"Career" Rangers

[Roo Returns]

NHL used to be more like the MLB where it would take players 3-4 years to make it after being drafted, and guys would hang around a lot longer.

Now because of the salary cap it's more like the NFL with a higher turnover. Probably just over 50% of the generational players will play their career with one team eg. Kane and Toews only one will. Sedins may have to finish their career somewhere else.

 

[eco's bones]

According to this site, 14 players played their entire NHL career with the rangers.

Neil Colville
Bill Cook
Jan Erixon
Rod Gilbert
Ron Greschner
Ott Heller
Bryan Hextall
Edgar Laprade
Murray Murdoch
Lynn Patrick
Don Raleigh
Mike Richter
Walt Tkaczuk
Steve Vickers

Edit: Minimum 10 seasons

Not all that fair to some of the '40's era Rangers who went in the service during WWII.

 

[Lays]

honestly i really can't outside of Lundqvist. Best bet would be McDonagh or Zucc, hopefully Skjei. Staal maybe as well but the young dmen we have will take over by the 2018-2019 season (though who knows with AV) maybe we can make him disappear by throwing him on LTIR

 

[CasusBelli]

Many greats, including The Great One, have been traded. Teams have traded long-time captains, generational talents, leading scorers, franchise goaltenders -- the list goes on. Career paths are difficult to predict. I could, however, see Hank and MZA playing their entire careers in Blue. McDonagh is a question mark. The rest? Who knows.

 

[Bricho]

To be honest, who cares... The greatest Rangers have generally not spent their entire careers in Blueshirts. Of the players with their number retired, only two fit this category. And even if Hank ends his career with NYR, he will be remembered more for never lifting the Cup.

 

[sbjnyc]

And even if Hank ends his career with NYR, he will be remembered more for never lifting the Cup.

'ever the optimist.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

'ever the optimist.

Well, a team with 0 elite players will have a hard time winning a Cup.

 

[will1066]

Tanner Glass was starting to feel like a career Ranger... Hope his PTO in Calgary works out, seriously.

 

[Larrybiv]

To be honest, who cares... The greatest Rangers have generally not spent their entire careers in Blueshirts. Of the players with their number retired, only two fit this category. And even if Hank ends his career with NYR, he will be remembered more for never lifting the Cup.

Well, a team with 0 elite players will have a hard time winning a Cup.

Give us a Crosby, Malkin, Kane or McDavid and replace Hank with "x" goaltender, and I'm pretty sure we would have had a cup recently. Hank is obviously not enough of a one man show, enough to steal a cup. Hasn't "been there done that", and looking like he won't ever. Not unless they build a strong enough team to compensate. Hank is still "almost Hank", but needs more.

Look at this kid Murray. Is he sooo much better than Hank? If at all? Probably not, but he has 2 cups in his back pocket already and a full career ahead of him. Why? He was fortunate to be "good enough" with a really good supporting cast. Hank obviously really hasn't had that. Not enough to win a cup.

 

[Bricho]

Give us a Crosby, Malkin, Kane or McDavid and replace Hank with "x" goaltender, and I'm pretty sure we would have had a cup recently. Hank is obviously not enough of a one man show, enough to steal a cup. Hasn't "been there done that", and looking like he won't ever. Not unless they build a strong enough team to compensate. Hank is still "almost Hank", but needs more.

Agree with the first three, McDavid is yet to prove himself. You're on the right track though...the playoffs are about the big game/clutch performers. Unfortunately during the last few playoff runs none of the Rangers proved they could fill that big game performer role. How many years do we have to wait for Nash to meet that expectation?!?! And the Rangers front office knows this too...but Brad Richards and Martin St Louis were just a bit past their prime to come up big.

 

[Bricho]

'ever the optimist.

I am an optimist, I played Powerball last week....

But I also watch a lot of hockey and while I will live and die with NYR, over the last few years this team has lagged the elite teams. They're just not as good as Pit, Was, or Chi.

