10 best free agent signings in New York Rangers history
The New York Rangers have a reputation for throwing boatloads of money at big time free agents. Here’s a look back at their most successful free agent forays.
As one of the richest teams in the NHL, the New York Rangers were often able to outbid other teams when it came to big name free agents. As Ranger fans are well aware, some of these signings didn’t turn out so well. The Rangers do have a decent record of signing free agents who starred for the team, though.
Here’s a look at the top ten free agent signings since expansion. This list will include only established NHL players, not undrafted or unsigned draft picks.
Honorable Mentions
Guy Lafleur (1988)
The Rangers signed Guy Lafleur after he had been retired for three years. In a thrilling comeback, “The Flower” scored 18 goals and proved he still had skill (although he hid his flowing hair under a helmet).
Michael Grabner (2016)
Grabner’s two-year contract can only be described as a steal. The fleet right winger proved to be an adept penalty killer and clutch scorer. For two seasons he was one of NHL’s best in 5×5 goal scoring.
Anton Stralman (2011)
When the Rangers signed defenseman Anton Stralman it was an under the radar acquisition of a journeyman. When they let him go to sign with Tampa three years later it was seen as one of the worst management moves in Ranger history.
Martin Straka (2005)
Another one of Jaromir Jagr’s checkmates, Straka was the third member of the Nylander-Jagr line. Straka played three productive seasons with the Rangers and helped guide the team back into the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
Benoit Pouliot (2013)
Pouliot only played one season for the Rangers, but on a line with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello, he was one of the key cogs on a team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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#10: Nick Fotiu (1976)
Known as one of the best enforcers in team history, Nick Fotiu brought much needed toughness to Madison Square Garden. The team was only one year removed from the beating former Flyers enforcer Dave Schultz inflicted on Ranger defenseman Dale Rolfe in the 1974 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was a time when the Broad Street Bullies ruled hockey and pugilistic ability was as important as goal scoring.
Staten Island native Fotiu had played two seasons in the WHA in New England and had established his reputation as a tough guy who could skate. GM John Ferguson cut an unusual deal to get Fotiu’s negotiating rights from New England, agreeing to play some exhibition games in Hartford over the next few years.
He had an immediate impact when he became a Ranger. In his first season he scored only four goals, but did accumulate 174 penalty minutes.
His 190 penalty minutes in 1978-79 was the second highest total in Rangers history (Lou Fontinato had 206 PIM in 1956). He played four games in the Rangers’ drive to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979.
Fotiu became a fan favorite and is best remembered for his habit of throwing pucks to the fans in the blue seats after pre-game warmups. Left exposed in the 1979 expansion draft, he was claimed by Hartford, but the Rangers traded to get him back in 1981 Fotiu played eight seasons in New York and is sixth on the all-time list for penalty minutes with 970.
Fotiu makes the list because of the impact he had in bringing respect to the Rangers at a time when toughness was all-important.
#9: Brad Richards (2011)
Brad RIchards was the marquee free agent in the summer of 2011. Glen Sather was determined to get his man and signed him to a nine-year $60 million contract.
The 31-year old Richards was seen as a dynamic leader who would take the Rangers to greatness. While he achieved some success as a Blueshirt, Richards is the one free agent who makes both the best and worst free agent signings lists.
Richards played three seasons in New York, scoring 25 goals in his first season and leading the team to a 109-point season and the Presidents Trophy. Reunited with coach John Tortorella, Richards made the signing look good that season, but the next season his relationship with the coach disintegrated when he was shuffled from the top line to the fourth line and after he was benched for the last two games of the 2013 playoffs.
Richards rebounded in his third and last season in New York under Alain Vigneault. Once he was reunited with Martin St. Louis, there was playoff magic as he played a key role in the team’s drive to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Richards’ finest moment as a Ranger was his power play goal with 6.6 remaining in game five of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. That goal tied the game and led to Marc Staal’s winning goal in the first overtime and it gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead in that series.
While he was still a useful and productive player, the Rangers couldn’t afford his bloated contract and they bought him out after the 2014 season. He went on to win his second Stanley Cup the next year with the Blackhawks.
#8: Michael Nylander (2004)
Michael Nylander only played two seasons on Broadway, but they were magical.
As center for Jaromir Jagr and on the top power play unit, he helped the Rangers to the 100-point mark for the first time in over a decade.
Signed to a three-year $8.9 million contract in the summer of 2004, Nylander spent the next lockout season in Europe. His $2.8 million annual salary proved to be a bargain. In his debut season, he averaged almost a point a game (23-56-79) and helped Jagr to the greatest offensive season by a player in franchise history. He did even better in his second season with 83 points and and 13 points in 10 playoff games.
The Rangers failed to exercise an option for a fourth season (the first year was lost due to the lockout) and the 34-year old Nylander signed a four-year $19.5 million deal with the Capitals. Without Nylander, Jagr’s performance suffered. With that decline in production, the Rangers made no attempt to sign Jagr and he left for the KHL.
