OT: Let's Remember Some Guys

[NickyFotiu]

I always thought one of the most head scratching depth moves of the later Neil Smith years was not keeping Kurri around for 97. Team went after Gretzky (and got him), and needed depth players who could contribute...so instead of keeping Kurri around let him go to Anaheim and brought in Pat Flatley.

That one never made sense to me, and I always thought Kurri would've had one more decent year in him which obviously wasn't going to be the case playing with Kevin Todd and the ghost of Brian Bellows in Anaheim.

I thought he looked pretty done by then.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Two former Redwings. Vaclav Nedomansky and John Ogrodnick

 

[Mandar]

Two former Redwings. Vaclav Nedomansky and John Ogrodnick

As was Adam Graves

 

[Roo Returns]

As was Adam Graves

Neil Smith was with the Red Wings (as a scout or management I forget) when Graves was drafted. That had a lot to do with his 1991 signing.

 

[Roo Returns]

Two former Redwings. Vaclav Nedomansky and John Ogrodnick

Nedomansky was old when he was on the Rangers. Like almost 40 which for back then wow. A little before my time but I've seen a lot of 80s YouTube clips uploaded over the last decade.

Ogrodnick I remember very well as a young kid. He had some awesome years with Yzerman, but ended up in Quebec and was declining. He came to NY during the Esposito trading every day era due in part to his familiarity with Bergeron. He struggled initially and got a new life once Roger Neilson came into town having one awesome and one pretty good year with Kissio and Mullen.

He was basically phased out by 1991-92 once Amonte/Weight/Nemchinov got to town.

 

[leetch99]

As was Adam Graves

Kelly Kisio one of the hardest workers ever pound for pound .

 

[cwede]

Two former Redwings. Vaclav Nedomansky and John Ogrodnick

As was Adam Graves

Kelly Kisio one of the hardest workers ever pound for pound .

NYR Cup winner #26 Joey Kocur

 

[Boris Zubov]

NYR Cup winner #26 Joey Kocur

Kocur was a throw-in in the deal that brought us DRW legend, Per Djoos.

 

[Roo Returns]

Kocur was a throw-in in the deal that brought us DRW legend, Per Djoos.

I saw someone with a Djoos jersey at the 2012 Winter Classic in Philly. I still have it on an external somewhere.

I've talked about it here a few times, Kocur was brought in because the Rangers didn't want a repeat of the playoff series with the Islanders where although they won, they got beat up (poor Jeff Bloemberg).

The issue was the trade completely backfired as Kisso was playing through a Charlie horse injury, and the Rangers traded Kevin Miller who was doing a serviceable job filling in at center. Kissio wasn't 100% the rest of that year and the Rangers fell out of first place and got beat pretty bad by Washington in the playoffs. They brought up both Weight and Amonte because they had a lack of center depth in Weight's case, and needed more scoring in Amonte's case.

This trade inadvertently led to Smith being done with the Kissio-Mullen-Ogrodnick connection, and Bernie Nicholls as a main guy.

 

[leetch99]

Kocur was a throw-in in the deal that brought us DRW legend, Per Djoos.

Plus we had Kris King....who was scared of NOTHING ! Had 3 solid seasons with us and 29 playoff games ! Perfect team glue guy fought up many times for the club .

 

[will1066]

Chris Kontos

 

[cwede]

Chris Kontos

Wow forgot that
he was drafted 15OA
and that NYR had him make the NHL roster at age 18 for full season

 

[Roo Returns]

Wow forgot that
he was drafted 15OA
and that NYR had him make the NHL roster at age 18 for full season

I remember him on Tampa Bay putting up good numbers at the end of his career.

 

[Roo Returns]

Plus we had Kris King....who was scared of NOTHING ! Had 3 solid seasons with us and 29 playoff games ! Perfect team glue guy fought up many times for the club .

I loved him all those bottom 6 guys on the early Neilson teams: Mallette, Jansens, Brotten. All of them had cajones. Some of those moves worked out really well (Graves signing as an RFA led to Mallette shipped back as compensation), while as much I loved Eddie O and he was super cool signing stuff for me as a young kid during the summer of 1994, I loved King and was sad to see him go in late 1992. I never quite got that move.

I never realized he was a Capitals pick who was in the Red Wings organization before being traded to the Rangers. Makes perfect sense as Neil Smith knew him.

 

[leetch99]

I loved him all those bottom 6 guys on the early Neilson teams: Mallette, Jansens, Brotten. All of them had cajones. Some of those moves worked out really well (Graves signing as an RFA led to Mallette shipped back as compensation), while as much I loved Eddie O and he was super cool signing stuff for me as a young kid during the summer of 1994, I loved King and was sad to see him go in late 1992. I never quite got that move.

I never realized he was a Capitals pick who was in the Red Wings organization before being traded to the Rangers. Makes perfect sense as Neil Smith knew him.

