What happened on July 18 in the history of the New York Rangers
Late July is not a time when there are many hockey trades made. As soon as free agency frenzy subsides, most NHL general managers take time off to play golf, travel or just unwind from the stress of trying to build a playoff team. On this date in 2016, fans of the New York Rangers were surprised to learn that General manager Jeff Gorton had actually made a hockey trade.
It was Gorton’s sixth trade since taking over as general manager, replacing Glen Sather who remained as club president. So far, he had made a number of minor deals acquiring players like Magnus Hellberg, Nicklas Jensen and Nick Holden. His biggest deal had been a fiasco, trading for Eric Staal at the trade deadline, a deal that failed miserably.
Five years later, we can look at this deal and call it the best trade made by Jeff Gorton, but at the time, it was met with a fair amount of criticism. Gorton send center Derick Brassard, a fan favorite and proved playoff performer along with a 2018 seventh round draft pick to the Ottawa Senators for center Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick.
Brassard, 28, was fresh off a season when he had scored 27 goals and 58 points and had a goal and five points in five playoff games. Zibanejad was the sixth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and had his best season with 21 goals and 51 points, not quite what Brassard had delivered. Still, he was a very high pick in what was one of the best drafts this decade.
The Senators did the deal because they felt they were on the cusp of playoff success and they were not wrong. The next season, they got as far as the Conference Finals, losing to the Bruins in double overtime in Game Seven. Brassard was a key player for Ottawa in that playoff run that included a six-game win over the Rangers in the second round though it was J.G. Pageau who killed the Blueshirts that series.
It’s what happened since 2016 that has tilted the deal in the Rangers’ favor. Zibanejad has quietly become one of the best centers in the NHL, a prolific scorer and team leader. Meanwhile, the Senators bottomed out the next season, finishing seventh in the Atlantic Division. They dumped Brassard at the trade deadline to Pittsburgh.
Since the trade to Ottawa, Brassard has become an NHL nomad, playing for six teams in five years as an annual trade deadline rental. The last two seasons, for the Islanders and Coyotes, he has scored 18 goals and 52 points. Zibanejad has scored 65 goals and 125 points despite a debilitating bout with COVID-19.
Also, the second round pick acquired from Ottawa was used in the trade for Brendan Smith at the deadline in 2017.
Jeff Gorton is no longer with the Rangers, but the trade for Zibanejad has to go down as the best trade of his tenure as GM. Most of us don’t remember that the reaction was mostly negative from the fans at the time. When it comes to trades, you never know.
Today’s birthdays
There have been 19 NHL players born on July 18 including three former Rangers.
Don Awrey was born on this date in 1943 in Kitchener, Ontario. He was a solid defenseman who played mostly for the Boston Bruins, winning two Stanley Cups with the team. After ten seasons in Boston and one All-Star Game appearance, Awrey finished his career playing for St. Louis Montreal, Pittsburgh and the Rangers in 1977-78. He was a regular on defense for New York, playing 78 games and was sold to the Colorado Rockies his next and final season in the NHL.
John Mahaffy was born on this date in 1919 in Montreal, Quebec. He was a center who played two seasons in the NHL in the war years, uncluding 28 games with the Rangers in 1943-44. He actually had pretty good numbers, scoring nine goals and 29 points in 28 games. In an oddity, he played on playoff game for the Canadiens in 1945, but he was prohibited from playing more as his rights were owned by the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL. He is believed to be one of two non-defensemen to wear uniform number two for the Rangers.
Jan Mertzig was a defenseman born on July 18, 1970 in Huddinge, Sweden. He was a ninth round draft pick in 1998 who made it to the Rangers at age 28 for 23 games in the 1998-99 season. After one season in the NHL he returned to Europe and played in Austria and Sweden.