Blue Line Station
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New York Rangers goalies revisited: So close

By Brett Schultz

Canadian hockey player John Davidson, goalkeeper for the New York Rangers, on the ice during a playoff game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, 1979. (Photo by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images)
Canadian hockey player John Davidson, goalkeeper for the New York Rangers, on the ice during a playoff game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, 1979. (Photo by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images) /
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New York Rangers
NEW YORK – 1951: Ted Lindsay #7 of the Detroit Red Wings tries to score in front of the New York Rangers net (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images) /

Chuck Rayner

Chuck Rayner played nine seasons in the NHL, a career interrupted by three years of service in the Royal Canadian Navy. He turned pro in 1940, joining the New York Americans, fellow tenants of Madison Square Garden who were founded one year before the team we know and love.

MSG management also owned the Rangers and they forced the Americans out of Manhattan in 1941. After a year spent mostly in the AHL, Rayner became the leading goalie for the Amerks’ final season in Brooklyn. Their demise is the reason nobody refers to an “Original Seven”.

After his stint in the navy, the man known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” signed with the Rangers in 1945. Chuck Rayner was a mainstay in goal for the next seven seasons, playing well for bad teams. He never had a winning regular season record in the NHL, even in 1949-50, when he won the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. That year, the Rangers made the Stanley Cup Finals, going up against the Boston Bruins.

They won two games in overtime, taking Boston to a Game Seven, but lost in double OT. This was the last Stanley Cup Final where one team did not host a game as the circus had once again taken over Madison Square Garden, forcing New York to play their ‘home’ games at a neutral site in Toronto.

Injured in 1953, Rayner lost his starting job to Gump Worsley. He knocked around in the minors before finally retiring. In 1973, Chuck Rayner was elected to the Hall of Fame, one of only a handful of goalies enshrined with a losing record.

Fun fact:

As of 2019, there were 284 players (including six women) elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. And only 36 goaltenders.

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