Breaking down the NY Rangers all-time single-season leaders in hat tricks
The NY Rangers are one of the NHL’s more interesting franchises as they are an Original Six team, but they have, for the most part, lacked success. They last won the Stanley Cup in 1993-94, but it was their only win in the past 85 seasons - you can argue that only the Toronto Maple Leafs have had less success of the Original Six teams since the expansion era of hockey began in 1967-68.
Anyway, you can say the same with hat tricks because not a single player in the Rangers rich history has had over four in a season. So if you’re new to one of the NHL’s harder-luck franchises or if you’re a seasoned fan just looking for more information on the team’s history, keep reading and see which players lead the organization in single-season hat tricks, and who managed to snag four in a single season.
Before the Expansion Era
Frank Boucher (1927-28), Bill Cook (1930-31)
The hat trick is nothing new to the game, and the first Ranger to reach three in a season was Frank Boucher, who spent 13 seasons with the Blueshirts. Boucher accomplished the feat during the 1927-28 season when he scored 23 goals in 44 contests, and it was a season in which he also won the Lady Byng Trophy.
Just a few seasons later, Bill Cook hit three hat tricks in what was a 30-goal campaign for the Hall of Famer. It was the second of three seasons that saw Cook hit 30-plus goals, and it was also his second of four seasons in a row in which he finished with at least 40 points.
Before the Gary Bettman Era
Jean Ratelle (1971-72), Pierre Larouche (1983-84), Tony Granato (1988-89), Mark Messier (1991-92)
Jean Ratelle is one of the most recognizable names for the NY Rangers, and he spent 16 solid seasons with the franchise. In 1971-72, Ratelle scored three hat tricks and 46 goals total, and it’s something the Rangers wouldn’t see again until the 1983-84 season when Pierre Larouche hit the mark. Larouche ended that year with 48 goals, and it would be the final season in which he found the back of the net 40-plus times.
Our extraordinary player who scored four hat tricks hit the mark in 1986-87, but we’ll dedicate another section to them later. First, let’s talk about Tony Granato, who scored three hat tricks in 1988-89, in what was his first NHL campaign. Granato found the net 36 times that season, and it’s no wonder he walked away with First-Team All-Rookie honors and a third-place finish for the Calder.
And finally, we have another familiar name in Mark Messier, who won a few prestigious awards that included the Hart and Pearson, plus a spot as a first-teamer on the NHL All-Star Team when he landed three hat tricks in 1991-92.
The Gary Bettman Era
Petr Nedved (1999-00), Jaromir Jagr (2005-06), Marian Gaborik (2010-11), Mika Zibanejad (2020-21), Artemi Panarin (2023-24)
After a long absence of seeing any player recording a hat trick, Petr Nedved broke the streak in 1999-00 when he put up 24 goals and 68 points. Jaromir Jagr followed suit in 2005-06 during what was one of the more legendary seasons for anyone wearing a Blueshirts sweater in the 21st century.
Scoring a hat trick on three different occasions is one way to supplement what was ultimately a 54-goal year for Jagr, and it led to a second-place finish for the coveted Hart Trophy. Following Jagr, we saw Marian Gaborik hit the three hat tricks in a season mark in 2010-11, and he did so despite playing in just 62 games and finishing with 48 points.
In 2020-21, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to adopt just a 56-game schedule, but it didn’t stop Mika Zibanejad from putting up three hat tricks that year with 24 goals total. And most recently in 2023-24, the great Artemi Panarin did so three times in what was a 49-goal, 120-point outing.
The only NY Rangers player to reach four hat tricks in a single season
Tomas Sandstrom (1986-87)
Tomas Sandstrom hit the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career in 1986-87, and it occurred right in the middle of his tenure with the NY Rangers. To date, he’s the only player in Blueshirts history to hit four hat tricks in one season, and it was a year that saw him score 13 power play goals with an epic 16.6 shooting percentage.
Sandstrom only spent six seasons with the Blueshirts, but during that time, he logged 173 goals, and totaled 380 points overall. He then went on to continue his 15-season career that included stops in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, and Detroit.
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(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)