On September 13 in Rangers history: HOF day for Bathgate and Plante

What happened on September 13 in the history of the New York Rangers

Another day for Hall of Fame inductions and on this date in 1978 two hockey greats made their entry into hockey immortality as Andy Bathgate and Jacques Plante were both inducted into the Hall.

Bathgate was a great New York Ranger who had the misfortune of playing for the team when it was a non-contender.  He played for the team from 1952 until he was traded midway through the 1963-64 season. In those 11 seasons, the Rangers made the playoffs only four times and didn’t win a playoff series in any of those four seasons.   Lucky for Bathgate, he was traded to Toronto in a seven player deal and he went on to win his only Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs that season.

The right winger played in eight NHL All-Star games and won the Hart Trophy in 1959 when he scored 40 goals and 88 points in 70 games. He finished in the top 10 in goals seven times as a Ranger and was in the top 10 in points scored nine times.

He is fourth all-time in the franchise history in goals, assists and points and his number nine was retired on February 22, 2009, three weeks after Adam Graves’ number nine was hung from the rafters. He also served as team captain from 1961 to 1964.

Bathgate was the first Ranger to score 40 goals in a season, reaching that total in 1958-59.  That team record stood until 1972 when Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert all exceeded the 40 goal mark.

Jacques Plante will go down in NHL history as one of the greatest goalies to ever don the goalie pads, but he played only two seasons in New York at the tail end of his career,  He came to the Rangers in a swap of two future Hall of Fame goalies with Gump Worsley going to Montreal in exchange in a seven player trade.

Plante was 35 when he became a Ranger and he had the two worst seasons of his NHL career with a 32-53-12 record and his worst save percentage (.908) and goals against average (3.38).  The first goalie to wear a mask in the NHL, Plante was actually sent to Baltimore of the AHL in his second season with the Rangers. Demoted to the minor leagues, Plante called it quits after the 1964-65 season.

In an amazing turn of events, he came back from retirement in 1968 to play for the St. Louis Blues in their second season and won the Vezina Trophy, his seventh. He played four more seasons in the NHL and one more in the WHA before retiring for good in 1975 at age 46.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on September 13 including two former Rangers, one who later became coach and general manager of the team.

Emile Francis was born on this date in 1926 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.  He was a player, coach and general manager of the Blueshirts. Nicknamed “The Cat” for his quick reflexes as a goalie, he came to the Rangers in 1948 in a trade from Chicago and he played 22 games over four years in New York. He became general manager and coach of the team in 1965 and led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final in 1972.   He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1982.

Don Simmons was a goalie, born on this date in 1931 in Port Colborne, Ontario. He played parts of three seasons for the Rangers from 1965 to 1969 with a record of 4-14-14 in 22 games.  he was an NHL player for 11 years with the Rangers, Boston and Toronto.