On January 23 in NYR history: Jagr finally becomes a Ranger

What happened on January 23 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2004, Glen Sather finally got his man when he traded Anson Carter to the Washington Capitals for Jaromir Jagr.  Sather had wanted to see Jagr in a New York Rangers uniform for years.  In 2001, when the Penguins were looking to trade him, the Rangers were one of the teams that was given permission to talk to Jagr’s agent.  The Pens ultimately traded him to Washington.

Jagr had won the last four Art Ross Trophies, but never fit in with Washington after signing a huge $77 million contract.  Looking to unload him, they found the Blueshirts the only team willing to take on his salary and accepted Carter in exchange.

This was one of the best deals ever for the Blueshirts.  He scored 15 goals in 31 games to finish that season, but after the lockout year, when Jagr returned, it was to a Rangers team without Mark Messier and the Czech star was named captain and helped mold the team into a playoff contender.

In his first full season, 2005-06, he set Ranger scoring records with 54 goals and 123 points and led them to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.  Sather surrrounded him with his fellow “Czech-mates” Michal Rozsival, Marek Malik, Petr Prucha, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, Marcel Hossa and Petr Sykora.  It didn’t hurt that they had a young Swedish goalie named Henrik Lundqvist either.

Jagr played three more years in New York, but at age 35, when unable to come to a contractual agreement with the Rangers, he left to play in the KHL.   Who knew that he would still be a useful player until he was in his mid-forties?

A record for Gartner

On this date in 1993, Mike Gartner scored his 30th  goal of the season in an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.   It was the last of the eight goals in the game and it came on the road, so most Ranger fans probably didn’t stay up to see him become the first player in NHL history to score 30 goals in 14 straight season.

Gartner  scored 34 goals in 1993-94 to add one more year to the record.  He still holds the record of 15 straight 30 goal seasons though it has since been tied by Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin. He finished the 1992-93 season with 45 goals.

The question has to be whether Gartner would give up that record if he had been able to remain with the team and win the Cup in 1994.  Undoubtedly, yes, but Mike Keenan didn’t think he was a winner and got him traded to Toronto for Glenn Anderson.

 A record for Bun

On this date in 1930, Bun Cook became the first New York Ranger to score three goals in one period.  It came in the second period of a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden.   The three goal mark has been achieved 28 times in Rangers’ franchise history, the last time in March 2021 when Mika Zibanejad scored three times against the Flyers.

No Ranger has scored four goals in a period, the NHL record that has been matched 17 times.

Another record for Bun

On this date in 1927, the New York Americans played at Madison Square Garden as the road team for the first time in their history. The Rangers won 2-0, but it was Bun Cook’s heroics that stole the headlines.  He scored the Rangers’ first goal just nine seconds into the game, setting a franchise record that stand to this date.

It has been equaled three times by Jean Ratelle (1971), Ron Duguay (1980) and Jim Wiemer (1985).    Bun’s brother, Bill, set the record for the fastest goal from the start of any period when he scored eight seconds into the second period of a game in 1928.  That record was broke by Larry Popein in 1959 when he scored seven seconds in the second period of a loss to Detroit.

A longevity record

Most Ranger fans don’t know that Blueshirt Murray Murdoch held the record for the most consecutive games played in the NHL for over 20 years.  He played 508 games over 11 straight seasons and on this date in 1934, he played in his 400th straight game, the first NHL player to accomplish that.

Murdoch was an original New York Ranger and and played in the first 400 games for the franchise.  That night in 1934, to honor the team’s 400 games Lou Gehrig came to Madison Square Garden for a ceremony and he presented Murdoch with a plaque. Gehrig had played 1,307 straight games for the Yankees when he met the Rangers’ “iron man.”

Two forgettable losses

The New York Rangers hold a record that they would rather not have. On this date in 1944 the Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings by the score of 15-0.  It is the most one-sided loss in NHL history and 13 Red Wings combined for 37 points, the most ever for one team in an NHL game.

The Red Wings had 58 shots on goal before a delighted crowd at the Olympia in Detroit.  The Ranger goalie who took the loss and surrendered all 15 goals was Ken McAuley.

In another forgettable loss by the Rangers on this date, in 1976 they lost to the Washington Capitals by the score of 7-5 at the Capital Center.  What made the defeat forgettable was that it ended a 25 game winless streak for the Capitals.

At the time it was the longest winless streak in NHL history, though the Kansas City Scouts went 27 games in a row without a win that same 1975-76 season.  The Caps last win had come on November 26 as they didn’t win a game for almost two months.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on this date with four former Rangers in that mix, including one Hall of Famer.

Brendan Shanahan was born on this date in Mimico, Ontario in 1969.  A first round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils, it was the offer sheet he signed with St. Louis that led to the Devils getting Scott Stevens as compensation, a move that helped lead to the Devils’ NHL dominance for years.

Shanahan played 21 years in the NHL, including two years with the Rangers near the end of his career. At age 39, he was still a productive left winger, scoring 29 goals in 2006-07 and 23 goals the following year.   He is 14th all-time in goals scored with 656 and his 237 power play goals is the seventh most in NHL history.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Boo Nieves was a Ranger center and winger until this season and now toils in the Tampa system.  He was born on this date in 1994 in Syracuse, New York.  Nieves had stints with the Rangers for four straight seasons playing 76 games and scoring five goals.

Joel Bouchard was a well traveled defenseman who was born on January 23, 1974 in Montreal, Quebec.  He played for eight teams in his career including 27 games for the Rangers in 2002-03.  He is one for the few players who has played for the Rangers,Devils and Islanders.

Ray Markham was a center who was born on this date in 1958 in Windsor, Ontario.  Drafted by the Rangers in the third round of the 1978 draft, he made it to the big club for 14 games in the 1979-80 season. He scored one goal and added one assist.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 41 games on this date with a decent record, just a bit above .500.

Games: 41
Regulation wins:  20
Regulation losses: 15
Ties: 5
Overtime wins:  1
Points percentage: .573