On January 4 in NYR history: The day Mark Messier got the coach fired

Roger Neilson ran afoul of Mark Messier and got the axe as the New York Rangers head coach

What happened on January 4 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1993 the New York Rangers fired coach Roger Neilson and appointed Binghamton coach Ron Smith to replace him on an interim basis. At the time, the Rangers were mired in third place in the Patrick Division, 15 points out of first place.

What led to the firing was a classic case of star player versus coach.  Although Neilson had been the Rangers coach for three full seasons and had led them to first place finishes two of the three years, his relationship with Mark Messier had been deteriorating throughout the season. Neilson was already in place when the Rangers traded for Messier in October 1991 and he endorsed making Messier the team captain.  In their first year together, the team won the President’s Trophy and Messier was the league MVP.

The issue was Messier’s desire to play a more wide open, offensive game as opposed to the dump and chase defensive philosophy endorsed by Neilson.   Their relationship grew so fractured that in December, Neilson had a meeting with Kevin Lowe, Mike Gartner and Adam Graves while purposely leaving out Messier and and asked them to get the team going, telling the three veterans that Messier was not fulfilling his role as team leader.

Messier’s displeasure with Neilson was apparent at the NHL Awards ceremony when he accepted the Hart Trophy and thanked the entire Rangers organization and left out Neilson.

How did it work out?  The Rangers play was even worse under Smith as they went 15-22-7 and missed the playoffs.  It did lead to the Rangers hiring Mike Keenan (on Messier’s recommendation) and we all know how that worked out the following season.

Neilson went on to coach the Flyers, Panthers and Senators, taking the Flyer to the Conference Finals in 2000.

A big night for Gartner

On this date in 1992, Mike Gartner had a goal and an assist to become the 33rd player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points.  The big night came in a 6-4 loss to the Devils at the Brendan Byrne Arena.

Gartner was scoreless in the first two periods before getting getting a power play goal four minutes into the third period for this 1,000th point.   He added an assist on Sergei Nemchinov’s goal late in the period.

It was a momentous campaign for Gartner as he was the first NHL player to get his 500th goal, 500th assist and 1,000 point and also play in his 1,000th game, all in the same season.

Gartner sits in 31st place in the all-time points list. He is seventh all-time in goals with 708.

Today’s birthdays

A handful for January 4th birthday boys, but not a lot of well known names in the bunch.  There is something remarkable about three of the four who had one thing in common.

Greg de Vries was born on this date in 1973 in Sundridge, Ontario.  He was signed as a free agent by the Blueshirts in 2003 as one of the top available defensemen. With the Rangers on the verge of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season, he was part of the infamous purge at the deadline in 2004, traded to Ottawa.

Trevor Fahey was born on January 4, 1944 in New Waterford, Nova Scotia and is one of seveal New York Rangers who played only one game in the NHL.   Fahey was a center and he ended his NHL career with one game played and one shot on goal.

Same goes for James Latos, a right winger who played in one NHL game for the Rangers in 1988-89.  He was born on this date in 1966 in Wakaw, Saskatchewan.

Robert McDonald was born in Toronto on January 4, 1923 and he also only played one game in the NHL and it was for the Rangers. It was during the 1943-44 war years and he was scoreless.

The fact that three players born on January 4 ended up playing only one game in the NHL and it was for the Rangers may be a record.

The numbers

Games: 38
Regulation wins: 15
Regulation losses: 14
Ties: 8
Overtime wins1
Points percentage:  .526

Looking back

Last year – 2020:  Vancouver 2, Rangers 1

One year ago on this date, the Rangers’ Alexandar Georgiev lost a goaltenders duel to Jacob Markstrom of the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1.  It was the seventh win in a row for the streaking Canucks and for the Rangers it was the last of three straight losses in Western Canada, losing to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

The Rangers had tied the score on a Pavel Buchnevich second period goal, but they exhibited another instance of a nasty habit, blowing a point by allowing the opposition to score in the last two minutes of a game.  Tyler Myers won the game for the Canucks on a goal with 1:29 left.

5 years ago – 2016:  No game

10 years ago – 2011: No game