New U.S Hockey Hall of Famer Tony Granato’s connection to the 1994 Stanley Cup

The New York Rangers will be represented by  Tony Granato in the 2020 class of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

USA Hockey announced the four 2020 inductees into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and there is a New York Rangers connection to one of them.  Tony Granato was drafted by the Rangers and began his career in New York.  Traded by the Blueshirts, he went to have a 13 year NHL career and spent three years as the coach of the Colorado Avalanche.

He is currently the coach at the University of Wisconsin where K’Andre Miller was one of  his players the lat two years. Granato has a place in Rangers lore because he was one reason the Rangers were ultimately able to end the chants of “1940.”

Also inducted were Jerry York who was an NCAA coach for 48 years, Dean Blais who led North Dakota to two national championships and Jenny Potter, one of three women to compete in three Olympic Games, winning a gold medal in 1998.

The biggest deal

Tony Granato was a sixth round pick (120th overall)  in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. It was a productive year for late round picks as the Rangers also snatched Kelly Miller in the ninth round that draft.

After he was drafted he spent four years at the University of  Wisconsin, but at 5’10” and 180 pounds, the odds were against him making it to an NHL that valued size and strength. He was a prolific scorer at Wisconsin, scoring 28 goals and 73 points in 42 games his senior year.

After a year in the minor leagues and with the US National team, he made it to the NHL in the 1988-90 season.  In his first season he led the team with 36 goals, a franchise rookie record that still stands.

In his next season he was a part of what the Rangers called the “biggest deal in club history.” Granato, hampered by a groin injury, had scored only seven goals in  37 games when he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings with winger Tomas Sandstrom for 28 year old Bernie Nicholls.

Nicholls was fresh off a season when he scored 70 goals and 150 points for the Kings.  Dubbed “Broadway Bernie” he was the star the Rangers desperately wanted and they felt it was worth sacrificing two budding stars who had combined for 68 goals and 151 points the same year.

Sandstrom went on to play nine more seasons in the NHL, scoring 45 goals in 1990-91 and winning a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 1997.  Granato played 11 more years, topping the 30 goal mark three times with the Kings.

The Messier connection

As for Nicholls, he played only one full season in New York before he was involved in what really was the biggest deal in club history. In October 1991, he was traded along with Louie DeBrusk and Steven Rice to the Edmonton Oilers for Mark Messier.  And the rest is history.

So, Tony Granato still lives in the record books as the player who holds the Rangers’ record for most goals by a rookie and as an integral piece of the puzzle that led to the Rangers breaking the curse and winning the Stanley Cup in 1994.

Congratulations to Tony Granato and his fellow inductees to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.