On June 15 in NYR history: Awards for Messier and Leetch

What happened on June 15 in the history of the New York Rangers

June 15, 1992 was a great day for the New York Rangers when it came to awards.  It was the day that Mark Messier won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL MVP and Brian Leetch won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman.

It was the second time Messier had won the award as he had been the MVP with the Oilers in 1990.   It was a clean sweep for Messier as he also won the Lester B. Pearson Award, voted on by the players (now known as the Ted Lindsay Award).    In his first year as a Ranger, Messier led the team to first place finish in the Patrick Division and the Presidents’ Trophy.

In 79 games, Messier scored 35 goals and 107 points, becoming only the third Ranger to top the century mark in points, just two shy of the franchise record of 109, set by Jean Ratelle in 1971-72.

Messier became the fourth Ranger to win the award and the first since Andy Bathgate in 1959.

Brian Leetch became only the third Ranger to win the Norris Trophy, following Doug Harvey in 1962 and Harry Howell in 1967.  It was Leetch’s fourth season in the NHL and he scored 22 goals and 102 points, the only time in his career he topped the 100 point mark and he was only the fifth NHL blueliner to reach that mark.

Leetch did win the Norris Trophy again in 1997.

No Ranger has won the Hart or Norris Trophies since Messier in 1992 and Leetch in 1997 though many believe that Jaromir Jagr deserved the Hart in 2006 when he lost out to Joe Thornton.  Jagr was recognized as the MVP by his peers as he did win the Pearson Award.

Today’s birthdays

24 NHL players have been born on June 15 including five former Rangers and one Hall of Famer in the Builders category who ran the Rangers for years.

John Kilpatrick was born on this date in 1889 in New York City. He was a college athlete, decorated war hero and successful businessman who ran the Madison Square Garden Corporation for 25 years.  A star athlete at Yale University, he served in the army in World War I and his career as a businessman led him to be in charge of MSG in 1935.  He ran the organization until his death in 1960, personally overseeing the Rangers who won the Stanley Cup in 1940. Posthumously, he was elected to the Hall of Fame and received the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1968.

Sandy McCarthy was born in 1972 on June 15 in Toronto, Ontario.  Known more for his fighting ability than his scoring, he played 11 years in the NHL including three full seasons in New York from 2000-04. He totaled 425 penalty minutes as a Ranger while scoring 27 goals

Warren Miller was born on this date in 1954 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Drafted by the Rangers in 1974 he chose to play in the WHA for four seasons when the Rangers reclaimed him from Hartford during the WHA-NHL merger. He played one season in New York scoring seven goals in 55 games.  The Whalers wanted him back so the Rangers traded him to Hartford where he played three more seasons.

Mackenzie Skapski was born on this date in 1994 in Abbotsford, British Columbia.  The goalie will go down in Rangers history with one of the strangest careers as a Blueshirt.  in 2014-15 he started two games for the Rangers, both against Buffalo, winning both and allowing only one goal.  He was not offered a contract after his Entry Level Contract expired, despite his perfect NHL record.  He played in the AHL then finished his career in Europe.  He became a WHL goalie coach in 2020.

Leo Quenneville was born on this date in 1900 in  St-Anicet, Quebec.  He played for a variety of professional leagues, appearing in 25 games with the Rangers in 1929-30.  The left winger registered no goals and three assists in his brief NHL career.

Jean-Francois Labbe was a goalie born on this date in 1972 in Sherbrooke, Quebec.  He played in only one game for the Rangers, allowing three goals in a loss to the Montreal Canadiens in April 2000. The Blueshirts traded him to Columbus where he played 14 games in two seasons.