Jacque Plante Trade Tree Between the Rangers and Canadiens
When we talk about the most significant trades in NHL history, this is usually based on the names involved in the deal or the number of players traded. We will combine the two for this tree as we look at the Jacques Plante trade tree between the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens back in 1963. If you do not know who Jacques Plante was, all will be explained shortly, so buckle up.
Before we get to the deal, let’s return to the 1950s. Plante burst onto the scene and was the beginning of the Quebec goaltending factory. Over eleven seasons with the Canadiens, Pmate played in 556 games with 314 wins, 133 losses, and 107 ties. This was so long ago that save percentage was not tracked for the first three years of his career, but he had a .920 through the rest of his career with a 2.22 goals-against average.
During his time in Montreal, he won the Vezina trophy six times. This isn’t the Vezina we think of now where it’s voted on. It was what the William M. Jennings is now, given to the goaltender with the lowest goals-against average in the NHL. Plante also won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1961-62. However, not everything was so rosy in Montreal.
Despite being eight years away from the dawn of Ken Dryden, Montreal wanted to try and shake things up after running with the same goaltending core for a decade. This is where the New York Rangers we all know and love come into play. A star in the league was on the market, so the Blueshirts were trying to find a way to hammer out a deal for the Shawinigan Falls native.
In 1963, we have a trade to announce. Plante would be moving to New York City. This Rangers team had not seen a Stanley Cup Champion since 1940. With pressure growing to get back to the glory of the Franchise’s early days, the Rangers needed a netminder that they thought would take them to the promised land, and they picked up Plante to be that guy.
Montreal sent Plante alongside Don Marshall and Phil Goyette to the New York Rangers in exchange for Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, Len Ronson, and Lorne Gump Worsley.
For the Rangers, Plante came across, and the team couldn’t do anything. In 98 games, Plante posted a record of 32-53-12. With a .908 save percentage and a 3.38 goals-against average, he wasn’t the problem, but the team struggled. He would not be dealt so his branch ends, but there’s still much more to follow.
Don Marshall spent a long time in New York. During his seven seasons with the organization, Marshall tallied 129 goals and 141 assists for 270 points in 479 games. He would also walk into free agency, but this was a significant piece the Rangers got for almost a decade.
Goyette would be traded so that this side will continue, but he played for the Rangers for seven seasons, scoring 98 goals and 231 assists for 329 points in 396 games. He was traded to the St Louis Blues for a 1st-round pick in 1969. That was used on Andre Dupont, who played seven games as a Ranger, scoring a goal and two assists.
Dupont had a 13-year NHL career after he was traded back to the St. Louis Blues. It was yet another six-player deal.
Dupont was packaged with Jack Egers and Mike Murphy and sent to the Blues for Gene Carr, Wayne Connelly, and Jim Lorentz.
Lorentz spent five games as a Ranger before he was traded. He was shipped to the Buffalo Sabres for a 1972 2nd-round pick. That was used on Larry Sacharuk. Sacharuk played four years in New York, scoring nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 75 games. He was traded to St Louis alongside a 1977 1st that became Lucien DeBlois for Greg Polis. Polis scored 65 goals and 76 assists for 141 points in 275 games as a Ranger but was never dealt.
Connelly never played for the Rangers, instead being shipped out the door before he arrived. He was sent alongside Dave Balon, yes, the same one that was traded for Plante to begin this trade tree, and Ron Stewart and sent to the Vancouver Canucks for Gary Doak and Jim Wiste. Wiste never played for the Rangers and was never dealt. Doak played 50 games as a Ranger, scoring a goal and ten assists in 50 games.
Doak was packaged with Rick Newell and sent to the Detroit Red Wings in 1972 for Joe Zanussi and a 1972 1st round pick that became Al Blanchard, who never made the NHL. Zanussi played in eight games as a Ranger, tallying two assists before he was dealt alongside legends Jean Ratelle and Brad Park to the Boston Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Vadnais scored 56 goals and 190 assists for 246 points in 485 games in 7 years as a Ranger but was never dealt.
Esposito is a hockey icon, but he was at the end of his career when he arrived in New York. He spent six years as a Ranger, adding 184 goals and 220 assists for 404 points in 422 games to his legendary resume. He retired at the end of the 1980-81 season.
Carr played for three years in New York. In 139 games, he scored 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points. He would be traded to the Los Angeles Kings on Valentines’ Day in 1974 for a 1977 1st round pick. That was used on Ron Duguay. Duguay spent eight years as a New York Ranger in his career, scoring 164 goals and 176 assists for 340 points in 499 games across his two stints with the organization spanning eight years before being involved in a six-player trade himself.
