On July 1 in Rangers history: Jeff Gorton gets the GM job & a legend was born

What happened on July 1 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2015, the New York Rangers named Jeff Gorton as the 11th general manager in franchise history.  A veteran of eight years with the team, he succeeded Glen Sather who retained his post as team president.  Gorton was equipped for the job as he had spent the previous four seasons as assistant general manager with Sather.

Sather had a good sense of timing, leaving the position after the season the Rangers had won the Presidents’ Trophy and came within a few key injuries of a second straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Gorton had gotten kudos for his work as interim general manager of the Boston Bruins.  He ran the team for four months and in that time he ran the 2006 draft, selecting Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Phil Kessel.  He also traded for Tukka Rask and signed Zdeno Chara as a free agent.

When the Bruins hired Peter Chiarelli as general manager, Gorton last less than a year , fired after resuming his role as assistant general manager.

Gorton was the architect of the Rangers’ rebuild that began officially in 2018 and he had to undo some of the harm done to the Rangers feeder system by Sather in his attempts to produce a Cup winner.  His best trade was when he swapped Derick Brassard to Ottawa for Mika Zibanejad and a second round draft pick.

After the Rangers missed the playoffs this season, Gorton and Team President John Davidson were fired in May.

Today’s birthdays

24 NHL players were born on July 1 including four former Rangers. One of the four is one of the greatest who ever wore the Blueshirt.

Rod Gilbert was born on this date in 1941 in Montreal, Quebec.  Gilbert is “Mr. Ranger” and a familiar sight at Madison Square Garden. The Hall of Famer’s number seven hangs from the rafters and he is franchise leader in goals, points, game winning goals and he is in the top three in all major offensive categories for the Rangers.  He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1982.

Corey Hirsch was born on July 1, 1972 in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  The goalie was a Ranger eighth round draft pick in 1991 and the Rangers thought they had a late round gem when Hirsch’s career blew up and he became the best goalie in Canadian junior hockey.  He was Team Canada’s goalie at the 1994 Olympics and was in net when Peter Forsberg scored the shootout goal that won the gold medal for Sweden.  Destined to start behind Mike Richter, the Rangers traded him to Vancouver in 1995 for Nathan Lafayette.  He played in the NHL until 2003 for the Canucks, Capitals and Stars, but he never lived up the potential he had shown in junior hockey.

Mike Eastwood was born on this date in 1967 in Ottawa, Ontario.  A center, Eastwood played 13 seasons in the NHL for six different teams, including parts of two seasons with the Rangers.   A defensive specialist, he hit double figures in goals only twice in his career.  He played 75 games for the Rangers after coming in a trade from Phoenix, scoring six goals and 18 points.  He was traded the next season to St. Louis for Harry York.

Bill Beveridge was a goalie born on July 1, 1909 in Ottawa, Ontario.  He played for four defunct NHL teams, the Detroit Cougars, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Eagles and Montreal Maroons before joining the Rangers for one season in 1942-43.  There was a three seasons gap that he spent in the minor leagues and he only played 17 games for the Blueshirts because of an injury to goalie Jimmy Franks.  He was the property of the AHL’s Cleveland Barons, but they lent him to the Rangers to replace Franks. To punsters, the Rangers had Franks and a Beveridge in goal that season.