking force we've had, Adam Fox included, and he did it for over a decade without declining. He also was the off-ice voice of the team and more iconic than any other player in recent history as an ambassador of the franchise.

Honorable mention: I think Shesty's regular season last year was the greatest individual effort over the course of a season that I've ever seen from a player in my lifetime. Sky is the limit for him. But we have to wait and see if he does it as consistently as Hank (so far, no).
 
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Edge said:
I feel like Hank was on the same level, but maybe for a bit longer.

Leetch, for a number of debatable reasons, really was never quite the same player after this 29th birthday.
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I’m an idiot because I thought this post was recent…..I was like is EDGE BACK?!?! But alas this post is like 2 years old lol

@nyrmetros you really dug way back to bring this thread back
 
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hockeyman001 said:
I'm still salty about the Leetch trade. Guy should have played his whole career.

I'm even more salty they didn't bring him back for 05-06 given that their biggest need all season was an offensive defenseman and Leetch was allowed to finish his career as a Bruin, ugh.

Leetch would have done great on that '06 team. Instead we got late season Sandis Ozolinsh to try and fill the void. :oops:
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Me too. Look at this "haul" we got for trading him. Sauer was the karma.

Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a first-round pick in the 2004 draft, which became Kris Chucko (pick was later traded to the Calgary Flames), and a second-round pick in 2005, which became Michael Sauer.
 
Best Ranger ever: Brian Leetch. He gets a mulligan for the dark ages due to the garbage corpse of defenseman he played with at the end. He was still an elite offensive defenseman until the end.

Worst Ranger ever: Darroll Powe

Most polarizing: All of them!
 
haohmaru said:
Me too. Look at this "haul" we got for trading him. Sauer was the karma.

Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a first-round pick in the 2004 draft, which became Kris Chucko (pick was later traded to the Calgary Flames), and a second-round pick in 2005, which became Michael Sauer.
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Yup, the "haul" was awful. Obviously what happened with Sauer was terrible, but given what we now know about susceptibility to concussions being hereditary and his brothers' struggles it's obvious in hindsight.

Immonen showed flashes but didn't stay in North America long enough, and I never got the hype for Kondratiev.

Even still, none of those guys were predicted to be true gamebreakers and you don't trade a franchise icon for players like that. The killer was not bringing him back for '06 though. I could've seen selling him as a rental to Toronto and then bringing him right back. That one still irks me because of how insanely good the '06 team was offensively, and how much Leetch would've added to that team given that our best offensive defenseman was Michal Rozsival until the fateful trade for Ozolinsh. Honestly wouldn't have been surprised if Leetch had a huge bounceback year in 06 on our blueline instead of the AWFUL Bruins (they were so bad that year), and probably would have hung around a bit longer.
 
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