On September 7 in Rangers history: The HOF welcomes 3 Blueshirts (sort of)

What happened on September 7 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1988, the Hall of Fame welcomed two former New York Rangers, inducting Brad Park and Buddy O’Connor and in a bizarre twist, a future New York Ranger in Guy Lafleur.   Park was a future Hall of Famer who was traded away from New York, while O’Connor had his best year after being traded to the Rangers.

Park was drafted by the Rangers in the 1966 Amateur Draft and played for the team for seven seasons before he was traded to the Bruins along with Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi in a blockbuster deal for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.   He went on to play eight seasons for the Bruins and finished his career with the Detroit Red Wings.

Park was commonly recognized as the second best defenseman in the NHL, overshadowed by Bobby Orr.

O’Connor played six years for the Montreal Canadiens as a versatile center then was swapped to the Rangers with defenseman Frank Eddolls for Joe Bell, Hal Laycoe and George Robertson. It was a completely one-sided trade as O’Connor won the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lady Byng  Trophy and was a Second Team All-Star in his first year with the Rangers and played four productive seasons in New York while the players who were traded to Montreal had no impact. O’Connor was the first player to win the two Awards in the same season.

O’Connor missed leading the NHL in scoring when Elmer Lach of the Canadiens scored twice in the last game of the season to top the Ranger by one point.  The consolation was that the Rangers made the playoffs while the Canadiens missed out.

Lafleur was inducted into the Hall just weeks after he was signed to a tryout with the Rangers and just before he reported to training camp.  Lafleur had retired after the 1984-85 season when he clashed with Habs management.  Three years later, after being selected to the Hall, he decided to make a comeback.  He eventually signed with the Rangers and played one thrilling season and finished with two seasons in Quebec.

He made the Hall as one of the greatest scorers to ever play the game. Over six years with the Canadiens from 1974 to 1980,  he never scored fewer than 50 goals, was a First Team All-Star each year, won two Hart Trophies,  three Lester B. Pearson Awards and one Conn Smythe Trophy.

A tragedy in Russia

It was ten years ago today that the hockey world was shaken by the news that the charter plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL hockey team crashed on take-off from their home airport in Yaroslav.  Only one of the 45 people on board the aircraft survived.

Former Ranger and Lokomotiv assistant coach Alexander Karpovtsev was one of those killed.  Karpovtsev, known as “Potsy” was a rookie defenseman on the 1994 New York Rangers Stanley Cup championship team.  He was one of four Russians on that team to have their names engraved on the Cup, the first Russians to earn that honor.

Two other players with Rangers connections also died in the crash. Karel Rachunek was a Czech defenseman who played one full season and part of another for the Rangers after coming over in a trade from Ottawa. Forward Jan Marek was an eighth round draft pick by the Rangers in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft though he never made it to the NHL.

Muzz Patrick names himself coach

On this date in 1962, General Manager Muzz Patrick named himself coach of the Rangers, replacing player-coach Doug Harvey who decided he didn’t want to fill the dual role and wanted to just play defense.

It was Patrick’s third stint as coach as he had also served as coach from 1953 to 1955 and he coach two games in 1959, filling in for Phil Watson who had been hospitalized for ulcers.  Patrick guided the team to a 11-19-4 record and with the fans calling for his head, he found a replacement in former Ranger Red Sullivan.

That was it for coaching for Muzz Patrick who was behind the bench for the Rangers for 136 games with an abysmal .415 winning percentage. He is one of seven coaches who were behind the bench for over 100 games for the Blueshirts and never made the playoffs.  The leader of that group?  David Quinn who coached 208 games and never made the playoffs (no, the Stanley Cup Qualifier doesn’t count).

Today’s birthdays

26 NHL players have been born on September 7 including three former Rangers and one prospect who hopes to join that group.

Austin Reuschhoff was born this date in 1997 in Wentzville, Missouri.  He is a center who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan University.  He’s big at 6’7″, 230 pounds and played last season with the Wolf Pack, scoring four goals and eight points in 23 games.

Paul Mara was a defenseman, born on this date in 1979 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He played 12 years in the NHL for six different teams, including 156 games with the Rangers over three seasons from 2006 to 2009.   He came to New York from the Bruins in a trade for Aaron Ward who had a brief and unhappy with the Rangers after he had a run in with Jaromir Jagr.  Mara did better and was a regular on the blueline for two full seasons.

Orland Kurtenbach was born on this date in 1936 in Cudworth, Saskatchewan. A center, he was best known as a tough player and excellent penalty killer and was the first captain in the history of the Vancouver Canucks.  He made his debut in New York in 1961, signed as an undrafted free agent.  He was taken on waivers that season by the Bruins and after two years in Boston and one in Toronto, the Rangers got him back on waivers. He was with the Rangers for four years before going to Vancouver in the expansion draft.

Douglas Adams was born on this date in 1923 in Toronto, Ontario.  He was a left winger who was a prolific scorer in the PCHL, earning a four game stint with the Rangers in the 1949-50 season. He had one assist in the only four games he played in the NHL and returned to the Tacoma Rockets and played in the minor leagues until he was 37 years old in 1961.