On June 6 in NYR history: Who’s the new coach???

On this date in 2002, Glen Sather made one of the worst decisions in his tenure as general manager of the New York Rangers.  He hired former Islander and a longtime nemesis of the Rangers, Bryan Trottier, as the team’s head coach.

What made the hiring even crazier was Sather’s rationale for hiring Trottier.  He said it was the 90 page handwritten job application that the former Islander sent to Sather.

Trottier replaced Ron Low, one of Sather’s cronies from the Edmonton Oilers, who had led the team for two seasons, missing the playoffs both years.

The good news for the Rangers was Trottier lasted only 54 games.  He never won over the players and the team had a record of 21-26-6 when Sather let him go and the GM replaced him behind the bench.  It was all for naught as they missed the playoffs for the sixth straight year.

Today’s birthdays

27 NHL players have been born on June 6 including four former New York Rangers with one whose number hangs from the rafters of Madison Square Garden.

Ed Giacomin was born on this date in 1939 in Sudbury, Ontario.  Regarded by many as the greatest goalie to ever play for the Rangers, he was the netminder who led to team to respectability in the late 1960s and the Stanley Cup Final in 1972.  He joined the Rangers in 1965 and played 539 games with the Blueshirts before being unceremoniously waived in 1975.  His return to MSG in a Detroit Red Wings uniform is one of the most memorable events in Rangers history.   He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987.

Anson Carter was born on June 6, 1974 in Toronto, Ontario.  He played only 54 games for the Rangers and is most famous for being traded to the Washington Capitals for Jaromir Jagr in March, 2004.  Carter played 674 games for eight different NHL teams.  He came to the Rangers from Edmonton in a deadline deal in exchange for Radek Dvorak.  He’s a familiar face to Ranger fans due to his work on the NHL Network.

Niklas Sundstrom was a right winger born on this date in 1975 in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden.  He was the eighth overall pick by the Rangers in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He played four seasons with New York and despite scoring 24 goals,  was making a name for himself as a defensive forward when he was part of one of the worst trades of the Neil Smith era.  Sundstrom, goalie Dan Cloutier and a first and third round pick were dealt to Tampa in exchange for the four overall pick which the Rangers used on Pavel Brendl, a horrible draft bust.  Sundstrom went on to play seven more years for San Jose and Montreal as a defensive specialist.

Aldo Guidolin was a winger and defenseman who was born on this date in 1932 in Forks of the Credit, Ontario. He played four seasons with the Rangers from 1952-56, his only  seasons in the NHL.  After leaving the Rangers he played 13 full seasons in the AHL and later coached the Colorado Rockies.  He is the cousin of Bep Guidolin who coached the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 1974.