Duguay dealt with Eddie Johnstone and Ed Mio to the Detroit Red Wings for Mike Blaisdell, Willie Huber, and Mark Osborne. This deal happened in 1983. The original Plante deal was 20 years prior at this point.
Let’s start with Blaisdell. Blaisdell played in 48 games as a Ranger, putting up six goals and six assists for twelve points. He was never traded.
Mark Osborne played in 253 games as a Ranger, scoring 61 goals and 74 assists for 135 points. He was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jeff Jackson and a 1983 3rd round pick that was used on Rob Zamuner. Zamuner played nine games, scoring a goal and two assists, before he left to go to Tampa Bay in free agency. Jackson played in nine games as a Ranger, scoring five goals and an assist.
Jackson was dealt to the Nordiques alongside Terry Carkner for John Ogrodinck and David Shaw. Ogrodnick played in 338 games as a Ranger, scoring 126 goals and 128 assists for 254 points. He wasn’t traded and left to go to Detroit in free agency.
David Shaw spent five years in Manhattan. In 240 games, he had 17 goals and 57 assists for 74 points. His 314 penalty minutes outline what he was up to. Shaw wasn’t traded away from the Rangers.
Willie Huber played in 238 games as a Ranger, scoring 28 goals and 58 assists during his five years on Broadway. Huber was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks alongside Larry Melnyk for Michel Petit. Petit was a journeyman who never really settled. He played 133 games as a Ranger, scoring 17 goals and 49 assists for 66 points. He was traded to the Quebec Nordiques for Randy Moller.
Moller played 164 games as a Ranger, scoring seven goals and 38 assists in 164 games. He was much more of a fighter, and his 378 penalty minutes are proof of that. Moller was traded in 1992 for Jay Wells. Wells played in 186 games as a Ranger, scoring five goals and 23 assists for 28 points. He was traded to the Blues for Doug Lidster. Lidster played in 177 games with the Rangers, netting eight times with 19 assists. He wasn’t traded after his return, so this branch finally ended in 1995.
With that, we have reached the end of the trade tree… for the Rangers side. With that done, let’s dive into it.
Canadiens Side
To recap, the Canadiens got back Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort, Len Ronson, and Lorne Gump Worsley.
Starting with Ronson, he would be sold to the California Golden Seals. He bounced around the minor leagues but only played 18 career NHL games, and they were for the Rangers and Seals. Montreal got no service out of his time in Quebec.
Leon Rochefort was in three different trades involving both the Canadiens and Rangers, but this one doesn’t link to any of the others. This is because the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Rochefort in the expansion draft. During his five years combined in Montreal, Rochefort played in 97 games, scoring 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points. He wasn’t a star player but had a 15-year career in the NHL.
Gump Worsley has to be one of the best names in hockey history, and he was a great player, too. He spent ten years as the Rangers netminder, amassing 204 wins, 270 losses, and 101 ties with a .913 save percentage and a 3.04 goals-against average. Those stats only improved in Montreal with 90 wins, 41 losses, and 24 ties to go with his .914 save percentage and a 2.40 goals-against average.
Worsley was sold to the Minnesota North Stars in February of 1970 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980. He was a great player with a great career as he continued the long list of Hall of Fame netminders the Canadiens had collected. While this one came from a factory in New York, that illustrious record of producing quality netminders still follows the Canadiens.
Now, we get to the final piece, which is Dave Balon. We know he appeared in the Rangers side again, so how did that happen? Balon spent four years in Montreal playing in 226 games scoring 56 goals and 56 assists for an aesthetically pleasing 112 points. Balon would walk away from the Canadiens in free agency and join the Minnesota North Stars, where he appears on the Rangers side of this deal.
Overall
This deal is a mammoth one on the side of the Rangers. This trade tree spanned almost three decades, and some may remember the players in this deal towards the end of the tree. This is one of the most underappreciated deals when it comes to trade trees. It’s never talked about in the classical trade trees despite multiple Hall of Famers appearing in this deal on both sides.
If we break it down to just the swap of netminders itself, Gump Worsley for Jacques Plante is a massive trade. Then we see names like Brad Park, Phil Esposito, and Jean Ratelle linked into this, showing how underappreciated it is. This may be because this trade happened more than 50 years ago, but it still remains one of the largest deals the NHL has seen and probably was the first trade of that magnitude in NHL history.
Historians look back on deals like Gretzky or Lindros and look at how it worked for the side where the deal continues forever. If we judge this deal on that curve, the Rangers win this in a landslide. It raises the question as to why this deal goes so under the radar when we talk about the earth-shaking deals that we have seen in the NHL. Is it because of the time it was made when there were just six teams?
Either way, we’ve reached the end of the Jacques Plante trade tree.