Yes....it was hard not to like Mallette and Jannsens who both brought some piss and vinegar to our club . Both big guys who had no problem dropping the gloves .I hated seeing them go but that is the nature of the beast in the NHL . Then you have Broten who went with Gallant in the 2nd bout of WWF action at MSG on that big night Tie Domi stripped the belt from Probert . I doubt there was a Ranger fn in North America who was sitting down when it was going on . Most of us had grins for 3 days . It definitely would be in my top 10 Ranger memories over the last 50 years.....which would make for a great post ! I had to spend 5 Grand to have a big 10ft satellite dish to watch them back then ......and it was worth every cent .

 

[Boris Zubov]

Yes....it was hard not to like Mallette and Jannsens who both brought some piss and vinegar to our club . Both big guys who had no problem dropping the gloves .I hated seeing them go but that is the nature of the beast in the NHL . Then you have Broten who went with Gallant in the 2nd bout of WWF action at MSG on that big night Tie Domi stripped the belt from Probert . I doubt there was a Ranger fn in North America who was sitting down when it was going on . Most of us had grins for 3 days . It definitely would be in my top 10 Ranger memories over the last 50 years.....which would make for a great post ! I had to spend 5 Grand to have a big 10ft satellite dish to watch them back then ......and it was worth every cent .

That was an epic night at MSG. Feels like another lifetime.

Janssens was a decent 4th liner, but his skating really held him back & was the biggest reason his career stalled out. Mallette had a ton of heart, but not much talent. Losing him for Graves was a gift from above....& the NHL arbitrator.

 

[Roo Returns]

That was an epic night at MSG. Feels like another lifetime.

Janssens was a decent 4th liner, but his skating really held him back & was the biggest reason his career stalled out. Mallette had a ton of heart, but not much talent. Losing him for Graves was a gift from above....& the NHL arbitrator.

It really was. That entire era, I can still remember it vividly for as young as I was, but we're talking like 1989-1992 almost 35 years ago.

 

[markymarc1215]

I loved him all those bottom 6 guys on the early Neilson teams: Mallette, Jansens, Brotten. All of them had cajones. Some of those moves worked out really well (Graves signing as an RFA led to Mallette shipped back as compensation), while as much I loved Eddie O and he was super cool signing stuff for me as a young kid during the summer of 1994, I loved King and was sad to see him go in late 1992. I never quite got that move.

I never realized he was a Capitals pick who was in the Red Wings organization before being traded to the Rangers. Makes perfect sense as Neil Smith knew him.

I'd also add Gilhen, Erixon, Domi, heck even Steven King looked good for a bit. You are right. The bottom 6 played with tons of heart and grit and also seemed to elevate their games in the playoffs. Kris King was my favorite of the bunch. Eddie O was a huge bust with us. Never put it together for whatever reason aside from a hat trick in the 92-93 season. But each of the 3 years he was here, he got worse. The 94-95 version was barely NHL caliber. Then of course he goes to Pittsburgh and finds his footing again.

I was also a fan of the Binghamton callups in those days as well and wished they got more of a chance. Ric Bennett, Brian McReynolds, Steven Rice, Craig Duncanson, etc

 

[will1066]

One of my favorite Rangers memories was Kris King singling me out in the crowd to toss me a puck during warm-ups.

 

[eco's bones]

Yes....it was hard not to like Mallette and Jannsens who both brought some piss and vinegar to our club . Both big guys who had no problem dropping the gloves .I hated seeing them go but that is the nature of the beast in the NHL . Then you have Broten who went with Gallant in the 2nd bout of WWF action at MSG on that big night Tie Domi stripped the belt from Probert . I doubt there was a Ranger fn in North America who was sitting down when it was going on . Most of us had grins for 3 days . It definitely would be in my top 10 Ranger memories over the last 50 years.....which would make for a great post ! I had to spend 5 Grand to have a big 10ft satellite dish to watch them back then ......and it was worth every cent .

Speaking of Mallette. Sometimes it's interesting finding out what they go on to after their hockey careers. Mallette became a fireman.......as did Jack Egers who played for the Rangers in the 70's and died of pulmonary fibrosis probably from inhaling too much smoke. Bart (not to be mistaken for Bert) Wilson was drafted by the Rangers but never played in the NHL. He was Behn Wilson's brother with pretty much the same kind of game. He played one year in the minors for the Rangers AHL team in Springfield and led the team in defense scoring and had about 170 penalty minutes. He then decided to take another path in life and became a dentist. Instead of knocking out teeth he started fixing them. He died a couple years ago too.

 

[Profet]

12 years... sheesh. Been a long time.

 

[cwede]

12 years... sheesh. Been a long time.

 

[will1066]

Kris King was mentioned. One year, the team had both Chris Nilan and Kris King. Now that's toffness.

And also 1986 Norm Maciver broke into the league with us.

 

[leetch99]

Nilan was just here a few weeks ago at our golf course for a fundraiser for Boys and Girls Club . They had a Hot Stove type of event over a couple of nights with D Potvin -Sittler -Nilan and a couple of other guys I forget their names.....maybe Andre Roy ex TBL tough guy ? It was hosted by Liam Maguire .

 

[cwede]

this game popped into my mind this weekend