In ‘The Cat’s’ doghouse: Two players Emile Francis dumped abruptly

Welcome to another edition of Blueshirts Briefs, a series profiling individuals who worked a short shift for the New York Rangers.

This week, we’ll take a look at two players who didn’t last long with the New York Rangers after crossing general manager and coach Emile “The Cat” Francis — and how a Boston Bruins player unwittingly played a role in each one’s exit from Broadway.

First up is goalie Cesare Maniago, whom Francis brought to Broadway with Eddie Giacomin when he took over hockey operations in 1965. Himself a goalie for the Blueshirts for 22 games across four seasons beginning in 1948, Francis wanted to build the Rangers from the goal out and figured to have Maniago and Giacomin battle for the starting job.

Giacomin, 26 years old, and Maniago, 27, shared the duties in 1965-66, with Eddie G. appearing in 36 games, Maniago 28. The next season, the duo continued to split time until Maniago made up Francis’ mind for him.

In a game against the Boston Bruins on November 9, 1966, at Madison Square Garden, Maniago took a puck to the chin off the stick of Johnny McKenzie. The young “veteran” netminder needed to leave the ice for medical attention and was replaced by Giacomin.

Neither the injury nor Giacomin’s work in relief spelled Maniago’s demise on Broadway. Rather, Maniago’s refusal to re-enter the match after receiving medical treatment infuriated Francis, who by the evening’s end saw Giacomin and the Rangers surrender two goals in the final 89 seconds of regulation and settle for a 3-3 tie.

Maniago’s refusal to play through pain didn’t sit well with Francis, who suffered multiple broken noses, torn ligaments in both knees, separated shoulders, and more than 250 stitches to mend various open wounds during his professional playing days, which included 73 matches with the Chicago Black Hawks and more than a dozen in the minor leagues.

“So the next day (after the Boston game) I was still pretty mad,” Francis is quoted in George Grimm’s Guardians of the Goal. “I went over to Maniago after practice and I said we’re in this game as teammates to protect one another. I don’t see how you could have been hurt so badly that you couldn’t go back in the game. I said, ‘I’ve gone back (into games) with eight broken noses and over 200 stitches and I didn’t back down, not one minute.’ So (then) I said, ‘Up until now I really didn’t know who the hell was going to be the next goalkeeper of the New York Rangers, but now my mind’s made up: Eddie Giacomin’s gonna be the goalkeeper’ — and that was in front of the whole team.”

And that was also one night after some in the Garden crowd had thrown garbage at Giacomin after the Bruins tied the match. “I told Eddie I’ve never seen anything as embarrassing as what happened last night,” Francis said. “Now when those people throw s–t at you, you throw it right back at them and I’ll be right there beside you. Well, guess what? The next game (on November 12) in Montreal, Giacomin was sensational. His whole career started from that moment on.”

Giacomin beat the Canadiens that night, stopping 23 of 26 shots, and started the Rangers’ next 35 contests. He finished the season having led the league in games, minutes, wins, saves, and shutouts; he also earned a First Team All-Star selection and finished second in voting for the Hart Trophy behind Chicago’s Stan Mikita.

Maniago, meanwhile, was finished in New York. Acquired in June 1965 from Montreal with Garry Peters for Noel Price, Earl Ingarfield, Gord Labossiere, Dave McComb, and cash, Maniago lasted just 34 games on Broadway, where he posted a 9-15-5 record, 3.54 goals-against average, .891 save percentage, and two shutouts. Francis didn’t shed any tears when was claimed in the NHL’s Expansion Draft on June 6, 1967, by the Minnesota North Stars.

Maniago spent nine years in Minnesota and was one of the league’s better goalies despite playing for mostly poor squads, notching a 3.18 GAA, .906 Sv%, 26 shutouts, 145 wins, and 70 ties in 420 matches. In August 1976, at age 37, he was traded to Vancouver, where he posted a 27-45-17 record over two seasons for the Canucks before retiring.

A ‘Real’ Problem

The list of great hockey players who wore No. 9 for the Blueshirts is a long and prestigious one.

At the top, of course, are Andy Bathgate and Adam Graves, who have banners in their honor hanging in the Garden’s rafters.

Right behind them is Murray Murdoch, who didn’t miss a single regular season or playoff game in his 11 seasons on Broadway (563 matches in all),  and a member of a checking line that helped the Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1928 and ’33.

Other notables are Hall of Famer Lynn Patrick, scorers Ulf Dahlen and Bernie Nicholls, and Pentti Lund, the Rangers’ first Finnish-born player, who won the Calder Trophy in 1948-49 and helped the Blueshirts to the 1950 Finals with six goals in 12 matches that postseason.

I’d even add Rick Middleton to the list. It isn’t his fault the Rangers were dumb enough to trade the right-winger, then 22 years old, to the Boston Bruins for Ken Hodge, a forward nearly ten years older.

One player who isn’t on this list is Real Lemieux. Lemieux made a different list — one that rhymes with “ship” and was kept by Francis.

Acquired from Los Angeles in June 1969 after posting back-to-back double-digit goal totals for the Kings, Lemieux (no relation to Mario or Claude) failed to replicate his production on Broadway and had just four goals through 55 games.

That was bad enough, but after the Rangers were manhandled by the Bruins in a 5-3 loss at Boston on February 26, 1970, Francis reportedly was furious, believing his team didn’t respond physically. Somebody had to go. That somebody was Lemieux, whom Francis felt ignored several challenges by McKenzie.

Two days later, Lemieux was back with the Kings, traded for tough-guy Ted Irvine.

Ironically, Lemieux was traded back to New York in November 1973 and played just eight games for the Rangers before being dealt to the Buffalo Sabres in January of ’74. In all, Lemieux appeared in 63 contests for the Blueshirts, notching four goals and six assists for 10 points, along with 51 penalty minutes.