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Best Rangers Free Agent Signing Ever

cwede

cwede

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Open Mind

Open Mind

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Not taking anything away from Graves, but if you are looking at this all-time, Jean Ratelle, Andy Bathgate, Rod Gilbert and Harry Howell should be in the conversation. They are all before the existence of an entry draft I believe, so scouting players and signing them as free agents was the way you did it then, but they were signed as free agents nonetheless.

I believe also that Conn Smythe went up to Canada and signed Bill Cook before Mtl could do so and the Rangers paid some other team to be granted his signing rights. If memory serves correct, I believe Bill Cook was the first player the NYR ever signed. I could be wrong on that.
 

KreiderHouseRules*

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FLYLine27 said:
Wow, I never knew we got him as a RFA/Offer Sheet. Nice read, thanks.
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Wow, I totally forgot about that.

I think if we're talking "best players the Rangers ever signed" (meaning how good the player was at the time of signing), then we've gotta include Gretzky in the conversation, even though he was past his prime at that point, but the #1 answer should be Joe Sakic in the prime of his career. He signed an offer sheet with NYR that was matched by COL (3 years x 7M if I remember correctly).

"Best" in terms of how they worked out for NYR would be Graves, followed by maybe... Nylander? Gaborik?

Such a big drop-off after Graves, IMO, unless I'm forgetting some.
 
eco's bones

eco's bones

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Open Mind said:
Not taking anything away from Graves, but if you are looking at this all-time, Jean Ratelle, Andy Bathgate, Rod Gilbert and Harry Howell should be in the conversation. They are all before the existence of an entry draft I believe, so scouting players and signing them as free agents was the way you did it then, but they were signed as free agents nonetheless.

I believe also that Conn Smythe went up to Canada and signed Bill Cook before Mtl could do so and the Rangers paid some other team to be granted his signing rights. If memory serves correct, I believe Bill Cook was the first player the NYR ever signed. I could be wrong on that.
Click to expand...

Actually that's not exactly accurate. It would be more accurate for the likes of guys like Frank Boucher, Bill Cook and Ching Johnson.

Teams used to own junior teams and if you played for say the Niagara Falls Flyers or the Oshawa Generals like say Derek Sanderson or Bobby Orr did you were automatically property of the Boston Bruins. The Rangers used to have teams in Kitchener for instance--the Kitchener Rangers and in Guelph--the Biltmores. Montreal, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit had their teams too.

To go further there once was a 50 mile radius rule--for instance if you lived or played within a 50 mile radius of the Montreal Forum your rights automatically belonged to the Montreal Canadiens. Now both Ratelle and Gilbert were from the Montreal area but left to play for the Rangers team in Guelph---that improved their chances of becoming NHL players because the Canadiens were always stacked. To do that a teenager would have to be prepared to move far from home and in Ratelle's and Gilbert's cases to play in front of english speaking fans. Howell, Bathgate, Gilbert and Ratelle were all players the Rangers spotted as teenagers and played for junior teams affiliated with the Rangers.
 
Zamboner

Zamboner

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Gaborik was the best post-2005 lockout. All the high priced free agents, who the front office always overpaid for, and Gabby was the only one who was exactly what they signed.
 
Open Mind

Open Mind

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Nov 14, 2014
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eco's bones said:
Actually that's not exactly accurate. It would be more accurate for the likes of guys like Frank Boucher, Bill Cook and Ching Johnson.

Teams used to own junior teams and if you played for say the Niagara Falls Flyers or the Oshawa Generals like say Derek Sanderson or Bobby Orr did you were automatically property of the Boston Bruins. The Rangers used to have teams in Kitchener for instance--the Kitchener Rangers and in Guelph--the Biltmores. Montreal, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit had their teams too.

To go further there once was a 50 mile radius rule--for instance if you lived or played within a 50 mile radius of the Montreal Forum your rights automatically belonged to the Montreal Canadiens. Now both Ratelle and Gilbert were from the Montreal area but left to play for the Rangers team in Guelph---that improved their chances of becoming NHL players because the Canadiens were always stacked. To do that a teenager would have to be prepared to move far from home and in Ratelle's and Gilbert's cases to play in front of english speaking fans. Howell, Bathgate, Gilbert and Ratelle were all players the Rangers spotted as teenagers and played for junior teams affiliated with the Rangers.
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Frank Boucher wasn't a free agent signing: we traded cash for him. Nothing you said really changes the fact that we scouted Gilbert, Ratelle, Howell and Bathgate, and signed them as free agents. Sure, Gilbert and Ratelle went to Guelph two years we scouted them. Before then, Gilbert was playing in Montreal, was still open to any team and was signed by us as a free agent. And it was at Gilbert's suggestion to our scout that we sign Ratelle, as Gilbert and Ratelle had played together since pee wee.

All the guys I'd mentioned were free agent signings and are considered as such by the team. To the best of my knowledge, there were no territorial rules in place when they were signed. I'm fairly certain those rules went away from the league in the 1940s and came back with the entry draft in '63.
 
HFBS

HFBS

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Best Ranger free agent signings?

Should that be entitled 'Least worst Ranger free agent signings'?
 
Roo Returns

Roo Returns

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Neil Smith was with the Red Wings when Graves was drafted. Lucky there was that connection. There was so little fanfare when he was signed. He was a young 3rd/4th liner and never had more than 25 points in a season. Was supposed to be a role player.

He was the best RFA signing. NHL was different then. Free agency as we know it didn't exist until the 90s. Only guys who were at the end of their career hit UFA. Other famous RFA signings from that era were when the Blues signed Shannahan from the Devils and as compensation Scott Stevens went back to NJ. He didn't want to report. Red Wings signed Troy Crowder from the Devils and McKay and Dave Barr went back as compensation. And of course Glen Wesley being signed by the Whalers and actually giving up five first rounders.

Best Rangers UFA might just be Nylander. Or maybe Guy Lafleur because the pick the Rangers got from Quebec as compensation turned into Sergei Zubov.
 
nyr2k2

nyr2k2

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Rozsival was a good signing. Not the best, but he's always forgotten in these threads of good signings.
 
Crease

Crease

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Jul 12, 2004
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By no means the best ever, but in recent history Brendan Shanahan worked out very well.
 
NickyFotiu

NickyFotiu

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Sep 29, 2011
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I think a good question would be the best undrafted FA the Rangers ever signed. I would go with guys like Mark Pavelich, Mats Zuccarello, and Dan Girardi. In fact I think Pav could give Graves a run for his money.

I'd put the Anders and Ulfie signing in 1978 up as a pair. That was a huge deal when they came to the NHL.
 
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