Michael Nylander was a gifted center who helped the Rangers become a playoff team again. He was also perhaps the slowest skater in shootout history as he would slowly make his way up ice before deking and scoring. The Nylander bloodlines continue in the NHL with his sons William and Alexander both potential NHL stars.
#7: Michal Rozsival (2005)
When the Rangers signed 27-year old defenseman Michal Rozsival to a one-year contract the summer of 2005, it bare made a ripple. At $703k it was a bargain basement deal and was one of the most savvy of Glen Sather’s signings. As one of Jaromir Jagr’s “Czech-mates,” Rozsival played all 82 games with five goals and 30 points. He led the team in plus/minus with +35.
Sather re-signed the defenseman to a two year deal at a reasonable $2.1 million per year and Rozsival continued to contribute as a top defenseman on a good Ranger team, notching career highs in goals (13) and assists (40). In April, 2007, Rozsival scored in double overtime in the playoffs against Buffalo. That goal ended the longest home playoff game for the Rangers in over 35 years.
Michal Rozsival makes a lot of lists as one of the worst free agent signings in Ranger history, because of his third contract with New York. Rather than lose him, Sather gave him a four-year, $20 million contract at a time when his career was beginning to decline. The Rangers were able to shed that contract in its third year when they traded Rozsival to Phoenix for Wojtek Wolski.
Rozsival went on to play six more seasons in the NHL and to win two Stanley Cups as a stalwart on the Chicago Blackhawks blueline. While his Ranger career went south due to a ridiculous contract, he still has to rank as one of the better free agent signings in team history.
#6: Wayne Gretzky (1996)
It’s hard to relegate the acquisition of the greatest player in NHL history to sixth place when ranking free agent signings, but Gretzky was another in a long line of great players who joined the Rangers too late. Gretzky was already 36 when he inked a two-year $8 million deal to reunite with Mark Messier.
Even in the twilight of a brilliant career, Gretzky had three very solid seasons as a Ranger. He was a second team All-Star in his first two seasons and won the Lady Byng Trophy in his final NHL season. He led the NHL in assists in 1997 (72) and 1998 (67).
In 1996-97, Gretzky led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals. He scored 25 goals and had a team leading 97 points. His 46 even strength assists is still a team record (shared with Messier).
In the playoffs, he scored 10 goals and had 20 points in 15 games. The 1997 playoffs were his last, as the Rangers let Messier depart that summer and the team began a seven year playoff drought.
It was a privilege for Ranger fans to have an opportunity to observe Gretzky’s incredible talent. His three seasons in New York were his only years in the Eastern Conference and it’s a great tragedy that the Rangers could not field a team that was a playoff contender in his last two seasons.
#5: Pierre Larouche (1983)
“Lucky Pierre” Larouche was a top goal scorer who had been the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals with two different teams (Pittsburgh and Montreal). He had already been traded twice when he was declared a free agent after he refused to sign a termination contract with the Hartford Whalers after suffering a back injury.
The Rangers leaped at the chance to sign a player with a deft scoring touch, but a sketchy reputation.
In his first season, Larouche lived up to his reputation as a goal scorer with 48, the second most in team history. His .71 goals per game average still ranks as the third best in team history. He is one of only 10 Rangers to get three hat tricks in one season.
The Rangers of the 80’s had the misfortune of running into excellent Islanders and Flyers teams in the playoffs, losing to them in seven of eight playoff seasons. Larouche was one of Herb Brooks’ “Smurfs,” along with the likes of Mark Pavelich and Reijo Ruotsalainen.
Larouche went on to play three more seasons in New York and was a top offensive contributor. In 1985-86, in a bizarre move, rookie coach Ted Sator banished Larouche and other established Rangers to the minors.
When he scored 22 goals in 32 games in the AHL, the Rangers recalled him and he proved his demotion a folly by scoring 20 goals and averaging a point a game in the last 28 games of the season.
Larouche battled a chronic bad back throughout his career. It finally forced him into retirement after 10 games in 1987 at age 32. Even with the bad back he had 12 points in his last 10 games that season.
#4: Marian Gaborik (2009)
27-year-old Marian Gaborik was at his peak with he signed a five-year, $37 million deal in the summer of 2009.
The Rangers had their eyes on Gaborik ever since December 2007 when he put five goals past Henrik Lundqvist in one of the most embarrassing losses in team history. Gaborik was signed after playing in only 17 games for the Wild while recovering from hip surgery. In Gaborik, the Rangers thought they were getting one of the top natural goal scorers in the NHL.
They were right.
Finally free of the defense-first philosophy of Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, Gaborik blossomed in New York. He was a scoring threat every time he touched the puck and finished with 42 goals and 44 assists.
In his second season he missed 20 games with various injuries, but still notched 22 goals. His third season was one of his finest, as he was a second team All-Star and played all 82 games, scoring 41 goals.
It was in the 2012 playoffs that Gaborik’s Rangers career hit a snag. Gaborik was one of the veterans singled out by Ranger coach John Tortorella for under-performing in the Conference Finals against New Jersey,
While Gaborik only had 11 points in 20 playoffs games, he had scored a triple overtime game winner in the second round vs. Washington. After the playoffs, it was revealed that Gaborik had played the last two rounds with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Tortorella never acknowledged the injury while criticizing Gaborik’s effort.