 

[sbjnyc]

They're just not as good as Pit, Was, or Chi.

Since when do the caps matter in the playoffs?

 

[Placid]

Since when do the caps matter in the playoffs?

hey, CAPS ALWAYS MAT...oh wait.. those Caps... beats me

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Give us a Crosby, Malkin, Kane or McDavid and replace Hank with "x" goaltender, and I'm pretty sure we would have had a cup recently. Hank is obviously not enough of a one man show, enough to steal a cup. Hasn't "been there done that", and looking like he won't ever. Not unless they build a strong enough team to compensate. Hank is still "almost Hank", but needs more.

Look at this kid Murray. Is he sooo much better than Hank? If at all? Probably not, but he has 2 cups in his back pocket already and a full career ahead of him. Why? He was fortunate to be "good enough" with a really good supporting cast. Hank obviously really hasn't had that. Not enough to win a cup.

An elite goalie with a relatively good team can't win the Cup. A relatively good goalie with a good team can win the Cup.

People overestimate the value of a goalie in hockey. Lundqvist has had a great career but a goalie is never the center-piece of a championship team

 

[jacko23]

if Gretzky can get traded, anyone can get traded.

 

[Maximus]

Greschner, Tzachuk, and Erixon are the three that come to mind when I think of the Rangers from the 70s-early 90s.

Jan Erixon probably would be closest to a role player like Fast. He played as a shutdown checker in the 80s and retired one year before the Cup win because his back just went out.

Tzachuk could have gone a few more years but had a career ending eye injury the second half of the 1981 season.

Gresch got an offer to play with Pittsburgh by his old GM Craig Patrick after 1990 but declined.

Richter also played his entire career with the Rangers but technically was Nashville and Edmonton property back in the days when if a team lost more upcoming UFAs than sign UFAs. they'd get comp picks. So the Rangers would trade him and Messier and also Fleury to teams and get comp picks, one of which was Callahan. Zubov also was one of these comp picks in 1990 for Guy LaFleur.

You and I are one of the few who go back to the 70's and actually watched these guys play unlike most of the young turks in here who probalby represent 80-90 % of the board in here, but a few others that I can think of who were longtime career Rangers besides the ones you astutely brought up were Steve Vickers who just so happens to be my favorite Ranger of all-time. What a great player he was for us that most peeps in here don't even know about. I'll never forget the time he challenged Dave Schultz to a fight and Schultz declined knowing Vickers reputation as a great fighter besides his prowess as a player.

A few other career Rangers from back in the day I can recall were Rod Gilbert and Anders Hedberg who haven't been mentioned.

Players on the current roster who if I had a gun to my head and had to choose who I feel pretty confident and have best chances too finish and retire as career Rangers would be the aforementioned Hank for sure and I'd add McDonagh and Kreider to the mix.

Other than those two besides Hanky, I can't really see anyone else I'd feel Gorton wouldn't deal away in the right deal if it would help our club. Now obviously like what occurred with Leetch who is as close to a career Ranger as you can get withought officially being one, one never knows what will happen going forward with the current system that is in place in the NHL. But one would have to think it would take an arm and a leg for Gorton to ever let McDonagh and Kreider go.

It's an interesting question to ponder and an excellent thread brought up by the OP....well done....

 

[Deleted member 23124]

To be honest, who cares... The greatest Rangers have generally not spent their entire careers in Blueshirts. Of the players with their number retired, only two fit this category. And even if Hank ends his career with NYR, he will be remembered more for never lifting the Cup.

Why should that be? No one thinks of Giacomin that way.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

Give us a Crosby, Malkin, Kane or McDavid and replace Hank with "x" goaltender, and I'm pretty sure we would have had a cup recently. Hank is obviously not enough of a one man show, enough to steal a cup. Hasn't "been there done that", and looking like he won't ever. Not unless they build a strong enough team to compensate. Hank is still "almost Hank", but needs more.

