Happy New York Rangers Anniversary, “Nicky Boy”

Forty-four years ago, Nick Fotiu became the first native New Yorker to play for the New York Rangers.

Nick Fotiu was tough and stubborn. He had to be. For starters, he grew up in the blue-collar Dongon Hills-South Beach section of Staten Island. For another, as a kid, he told anybody who would listen that he would someday play for his favorite NHL team, his hometown New York Rangers.

This, even though he didn’t learn to skate until he was 15 and had to travel by ferry, subway, and rail to get ice time at Skateland, the Blueshirts’ old practice rink in New Hyde Park on Long Island. By the time he made his professional debut with the WHA’s New England Whalers in 1974-75, he was an average skater (at best).

Listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Fotiu’s hands weren’t made of stone but were hard enough to catch flyballs at Yankees games, according to the fabulous book 100 Ranger Greats, tri-authored by Russ Cohen, Adam Raider, and the late John Halligan, who spent more than 40 years in pro hockey in public relations, media, and communications for both the Rangers and the NHL.

What Fotiu lacked in hockey talent and skating ability, he made up for with grit, heart, fearlessness, and, most importantly, by never forgetting where he came from. After signing as a free agent with the Rangers on July 23, 1976, Fotiu often lingered on the ice until the end of warmups to toss pucks to the diehards in the Garden’s blue seats.

Fotiu told The Hockey News in 2011 his best memory in hockey: “I have two. When I first stepped on the ice at Madison Square Garden. I wasn’t crazy anymore. And when I picked up a kid after warmups and skated him around the Garden ice. He had crutches. About five days later I got a letter. I was reading it at my locker. It was from that kid. He said, ‘I’ll never be able to walk again, but you were my legs.’ I sat there struck. I never knew he was crippled. I’ll never forget that.”

Fotiu played 465 games in two stints with the Rangers, notching 41 goals, 62 assists, and 970 penalty minutes. He ranks sixth among all-time Blueshirts in PIMs, and the five players ahead of him all played more games.

Fotiu always insisted his worst times in hockey were leaving the Rangers. First he was claimed by the Hartford Whalers in the 1979 Entry Draft, then he was traded to Calgary in March 1986.