The New York Rangers will retire Jean Ratelle’s number 19 tonight mostly in front of fans who never watched him. While they may know him only from archive footage, let’s hope the crowd gives him a rousing ovation. “Gentleman” Jean Ratelle is easily one of the greatest Rangers of all time.
Though Ratelle’s Rangers story features plenty of “shoulda, coulda, woulda,” it began with pure luck. As a kid, he attended a boarding school in Quebec and befriended a boy named Rod Gilbert. When a Rangers scout signed Gilbert, he demanded they sign his childhood friend as well.
Ratelle, Gilbert, and Vic Hadfield eventually starred on the famous “GAG” line, which is short for “goal a game.” They were far from an overnight success, though.
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Early struggles
At the start of his NHL career, both Jean Ratelle and the Rangers struggled. Ratelle made his NHL debut with a three-game stint in the 1960-61 season.
Ratelle played sparingly over the next few years and suffered a back injury in 1963-64, which almost ended his career. The injury forced him to undergo spinal chord surgery, but Ratelle managed to recover.
On top of his health issues, Ratelle found himself fighting with Rangers management.
"“Management in New York put a lot of pressure on me,” Jean sighed. “They wanted me to play a more aggressive brand of hockey, but that just wasn’t the way I played the game.” At one point, Ratelle considered quitting hockey to attempt a career with the Milwaukee Braves of Major League Baseball."
At the same time, the Rangers were in the midst of one of their weakest periods. New York did not win a single playoff series between 1950 and 1971. They also missed the playoffs 12 times over that stretch.
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A new era
Just as Henrik Lundqvist dragged the Rangers from the dark ages in 05-06, Ratelle helped return the Rangers to prominence. An exciting core of Ratelle, Gilbert, Hadfield, Brad Park, and Eddie Giacomin made New York into contenders.
Ratelle’s breakthrough to stardom came in the 67-68 season when he posted 78 points at the age of 27. From that year forward, Ratelle scored 663 of the 817 points of his Ranger career.
His best season came in 71-72 when the “GAG” line set the league on fire. Rod Gilbert notched 97 points. Vic Hadfield potted 106 points and became the first Ranger to score 50 goals.
Ratelle shined brighter than anyone with a staggering 109 points in 63 games. Unfortunately, Ratelle missed the season’s last 16 games after teammate Dale Rolfe broke his ankle with a shot.
At the time of his injury, Ratelle was only four points back of Phil Esposito for the scoring title. He wound up finishing third in the NHL despite the injury. His 109 points stood as New York’s single season record until Jaromir Jagr’s 123 point 05-06 campaign.
Despite missing Ratelle, the Rangers topped Montreal in six games and then swept Chicago to reach the Stanley Cup Final. A clearly diminished Ratelle returned to face Bobby Orr’s Bruins, but he managed only one assist in a six game defeat.
Ratelle’s Rangers faced similar disappointments in the following years. Most notably, they lost 4-3 in game seven of the semi-finals against Philadelphia in 73-74.
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A terrible mistake
The Rangers had an awful start to their 75-76 season. With a disappointing 5-7-1 record, coach and general manager Emile Francis decided to shake up his roster. He traded Ratelle, Brad Park, and Joe Zanussi to Boston for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.
Despite the gamble, New York missed the playoffs in the 75-76 season. While Esposito helped take the Rangers on an improbable run to the 78-79 Stanley Cup Final, the trade hurt more than it helped.
Esposito finished with 404 points in 422 games with the Rangers. Meanwhile, Ratelle scored 450 points in 419 games with the Bruins. Of course, Park outscored Vadnais 518 to 255 over the remainder of their careers as well.
To make matters worse, the Rangers dealt a young Rick Middleton to Boston for an aging Ken Hodge. They were trying to make Esposito more comfortable in New York. They wound up missing out on 898 points of Middleton’s borderline Hall of Fame career.
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Despite the premature end to his Ranger career, Ratelle ranks third all time in points (817), second in goals (336), and sixth in games played (862). He remains one of only six Rangers to score 100 or more points in a season. Also, he’s still the most recent homegrown Ranger center to reach the Hall of Fame.