On July 14 in Rangers history: Pack your bags, Trader Phil has arrived

What happened on July 14 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1986, the New York Rangers announced the hiring of Phil Esposito as their general manager, replacing Craig Patrick. It was the first management job for the 44-year-old Esposito who had retired as a player in 1981.  He had spent the previous five years as the color commentator on Rangers telecasts.

The hiring kicked off a frenetic three years as Esposito seemed to make a trade one a week.  He soon acquired the nickname “Trader Phil” and in his three seasons, he actually made 43 trades that involved 99 players and 30 draft picks.

He gave Quebec a first round pick so he could hire Michel Bergeron as coach and he traded for Marcel Dionne, Bobby Carpenter, Walt Poddubny and Kelly Kiso.  He traded away Ranger stalwarts  Don Maloney, Mike Allison and Tom Laidlaw. He also signed Pierre Larouche and Guy Lafleur.

He turned over the roster so much that only five players from the 1985-86 roster he inherited were around when he was let go three years later.

Perhaps the worst result of his itchy trade trigger finger was that he gave up on some players who went on to have long, productive careers for other teams.  They included Mike Ridley, Kelly Miller, Dave Gagner, Mark Tinordi and Kjell Samuelsson.

Esposito’s teams made the playoffs two of his three years and posted their best season in four campaigns, but he was still fired at the end of the 1988-89 season and was replaced by Neil Smith.

One thing that Esposito had pledged was to revamp the team’s scouting organization so they could make better draft picks.  In the two drafts he presided over, he drafted 23 players with four of them playing as many as 300 games in the NHL.  The best of the lot was Tony Amonte in 1988.

Ironically, the Rangers’ best pick of the 1980s and possibly all time was made by his predecessor, Craig Patrick, who selected Brian Leetch in the 1986 draft.

After New York, Esposito was one of the founders of the Tampa Bay Lightning, serving as their first President and General Manager.

Compensation pays off

On this date in 1989, Guy Lafleur signed with the Quebec Nordiques after spending one season with the Rangers after coming out of retirement.   While the departure of Lafleur was not a major blow to the Blueshirts, it did play a huge part in the team’s successful run to the Stanley Cup in 1994.

In those days, when team signed a free agent, the team that lost the player was awarded compensation.  When Lafleur signed with Quebec, the Rangers were given Quebec’s fifth round draft pick, number 85 overall, in the 1990 draft.

Normally, a fifth round pick has a slim chance of making it to the NHL, but in this case, every time Guy Lafleur’s name is mentioned, Ranger fans should thank their lucky stars that he wanted to finish his career in his home province of Quebec.

That’s because with that fifth round pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, the Rangers selected CSKA defenseman Sergei Zubov.  Quebec got 24 goals in two seasons from “The Flower” while the Rangers got the player who led them in scoring in 1994 and eventually was inducted into the Hall of Fame.  The hockey gods were smiling on the Rangers this time.

Today’s birthdays

17 NHL players have been born on July 14 with two New York Rangers among them.

Josh Jooris was born on this date in 1990 in Burlington, Ontario. The center was signed as a free agent by the Rangers in the summer of 2016 and played 12 games for the Blueshirts, scoring one goal and two points.  He was taken by the Arizona Coyotes when the Rangers put him on waivers in December of that year. Jooris played 213 games over four years with five different NHL teams.

Matt Zaba was born on this date in 1983 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  He was a goalie who played only one game in the NHL on January 30, 2010. He came on in relief of Henrik Lundqvist who gave up four goals in 26 minutes against the Canadiens.  Zaba played the rest of the game, allowing two goals on 16 shots. He is one of  seven Ranger goalies who played only one game in the NHL.