New York Rangers forgotten players A-Z: The C’s

Earlier this week, our second piece of the forgotten New York Rangers series was released. It focused on a few players with last names that start with B. Naturally, let’s now go over the C’s.

The players that will be listed in this one may not be Hall of Famers like a few of the B’s, but they all had lengthy and effective careers. Yet, the one fact that they all have in common is that they each not have their best days with the Rangers. In fact, all of them did not spend too much time with the Blueshirts for one reason or another, too.

One player was a former third overall pick that was not the star that many predicted he would be.  Yet, he still had a very solid career. Another is a goaltender who would cement himself as a legitimate NHLer after leaving the Rangers. The third is a popular name who came to the Rangers nearing the end of his career, but it was only for a handful of games. Finally, the last player is somebody who recently retired and had himself one of the longest careers in NHL history.

Now, with all of that stated, let’s begin.

Dan Cloutier G

Dan Cloutier is certainly remembered most for his time with the Vancouver Canucks. Over five seasons with the team, he had a 109-68-24 record and a .906 SV%. After a career year during the 2003-04 season, the Canucks went on to acquire Roberto Luongo. This naturally made Cloutier expendable and he would be dealt to the Los Angeles Kings early on into the 2005-06 season.

However, Cloutier actually began his career with the Rangers. The team selected him with the final pick of the first round in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. Yet, even though he came with high expectations being an early pick, his time with the Rangers was short. He would play 34 games over two seasons, while sporting a 10-13-4 record and .912 SV%.

He would be traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning along with Niklas Sundstrom, a 2000 first-round pick and 2000 third-round for the fourth overall pick of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. The fourth overall pick turned into Pavel Brendl, but he never played a game for the Rangers.

Thus, Cloutier was able to build himself a pretty decent career, even if he fell off at the end. It’s interesting to think how he could have done with the Rangers, had they not traded him.

Russ Courtnall RW

Russ Courtnall was traded to the New York Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks during the 1996-97 season. The Rangers gave up Brian Noonan and Sergei Nemichinov to get him and former Oiler, Esa Tikkanen. In 14 regular season games with the Blueshirts, Courtnall scored two goals and recorded seven points. He also added seven points in 15 postseason games, while being a solid contributor to both of the Rangers’ special teams.

During the 1997 off-season, Courtnall would end up signing with the Los Angeles Kings, thus ending his short tenure with the Rangers. Although his time with the team was very brief, he did what was asked of him. At that point, he was entering the final stages of his career, as he would retire after just two seasons with the Kings.

During his earlier days in the NHL, Courtnall was an underrated player who was capable of producing very solid offense, while being effective defensively. He is remembered most for his days with the Montreal Canadiens, but he also had a lot of success with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars. In 1,029 career games, he had 297 goals, 447 assists and 774 points.

Matt Cullen C

Throughout his long NHL career, Matt Cullen was a bit of a journeyman, as he played for eight teams over 21 seasons. During the 2006-07 season, he signed a four-year deal with Rangers after winning the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes. In 80 games that year with the Rangers, he scored 16 goals and recorded 41 points.  However, Cullen would just play one season with the Blueshirts and would be traded right back to the Hurricanes that next summer.

As his NHL career progressed, Cullen became known for being an immensely reliable depth player. It is exactly what would allow him to stay in the league for as long as he did. When his offense started to drop off during his final seasons, he worked very well in the bottom-six, especially when it came to his tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was also a member of both of their 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup winning teams, which made him a three-time Stanley Cup winner. Cullen finally retired during the 2018-19 season at the age of 42.

In 1,516 games between the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Florida Panthers, Hurricanes, Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and Penguins, Cullen had 266 goals, 465 assists and 731 points. It was such a lengthy career, especially for a player who never was a full-on superstar. In fact, he’s the only one out of 21 players to reach 1,500 games without playing in an All-Star game. Still, it’s funny that only 80 of those games came from his time with the Rangers.

In our next piece, we will discuss a handful of forgotten Ranger players with last names that begin with D. That will be out very soon.