As one of the NHL's Original Six franchises, the New York Rangers have had countless players that have gone on to become both franchise and NHL legends over the last 100 years. Some may ask - which Rangers in particular are the current owners of the most well-known franchise records? When it comes to goals, the number of games played, and the number of points totaled throughout their careers, there's a select few that come to mind. Here's a handful of Rangers legends whose records will likely stand the test of time.
Most Goals in a Season: Jaromir Jagr, 54 (2005-06)
The NHL's premier journeyman from what was then Czechoslovakia, Jagr played four years in New York, which is the second-longest stint he had with a single team. Pittsburgh is where the now 53-year-old RW played the majority of his stellar 24-year NHL career. Jagr set the Rangers' franchise record for most goals in a season with 54, and just a few seasons ago, then-fellow Rangers RW Chris Kreider almost broke it in 2021-22, coming just a pair short of tying it. Jagr played in all 82 games in the first NHL season after the 2004-05 season was completely wiped out due to a lockout, only the second time in NHL history the Stanley Cup was not awarded. Jagr totaled over 1,700 games in his illustrious career, becoming an 8x All Star and a 5x Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's scoring leader (1995 and then four more times consecutively from 1998-2001, all with Pittsburgh) He also won two Cups with the Pens in 1991 and 1992, his first two seasons in the NHL. Jagr added to his trophy cabinet in 1999 with the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, and hauled in three Ted Lindsay Awards as the NHLPA's Most Outstanding Player in 1999, 2000, and that famed 2005-06 season for New York. Jagr's final bit of hardware was the 2016 Bill Masterton Trophy, still excelling at the game even at the age of 44
Most Assists in a Season: Brian Leetch, 80 (1991-92)
Easily one of the game's greatest ever defensemen, Leetch played 17 years for the Rangers, logging 22 goals and 80 assists for 102 points in the 1991-92 campaign. Leetch added 10 goals on the power play during that time, and his career continued to shine, well after he picked up the 1989 Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie and two Norris Trophies for the league's best defenseman in 1992 and 1997. Just a couple of seasons later, Leetch's teammate Sergei Zubov nearly broke the most assists in a season record, coming up three short in the Rangers' Cup-winning campaign in 1993-94. But for Leetch, a 17-year career in New York saw him pick up five All-Star nominations and eventually a spot in the coveted Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. The 6-foot defenseman, originally from Corpus Christi, also spent one year in Boston and Toronto, but many remember him as a Blueshirt through and through. Leetch totaled just over 1200 career games, scoring 247 goals and 781 assists for 1028, making him one of just 100 players in NHL history to have surpassed such a mark.
Most Seasons Played: Rod Gilbert, 18 (1960-1978)
Which Ranger has played the most in a Rangers sweater? You may think it's Leetch, with the 17 seasons under his belt, being a pretty strong case. However, he's not quite there. We go back almost 65 years to Rod Gilbert, who played for the Rangers for 18 seasons. When he started, the league was still a few years away from the first major expansion. Just the Rangers and the other Original Six teams were there at the time, long before teams like Pittsburgh, St Louis, and LA came around. Gilbert's highest scoring season came in the 1971-72 campaign, one of his two All Star appearances, the other in 1975. His 97 points that season, along with 43 goals and 54 assists, made him a dominant force on the ice. Furthermore, he tallied another 97 points in his other All-Star season in 1975, albeit with 36 goals and 61 assists in 76 games. By contrast, Gilbert had played 73 games in 1971-72. He played over 1000 games in the NHL against a much smaller league, scoring 406 career goals and 615 assists for 1021 points, and the Montreal native also added some hardware to his endless career, picking up the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1976, just a few years after the death of the man it was named for. One final honor was a Hockey Hall of Fame induction in 1982. Gilbert lived until August 2021, when he passed away at aged 80.
Most Games Played in a Career: Harry Howell, 1,160 (1952-1969)
Staying 60+ years in the past and maybe going back a little further, the all-time franchise record for most games played wearing a Blueshirt? Harry Howell, who spent 17 years with the Rangers, like Leetch, and oddly enough, also played a handful of games for other teams in between from 1952-1976, a 21-year stint almost like Jagr's. Howell's 1,160 games are closely followed by Leetch's 1,129, but the defenseman known as the Horse still holds the record for the most games wearing a Rangers sweater. Howell wasn't a prolific goalscorer or didn't have quite the big pedigree of Leetch and Jagr, but he still won the Norris Trophy in 1967, right at the beginning of the NHL's first expansion, and made his only All Star appearance that same year, eventually earning him a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979.
As for some other records, some of these men hold them too, like Rod Gilbert, who still holds the Rangers' all-time goals record with the aforementioned 406, and Leetch, whose 721 career assists top the franchise leaderboard there. Gilbert also holds the Rangers' career points total with 1,021, and Leetch isn't too far behind him there, either. In any case, the New York Rangers have had many notable players over their 100 years as a franchise, and who knows? Current Rangers star Artemi Panarin came close to breaking a couple of franchise season records, so what's to say the Breadman himself can't do it entirely?