Gaborik had major surgery and was ready to play when the 2013 season started in January, however, he got off to a slow start and was tormented by the coach, demoted to the fourth line and shifted to left wing.
It was clear the team was shopping him at the trade deadline and sure enough, he was dispatched to Columbus with an hour to spare before the trade deadline for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore.
He did get the last laugh when he won the Stanley Cup with the 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
There’s no doubt that the Kings wouldn’t have won the Stanley Cup that spring without him. He led all playoff scorers with 14 goals and added eight assists for 22 points in 26 games. In the Finals against his former teammates, Gaborik scored crucial third period tying goals in games two and five that led to overtime wins for the Kings.
Rangers fans will never know if Gaborik would have thrived in Alain Vigneault’s uptempo offensive structure.
#3 and #2: Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg (1978)
Hedberg and Nilsson. They are joined at the hip.
Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson were two of the first Europeans to come to North America and they joined Bobby Hull to form one of the most feared lines in the WHA. Hedberg and Nilsson spent four seasons with the Winnipeg Jets as perennial All-Stars.
They both became free agents in the summer of 1978 and Rangers general manager John Ferguson made them the highest paid players in the NHL as they signed two-year contracts for $475,000 a season.
Hedberg gets the nod as the second best free agent signee because of his longevity. He spent seven years on Broadway. Aside from 1981-82 when a knee injury limited him to only four games, Hedberg played 461 out of a possible 480 games.
He scored 172 goals and had 397 points, topping the 30 goal mark four times in seven years. He capped a brilliant career by winning the Masterton Trophy in 1985. He was a clutch playoff performer, with 46 points in 58 games and reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979.
Ulf Nilsson was a great player, but his career is really a question of what he could have achieved if he had not suffered a couple of devastating injuries. Due to those injuries, Nilsson missed 150 games over his four seasons on Broadway.
Nilsson was an outstanding playmaker and he had a fabulous start as a Ranger. In his debut season he had scored 27 goals and had 66 points in only 59 games when he suffered a severely broken ankle. While he blamed a rut in the the bad Garden ice, Ranger fans have always blamed Denis Potvin who threw the check that led to the injury.
To make matters worse, the Rangers fell short in the 1979 playoffs, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the Finals. Although Nilsson returned for the last two games, he was a shell of himself and Ranger fans can only speculate what a healthy Nilsson would have meant to that team.
It was that body check by Denis Potvin in February 1979 that led to the “Potvin sucks” chant which is now tradition at Madison Square Garden.
In the 1980-81 season, injuries limited him to only 51 games. He starred in the playoffs with eight goals and had eight assists in 14 games. The Rangers made it to the third round where they were swept by their arch-rivals New York Islanders who were to go on to win their second of four straight Cups.
He suffered what amounted to a career ending knee injury while playing for Team Sweden at the 1981 Canada Cup. He missed the entire 1981-82 season and returned to only play ten more games for the Rangers before retiring in 1983 at the age of 32.
#1: Adam Graves (1991)
In the history of the NHL, only 35 players have signed offer sheets as Group 1 free agents (requiring compensation). That includes four signed by the Rangers.
Their first attempt was Edmonton winger Geoff Courtnall in 1988. The Oilers traded him to the Capitals who matched the offer.
In 1995, the Rangers signed enforcer Stu Grimson to a five-year, $2.5 million contract only to see Detroit match it.
The last Rangers offer sheet was in 1997 when the Blueshirts signed Colorado star center Joe Sakic to a three-year, $21 million contract only to see the Avalanche match.
Their one successful foray into offer sheets was when they signed 23-year old Adam Graves to a five-year, $2.44 million contract. This is the one free agent signing that shines head and shoulders above all others and ranks as the best in Ranger history.
While Graves was an attractive prospect, he had only played four seasons in the NHL, never topping nine goals and 25 assists in a season. Edmonton chose to not match the offer and instead were content to take former Rangers second round draft pick Troy Mallette, as compensation.
The decision to sign Graves was not well received at the time. Although the Oilers had asked for Steve Rice and Louie Debrusk, the Rangers resisted. The case went to arbitration and to the chagrin of many Rangers fans, Troy Mallette was Edmonton bound.
Mallette had scored more goals than Graves and had been one of the tougher players on team with 305 and 252 PIM’s his first two seasons. It’s a credit to GM Neil Smith that he knew what he was getting, having scouted and drafted him while with the Detroit Red Wings.
Adam Graves will go down in history as one of the greatest New York Rangers. He was the second player in team history to top the 50 goal mark. He ranks in the top 10 in practically every offensive category and is third overall in career goals behind Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle.
Next. 10 worst free agent signings in Rangers history. dark
As skillful as he was on the ice, Graves also epitomized good sportsmanship, winning both the King Clancy and the Masterton Trophies, the only Ranger to do so. For his on ice achievements and his length of service as a New York Ranger, Adam Graves remains the best free agent signing of all time.