On January 23 in NYR history: Jagr finally becomes a Ranger

What happened on January 23 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in2004, Glen Sather finally got his man when he traded Anson Carter to the Washington Capitals for Jaromir Jagr.  Sather had wanted to see Jagr in a New York Rangers uniform for years.  In 2001, when the Penguins were looking to trade him, the Rangers were one of the teams that was given permission to talk to Jagr’s agent.  The Pens ultimately traded him to Washington.

Jagr had won the last four Art Ross Trophies, but never fit in with Washington after signing a huge $77 million contract.  Looking to unload him, they found the Blueshirts the only team willing to take on his salary and accepted Carter in exchange.

This was one of the best deals ever for the Blueshirts.  He scored 15 goals in 31 games to finish that season, but after the lockout year, when Jagr returned, it was to  Rangers team without Mark Messier and the Czech star was named captain and helped mold the team into a playoff contender.

In his first full season, 2005-06, he set Ranger scoring records with 54 goals and 123 points and led them to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.  Sather surrrounded him with his fellow “Czech-mates” Michal Rozsival, Marek Malik, Petr Prucha, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, Marcel Hossa and Petr Sykora.  It didn’t hurt that they had a young Swedish goalie named Henrik Lundqvist either.

Jagr played three more years in New York, but at age 35, when unable to come to a contractual agreement with the Rangers, he left to play in the KHL.   Who knew that he would still be a useful player until he was in his mid-forties?

A record for Gartner

On this date in 1993, Mike Gartner scored his 30th  goal of the season in an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.   It was the last of the eight goals in the game and it came on the road, so most Ranger fans probably didn’t stay up to see him become the first player in NHL history to score 30 goals in 14 straight season.

Gartner  scored 34 goals in 1993-94 to add one more year to the record.  He still holds the record of 15 straight 30 goal seasons though it has since been tied by Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin. He finished the 1992-93 season with 45 goals.

The question has to be whether Gartner would give up that record if he had been able to remain with the team and win the Cup in 1994.  Undoubtedly, yes, but Mike Keenan didn’t think he was a winner and got him traded to Toronto for Glenn Anderson.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on this date with four former Rangers in that mix, including one Hall of Famer.

Brendan Shanahan was born on this date in Mimico, Ontario in 1969.  A first round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils, it was the offer sheet he signed with St. Louis that led to the Devils getting Scott Stevens as compensation, a move that helped lead to the Devils’ NHL dominance for years.

Shanahan played 21 years in the NHL, including two years with the Rangers near the end of his career. At age 39, he was still a productive left winger, scoring 29 goals in 2006-07 and 23 goals the following year.   He is 14th all-time in goals scored with 656 and his 237 power play goals is the seventh most in NHL history.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Boo Nieves was a Ranger center and winger until this season and now toils in the Tampa system.  He was born on this date in 1994 in Syracuse, New York.  Nieves had stints with the Rangers for four straight seasons playing 76 games and scoring five goals.

Joel Bouchard was a well traveled defenseman who was born on January 23, 1974 in Montreal, Quebec.  He played for eight teams in his career including 27 games for the Rangers in 2002-03.  He is one for the few players who has played for the Rangers,Devils and Islanders.

Ray Markham was a center who was born on this date in 1958 in Windsor, Ontario.  Drafted by the Rangers in the third round of the 1978 draft, he made it to the big club for 14 games in the 1979-80 season. He scored one goal and added one assist.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 41 games on this date with a decent record, just a bit above .500.

Games: 41
Regulation wins:  20
Regulation losses: 15
Ties: 5
Overtime wins:  1
Points percentage: .573

Last year

It was the first day of the All-Star Break. Except for the speculation about the extent of Panarin’s upper body injury, it was a quiet day for the Rangers as Chris Kreider traveled to St. Louis to replace him.