The Three Best Players the New York Rangers Have Ever Had
I would like to ask you to note the way the title is worded. This isn’t a question of the best New York Rangers, but the best players that have played in New York at some point in their astonishing careers. We know the Rangers have been lucky enough to welcome in a lot of Hall of Fame caliber talents and players that have been a cut above the rest of the league in terms of the skills they possess.
With that wording of the question, there are going to be a ton of answers that I may not mention. If you think I missed someone here that deserves to be noted, let me know either on whatever Twitter’s new name is now at the time of reading or on Facebook. This is entirely opinion based, but if you think there is someone who stopped at MSG during their brilliant career that is better than these three, please let me know.
Before we dive in too deep, I wanted to give a few honorable mentions. Specifically to Brian Leetch and Henrik Lundqvist. Both of whom are absolute legends in this city but I could not justify putting either player on this list above the three I’ve selected. Hank just got elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Leetch’s number was joined by Lundqvist’s number 30 above the ice at the Garden which shows how great these two are.
I considered Patrick Kane for this because of the career he had in Chicago. He’s the best American-born player of all time and he’s won almost everything he can. A winner of the Art Ross, Conn Smythe, and a three-type Stanley Cup Champion, he has had quite the career himself. While he is currently on the shelf after off-season hip surgery, he’s had a great career.
Mark Messier
At number three, I have opted for the Messiah. Whether you want leadership, scoring, or a promise to capture the Stanley Cup, Mark Messier is the man for that task. A man that is still revered in this city as a sports icon, Messier takes his place at number three on this list. If this was the best Ranger of all time, he could be higher. Messier is one of the best players to ever grace an NHL ice surface.
During his 1756-game career, Messier recorded 694 goals and 1193 assists for 1887 points. If you want to go and look up where that sits all time, it’s third. Only two NHL players in the history of the game have more points than Mark Messier. However, if you think that this is even close to his best achievement in the NHL, you are mistaken. This was a man who could do anything.
In his 25-year NHL career, Messier won the Stanley Cup on six occasions. Five times as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, and of course, in 1994 here in New York. He won the Conn Smythe in 1983-84 as playoff MVP, he won the Hart Trophy twice as league MVP, and the Ted Lindsey twice as MVP selected by the players. Messier was a dominant force on the ice, showing it wherever he went.
Despite playing for three teams in his NHL career, everyone chooses to remember “Mess” as a member of the Rangers because it was his most impressive achievement in the league. He won the cup in 1990 with the Oilers after the Great One was traded, but he still had a whole cast of Hockey Hall of Fame talents around him. Whether that was Kurri or Coffey or anyone else, he was surrounded by giants of the games past.
In New York, he didn’t have those established talents. There were greats, like Mike Richter and Brian Leetch, but not at the same level as what he had in Edmonton. Despite that, before game six of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Ranger captain promised the best city in the world that he would deliver the Stanley Cup. His number 11 hangs from the rafters at MSG in large part due to his fulfillment of this promise.
Jaromir Jagr
We move from a Stanley Cup Champion to someone that is still playing hockey today. At the young age of 51, Jaromir Jagr is still actively playing back home in his native Czech Republic. If that is not mind-blowing enough, this guy won the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cups as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins over 30 years ago. This guy’s career started before Connor McDavid was born.
Jagr’s 24-year NHL Career had a brief spell in which he went back to play in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia or the KHL. This man took time out of his career to go and prove in Europe that he is among the best that have ever played the game and still has the NHL-caliber career he does today. It is beyond nuts to think about Jaromir Jagr’s sporting achievements.
In his 1733-game career, Jagr tallied 766 and 1155 assists for 1921 points. That is second all-time for those wondering. Yes, Jaromir Jagr has more career points than Mark Messier. Only one man to ever take to the ice in an NHL game has more points than the Czechoslovakian-born winger. Yes, Jagr is so old he was born in Czechoslovakia before the country separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Jagr is a 5 time Art Ross winner as the number one point producer in the NHL. He won four consecutive Art Ross Trophies from 1997-98 to 2000-01. He also won it in 1994-95 and was a perennial all-star. He also won three Ted Lindsey awards as league MVP, including back-to-back Ted Lindeys in 1998-99 and 1999-00. He won it again in 2005-06. There are no words to describe how dominant Jaromir Jagr was in the late 90s.
Wayne Gretzky
If you thought anyone but the best player in NHL history was going to top this list, I’m not quite sure what to tell you. He’s the most outstanding player in Hockey History. Wayne Gretzky was good enough to get the league to unanimously retire his number across the league, you think I’m not going to have him as the best player to ever play for this organization because he only spent three years in New York.
It’s weird that some of the younger people that read this will not have seen Wayne Gretzky play. Gretzky still holds almost every NHL record, but my personal favorite is that if you remove every single one of the 894 goals he scored in the NHL, he’d still be number one all time in points with just his assists. No one has more goals or points than the Great One. If you take just his totals from his time in Edmonton, he’d still be top 10 in point production all time today.
Gretzky has quite the extension trophy cabinet to match. A nine (9) time Hart Trophy winner as league MVP, a 5 time Ted Lindsey award winner as MVP as voted by the players, a 5 time Lady Byng winner, a 10 time Art Ross winner as the top point producer in the league, 2 Conn Smythe Trophys as MVP of the playoffs, and 4 Stanley Cup rings. This man has more silverware than the most of the league’s teams do.
If you want to look at single season records, Gretzky did those too. He scored 212 points in thee 1981-82 season. It was a record that seemed untouchable, even during the 1980s. It fell a few years later to… Gretzky himself. In 1985-86, Gretzky put up 215 points. That record does still stand today. His single season goals record in cause you were wondering was the 1981-21 season. He had just the 92.
He’s one of, if not the single greatest player to ever play this sport. His dominance over 20 years in this league proves this. For many, he is considered the best. It’s hard to disagree. Looking at his body of work, he’s done things that no other player has done. Almost every record in the NHL is held by Gretzky because he was such a dominant force on the ice. Not too bad for a player that was undrafted in the NHL.