Look at this kid Murray. Is he sooo much better than Hank? If at all? Probably not, but he has 2 cups in his back pocket already and a full career ahead of him. Why? He was fortunate to be "good enough" with a really good supporting cast. Hank obviously really hasn't had that. Not enough to win a cup.

If we had one of those players, we could have won with Henrik. Rangers haven't had take charge player in decades.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

You and I are one of the few who go back to the 70's and actually watched these guys play unlike most of the young turks in here who probalby represent 80-90 % of the board in here, but a few others that I can think of who were longtime career Rangers besides the ones you astutely brought up were Steve Vickers who just so happens to be my favorite Ranger of all-time. What a great player he was for us that most peeps in here don't even know about. I'll never forget the time he challenged Dave Schultz to a fight and Schultz declined knowing Vickers reputation as a great fighter besides his prowess as a player.

A few other career Rangers from back in the day I can recall were Rod Gilbert and Anders Hedberg who haven't been mentioned.

Players on the current roster who if I had a gun to my head and had to choose who I feel pretty confident and have best chances too finish and retire as career Rangers would be the aforementioned Hank for sure and I'd add McDonagh and Kreider to the mix.

Other than those two besides Hanky, I can't really see anyone else I'd feel Gorton wouldn't deal away in the right deal if it would help our club. Now obviously like what occurred with Leetch who is as close to a career Ranger as you can get withought officially being one, one never knows what will happen going forward with the current system that is in place in the NHL. But one would have to think it would take an arm and a leg for Gorton to ever let McDonagh and Kreider go.

It's an interesting question to ponder and an excellent thread brought up by the OP....well done....

Vickers and Tzachuk were probably the best PKers of all time. That "rag the puck" routine had never been equalled....and even with the talent in those days, no one could figure out how to stop them.

 

[NickyFotiu]

You and I are one of the few who go back to the 70's and actually watched these guys play unlike most of the young turks in here who probalby represent 80-90 % of the board in here, but a few others that I can think of who were longtime career Rangers besides the ones you astutely brought up were Steve Vickers who just so happens to be my favorite Ranger of all-time. What a great player he was for us that most peeps in here don't even know about. I'll never forget the time he challenged Dave Schultz to a fight and Schultz declined knowing Vickers reputation as a great fighter besides his prowess as a player.

Okay folks today's trivia. What was Vickers nickname (kind of easy) and how did he get it?

 

[eco's bones]

Okay folks today's trivia. What was Vickers nickname (kind of easy) and how did he get it?

Sarge--his dad was a policeman.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Sarge--his dad was a policeman.

I believe you are right on the name but wrong on the reason.

 

[eco's bones]

I believe you are right on the name but wrong on the reason.

Yeah I looked up the reason but I didn't change the answer--I don't mind being wrong now and again---though I do believe that Vickers dad was a policeman but it's not the reason he got the nickname. He got the nickname from Stemkowski for wearing a beat up old army jacket all the time.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Yeah I looked up the reason but I didn't change the answer--I don't mind being wrong now and again---though I do believe that Vickers dad was a policeman but it's not the reason he got the nickname. He got the nickname from Stemkowski for wearing a beat up old army jacket all the time.

There you go. I heard a radio interview Steve did and they asked him about the nickname. Many people thought he was in the service or because of his dad. I was surprised when he laughed and said no its because I used to wear a old army jacket in the lockerroom. Good job.

 

[eco's bones]

There you go. I heard a radio interview Steve did and they asked him about the nickname. Many people thought he was in the service or because of his dad. I was surprised when he laughed and said no its because I used to wear a old army jacket in the lockerroom. Good job.

I started following the Rangers in 71-72 and the next season after that was Vickers rookie year and he had a big year. I think he got 30 goals and there were several fights. The one against Don Marcotte opened a lot of eyes as he KO'ed him. I remember him fighting O'Reilly too. Steve wasn't really a guy that went looking it for that though. If he had been it might have made him a more effective player--at least in that era there were some very good players that did fight a lot.