On August 19 in Rangers history: “The Flower” announces a comeback

On this date in 1980, the New York Rangers shook up the hockey world by announcing newly elected Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur would be attempting a comeback with the Blueshirts.  It wasn’t a sure thing as the team as General Manager Phil Esposito called it a “tryout” and said that they had agreed on a one-year contract contingent on him making the team.

The player originally known as “The Flower” (sorry Fleury fans), Guy Lafleur had been retired for three years after 14 glorious seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.  He had scored 50 goals or more for six straight seasons, winning two Hart Trophies, three Art Ross scoring trophies and was a First Team All-Star for six straight years.  He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1977.

His departure had not been amicable as he retired only 19 games into the 1984-85 season when he had seen his playing time reduced and he scored only two goals.

Lafleur had decided to try to mount a comeback and first approached the Los Angeles Kings.  Unable to come to an agreement, he then tried Rangers coach Michel Bergeron.   They quickly agreed on a one-year contract with no money up front.  Lafleur would report to training camp on September 10 and would sign the deal if he made the team.

Ironically, Lafleur announced his comeback just weeks after his election to the Hall of Fame and he would be reporting to the Rangers three days after his induction ceremony.

Lafleur ended up making the team, but it wasn’t a sure thing until he signed the contract on September 28.  He played one season in New York, scoring 18 goals and 45 points in 67 games.  There were numerous highlights including his return to Montreal in February 1989 when he scored two goals in a losing effort.   He also tied a career high with four assists in one game and he scored the  final hat trick of his career against the Kings in February.

You have to applaud Esposito for his marketing savvy as the Lafleur comeback was one of the best stories of the 1988-89 hockey season.  It didn’t save him as the was fired after the season just weeks after he sacked coach Bergeron and coached the team to a 0-4 loss in the playoffs to Pittsburgh.

As for Lafleur, he returned to Quebec to finish his career, playing two seasons with the Nordiques.

The Rangers trade for a Hart Trophy winner

On this date in 1947, the Rangers swung a big deal with the Montreal Canadiens, acquiring veteran center Buddy O’Connor and defenseman Frank Eddolls in exchange for winger Joe Bell, defenseman Hal Laycoe and forward George Robertson.

The centerpiece of the deal was O’Connor who had played six years in Montreal, winning two Stanley Cups.  He was known as a top playmaker, finishing third and fourth in assists in 1943 and 1944.

The deal was a home run for the Blueshirts as O’Conner had his finest season in his first year.  The 31-year old  won the Hart Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy, the first player to win the awards in the same year.  He was also named the Lionel Conacher Award winner, as Canada’s best male athlete.  He was ninth in the league in goals with 24, a career high. He finished second in assists and missed winning the scoring title by one point to Elmer Lach of Montreal.

In an NHL oddity, despite being name the NHL’s MVP, he was a Second Team All-Star.  Lach was named to the First Team.

Lach won the scoring title by notching two goals in the Canadiens’ season finale. It was small consolation to Habs fans as they missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years.  1947-48 was the only time that Montreal missed the postseason in 29 years.

O’Connor played three more years in New York, but never matched the heights he achieved in his first season. In1949-50, his final season, O’Connor served as captain of the team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to Detroit in seven games.

After 1950, he hung on for one season in the AHL before retiring.

O’Connor was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 as the first player selected in the “Veteran Player Category,” a group that included 11 players named between 1988 and 2000 when the category was eliminated.  That group included Rangers Clint Smith, Bun Cook and Edgar Laprade.

And how did the Rangers do the season that O’Connor had his career year?   They finished fourth in the NHL and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Detroit Red Wings.

Today’s birthdays

17 NHL players have been born on August 19 and only one was a former Ranger.

Taylor Pyatt was born on this date in 1981 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was a left winger who was a first round draft pick of the Islanders (8th overall) in 1999.  He never made it with the Islanders and is one of a handful of players who played for all three teams from New York State. He signed with the Rangers as a free agent in 2012 and played 70 games over two seasons for the Blueshirts, scoring six goals and 12 points.  He played for six different teams in a 13 year NHL career. He is the son of former NHL player Nelson Pyatt and is the older brother of Tom Pyatt, who was drafted by the Rangers in 2005, but never played for the Blueshirts.