Drafting Hall of Famers is not a Rangers’ strength

First expansion teams

In 1967 the NHL added six teams, doubling in size. Only one team, the L.A. Kings has produced more Hall of Fame players than the Rangers.  The Penguins have drafted only two HOF players, but they look to add four more and that means they could end up with the one of the best draft records.

Los Angeles Kings (4) : Rob Blake, Larry Murphy, Luc Robitaille,  Billy Smith

Possibles: Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Bernie Nicholls, Dave Taylor

Philadelphia Flyers (3):  Bill Barber, Bobby Clarke, Peter Forsberg

Possibles: Claude Giroux, Rick Tocchet, Justin Williams,

Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars (2):  Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano

Possibles: Jamie Benn, Jere Lehtinen

Possibles: Rod Brind’Amour, T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Vladimir Tarasenko

Possibles:  Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury,  Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin, Kris, Letang, Markus Naslund

Possibles: Dennis Maruk

The second expansion wave

Starting in 1970 the NHL began a series of expansions, adding teams in Buffalo,Long Island, Vancouver, Atlanta, Kansas City and Washington.  The Islanders have had a lot of success along with the New Jersey Devils (former the K.C. Scouts and Colorado Rockies).  One note about the Devils is that they are one of two teams to get credit for Vachislav Fetisov.  He was first drafted, but never signed with the Canadiens.

It is kind of depressing for Rangers fans to know that the Islanders drafted five Hall of Fame players with a potential for a even more.

New York Islanders (5):  Clark Gillies, Pat Lafontaine, Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier

Possibles: Zdeno Chara, John Tavares, Roberto Luongo, Ziggy Palffy, Brent Sutter

Calgary Flames formerly the Atlanta Flames(4):  Brett Hull,  Al MacInnis, Sergei Makarov, Joe Nieuwendyk

Possibles: Theo Fleury, Johnny Gaudreau,  Brad Marsh, Gary Roberts, Gary Suter

New Jersey Devils formerly the Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies (4) :   Martin Brodeur, Vachislav Fetisov (2nd time), Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan

Possibles: Patrik Elias, Kirk Muller, Zach Parise, Pat Verbeek,

Buffalo Sabres (3):  Dave Andreychuk, Phil Housley, Gilbert Perreault

Possibles: Alexander Mogilny, Tom Barasso, Brian Campbell, Jack Eichel, Danny Gare, Ryan Miller, Craig Ramsey, Pierre Turgeon

Vancouver Canucks (3):   Pavel Bure Igor Larianov, Cam Neely

Possibles:  Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Trevor Linden

Washington Capitals (2):  Mike Gartner, Scott Stevens

Possibles: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstom,  Peter Bondra, John Carlson, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeny Kuznetsov

By the late 1970s the NHL had grown to 18 teams and had won the battle for hockey supremacy over the World Hockey Association (WHA).    That’s when they absorbed the four strongest WHA teams.