Your All-Time Top 5 New York Rangers

The New York Rangers have had many great players don their classic jersey, but which are the top-five all time?

A little over a week ago, while patrolling the wild west of Twitter, I came across a tweet from the official NHL account:

Then, just this morning, the NHL tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1336733620933963777

Both of these posts got me thinking – if you, the passionate fans of New York, were asked to pick who you think the best Rangers of all-time were, who would you choose?

There has been a number of greats to play on Broadway, but I’d bet every penny I owned (both of them) that we won’t come up with a unanimous decision on this. The style of play has changed, the rules have changed, and side by side, the game today looks nothing like the game from sixty years ago.

Different generations are going to have different answers to this question. My grandfather’s answer is going to look a lot different than my fictional nephew’s answers. My grandfather would probably say Eddie Giacomin, Jean Ratelle, Andy Bathgate, Brad Park, and Rod Gilbert – if I had to guess. Meanwhile, my fictional, yet argumentatively sound nephew would probably say something like Kevin Weekes, Nigel Dawes, Wade Redden, Jed Ortmeyer, and Petr Prucha – you know, classic Rangers.

All jokes aside, some of the most iconic Rangers weren’t with the franchise very long. Jaromir Jagr was only with the Rangers for 277 regular-season games, but he tallied 319 points in that time. He also managed to produce the best individual season in terms of scoring with 54 goals and 123 points. Is that enough to put him in the top five Rangers all-time? He’s definitely a top-five Pittsburgh Penguin, but is he in the conversation for the Rangers as well?

Do you go back in time and look at someone like Bill Cook. Cook didn’t play in the NHL until he was 30-years-old, but he was the first player ever signed by the New York Rangers and was a part of the inaugural season. Whats more, he captained the team to not one, but two Stanley Cups. No other player has accomplished that in Rangers history.  Yet, because the year was 1928 and there were only six NHL teams, fans quickly forget. Not to mention, he served in the First World War so there’s that…

Well, what about the guys you don’t see on any all-time lists for the Rangers for whatever reason. Guys who were iconic Rangers, but maybe they weren’t scorers, or they didn’t play in New York long enough, or maybe they were simply a different breed of player. What about guys like Ron Duguay, Sergei Zubov, Brad Park, Jeff Beukeboom, and Harry Howell? Heck, what about players like Tie Domi or Sean Avery?

And dare I say it… do you consider Wayne Gretzky? Is end-of-his-career Gretzky still better than everyone else?

Comment your all-time top-five below, so we can argue about it.

Also, in case you were wondering, my all-time top-five Dallas Stars are Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, Ed Belfour, Derian Hatcher, and Brenden Morrow. My all-time top-five Pittsburgh Penguins are Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Paul Coffey, and Ron Francis. Carry on.

Here are a few career stats to jog your memories:

Regular Season

Games Played

1. Harry Howell – 1160
2. Brian Leetch – 1129
3. Rod Gilbert – 1065
4. Ron Greschner – 981
5. Walt Tkaczuk – 945
6. Marc Staal – 892
7. Henrik Lundqvist – 887
8. Jean Ratelle – 861
9. Vic Hadfield – 841
10. Jim Neilson – 811

Goals

1. Rod Gilbert  – 406
2. Jean Ratelle – 336
3. Adam Graves – 280
4. Andy Bathgate – 272
5. Vic Hadfield – 262
6. Camille Henry – 256
7. Mark Messier – 250
8. Steve Vickers – 246
9. Brian Leetch – 240
10. Bill Cook – 228

Assists

1. Brian Leetch – 741
2. Rod Gilbert – 615
3. Jean Ratelle – 481
4. Andy Bathgate – 457
5. Walt Tkaczuk – 451
6. Mark Messier – 441
7. Ron Greschner – 431
8. James Patrick – 363
9. Steve Vickers – 340
10. Vic Hadfield – 310

Points

1. Rod Gilbert – 1021
2. Brian Leetch – 981
3. Jean Ratelle – 817
4. Andy Bathgate – 729
5. Mark Messier – 691
6. Walt Tkaczuk – 678
7. Ron Greschner – 610
8. Steve Vickers – 586
9. Vic Hadfield – 572
10. Adam Graves – 507

Penalty Minutes

1. Ron Greschner – 1226
2. Jeff Beukeboom – 1157
3. Harry Howell – 1147
4. Dave Maloney – 1113
5. Vic Hadfield – 1041
6. Nick Fotiu – 970
7. Lou Fontinato – 940
8. Ivan “Ching” Johnson – 826
9. Adam Graves – 810
10. Barry Beck – 775

