On May 26, 1976 then-General Manager John Ferguson Sr. made his first trade for the New York Rangers. And it went horribly.
The scene had been set six months earlier, when the Rangers and Bruins made perhaps the biggest trade in NHL history at that time, with the Rangers getting Phil Esposito, still a high-scoring center, and defenseman Carol Vadnais from the Bruins for center Jean Ratelle and defensemen Brad Park and Joe Zanussi. Esposito's scoring touch diminished in New York, and after the season he went to Ferguson, who got the GM job in January 1976 after Emile Francis was fired, and pushed for the acquisition of Ken Hodge, his longtime right wing.
Rangers general manager Emile Francis had pulled off one of the biggest trades in hockey history when he swapped Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and Joe Zanussi for Esposito and Carol Vadnais in the first month of the 1975-76 season. Esposito — a Hall of Famer — had averaged almost a goal a game in eight years in Boston, but with 29 goals in 62 games, the Rangers had seen his productivity fall by half. How were they to fix this problem? The answer seemed like an easy one.
Hodge had established himself as Esposito’s right wing. For eight seasons he was on the highest scoring line in hockey and had seasons with 62 and 55 goals. Even without Espo as his center, Hodge still scored 25 goals in 1975-76. Reuniting Hodge with Esposito was a natural solution and Emile Francis picked up the phone and made the deal.
Rick Middleton had played two seasons with the Rangers. As a rookie, he scored 22 goals in only 47 games. In his sophomore season he slacked off a bit, scoring 24 goals in 77 games. It would take Middleton to pry Hodge loose from the Bruins and Francis was ready to make the trade.
How did it work out? Describing this trade as a disaster would be an understatement.
Hodge played one season and 18 games in a second season as a Blueshirt. His one full season was fine as he scored 21 goals and had 62 points in 78 games and he finished his Rangers career with 23 goals and 68 points in 96 games. What he didn’t do was return Esposito to the goal scoring heights he had achieved in Boston. After seasons of 76, 66, 55, 68 and 61 goals, Esposito scored only 34 goals in his one full season with Hodge.
Meanwhile, Rick Middleton played 12 full seasons for the Bruins and scored 402 goals. He averaged over a point a game, finishing with 898 points in 881 games. He topped the 40-goal mark five times with a high of 51 goals in 1981-82. He added 100 points in 111 playoff games for Boston. A second team all-star in 1982, he won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1982 as well. Finally, Middleton went on to help reach the Stanley Cup Final three times, had two 100-point seasons and finished his career with 448 goals and 998 points in 1,005 games. The Bruins retired his number in 2019.
This remains the gold standard as the worst move in the history for the franchise and will require a monumental failure of personnel evaluation to knock it out of the top worst spot.