Wins

1. Henrik Lundqvist – 459
2. Mike Richter – 301
3. Ed Giacomin – 267
4. Gump Worsley – 204
5. John Vanbiesbrouck – 200
6. Dave Kerr – 157
7. Chuck Rayner – 123
8. Gilles Villemure – 98
9. John Davidson – 93
10. John Ross Roach – 80

Playoffs

Games Played

1. Henrik Lundqvist – 130
2. Dan Girardi – 122
3. Marc Staal – 107
4. Derek Stepan – 97
5. Ryan McDonagh – 96
6. Walt Tkaczuk – 93
7. Don Maloney – 85
8. Ron Greschner – 84
9. Brian Leetch – 82
10. Chris Kreider – 80

Goals

1. Rod Gilbert – 34
2. Mark Messier – 29
3. Adam Graves – 28
4. Ron Duguay – 28
5. Brian Leetch – 28
6. Steve Vickers – 24
7. Chris Kreider – 24
8. Anders Hedberg – 22
9. Vic Hadfield – 22
10. Don Maloney – 22

Assists

1. Brian Leetch – 61
2. Mark Messier – 51
3. Don Maloney – 35
4. Jean Ratelle – 33
5. Rod Gilbert – 33
6. Brad Park – 32
7. Ron Greschner – 32
8. Walt Tkaczuk – 32
9. Ryan McDonagh – 31
10. Derek Stepan – 30

Points

1. Brian Leetch – 89
2. Mark Messier – 80
3. Rod Gilbert – 67
4. Don Maloney – 57
5. Walt Tkaczuk – 51
6. Steve Vickers – 49
7. Ron Greschner – 49
8. Derek Stepan – 49
9. Ron Duguay – 47
10. Anders Hedberg – 46

Penalty Minutes

1. Ivan “Ching” Johnson – 150
2. Jeff Beukeboom – 147
3. Ed Hospodar – 135
4. Brad Park – 129
5. Walt Tkaczuk – 119
6. Vic Hadfield – 106
7. Ron Greschner – 106
8. Ron Duguay – 103
9. Ted Irvine – 102
10. Troy Mallette – 99

Wins

1. Henrik Lundqvist – 61
2. Mike Richter – 41
3. Eddie Giacomin – 29
4. Dave Kerr – 17
5. John Davidson – 16
6. John Vanbiesbrouck – 13
7. Eddie Mio – 9
8. Chuck Rayner – 9
9. John Ross Roach – 9
10. Steve Baker – 7

Single Season Records

Goals

1. Jaromir Jagr – 54
2. Adam Graves – 52
3. Vic Hadfield – 50
4. Mike Gartner – 49
5. Pierre Larouche – 48
6. Mark Messier – 47
7. Jean Ratelle – 46
8. Mike Gartner – 45
9. Rod Gilbert – 43
10. John Ogrodnick – 43

Assists

1. .Brian Leetch – 80
2. Sergei Zubov – 77
3. Brian Leetch – 72
4. Mark Messier – 72
5. Wayne Gretzky – 72
6. Brian Leetch – 70
7. Jaromir Jagr – 69
8. Wayne Gretzky – 67
9. Mark Messier – 66
10. Jaromir Jagr – 66

Points

1. Jaromir Jagr -123
2. Jean Ratelle – 109
3. Mark Messier – 107
4. Vic Hadfield -106
5. Mike Rogers -103
6. Brian Leetch – 102
7. Mark Messier – 99
8. Rod Gilbert – 97
9. Rod Gilbert – 97
10. Wayne Gretzky – 97

Penalty Minutes

1. Troy Mallette – 305
2. Kris King – 286
3. Troy Mallette – 252
4. Tie Domi – 246
5. Barry Beck – 231
6. Chris Simon – 225
7. Kris King – 224
8. Michel Petit – 223
9. Jeff Beukeboom – 220
10. Theoren Fleury – 216

Wins

1. Mike Richter – 42
2. Henrik Lundqvist – 39
3. Ed Giacomin – 38
4. Henrik Lundqvist – 38
5. Henrik Lundqvist – 37
6. Henrik Lundqvist – 37
7. Ed Giacomin – 36
8. Henrik Lundqvist – 36
9. Ed Giacomin – 35
10. Henrik Lundqvist – 35
11. Henrik Lundqvist – 35