Best short stints in New York Rangers history
There have been more than 1,000 players appear in at least one game for the New York Rangers since the team debuted nearly 100 years ago. Some have spent a handful of years on Broadway while others spent just a handful of games. Some made bigger impacts than others.
Today we’re going to look back at players who made the most of just their only season as Rangers, and we mean only one. If a player had one good year after appearing in just a few games the year before or after, they’re excluded. It’s one and done today.
Keep in mind this isn’t the best players to play just one season, but rather the best performances by players in their only season with the Rangers.
Related: Best Rangers games of 2023
Best New York Rangers Short Stints
Andrew Copp 2021-22
Our first entry is also the first trade deadline acquisition. And spoiler alert: Copp isn’t the last name from the 2022 trade deadline who will find his way onto our list.
The forward arrived from Winnipeg for a couple of conditional draft picks on March 21 and had a pair of assists in a win over the Devils in his Rangers debut. Copp finished with eight goals and 18 points in 16 regular season games for the Blueshirts.
He’d add six goals and 14 points in 20 playoff games that spring to help the Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Final. He’d leave that summer to sign with the Detroit Red Wings.
Matt Cullen 2006-07
Cullen spent 21 seasons in the NHL, but just one was as a Ranger, coming in 2006-07.
Cullen, coming off a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, signed a four-year contract with the Blueshirts that July. Obviously since he’s on this list, things didn’t go accordingly to plan.
While not the gaudiest numbers, he was a serviceable middle-six center and registered 16 goals and 41 points. But GM Glen Sather opted to move Cullen back to Carolina for defenseman Andrew Hutchinson in the summer of 2007, thus ending his tenure on Broadway.
Ray Ferraro 1995-96
After five season on Long Island, Ray Ferraro headed west, signing with the Rangers in the summer on 1995. Unlike many who came over from the Islanders or –especially– the Devils, Ferraro took his game to another level during his short time with the Rangers.
The 31-year-old scored 25 goals and added 29 assists for 54 points in just 65 games as a Ranger. Then came an unexpected trade in March with the Los Angeles Kings that a package including Ferraro and Ian Lapierrere out west for a return of Marty McSorley and Jari Kurri and Shane Churla, none of whom had the impact GM Neil Smith was expecting less than two years removed from a Stanley Cup.
There have been plenty of head-scratching trades in Rangers history, and this one is included.
Guy Lafleur 1988-89
There’s something to be said about a player taking several years off and coming back still as one of the better players on his team. But that was the case with Guy Lafleur, who joined the Rangers for the 1988-89 season after nearly four years away.
While he was certainly not the player he once was with Montreal, the Hall of Famer was more than serviceable in his injury-shortened season in New York.
Lafleur scored 18 goals and 45 points in 67 games before his season ended with a knee injury.
He’d leave after that one season and join the Quebec Nordiques for two more seasons before calling it quits for a second and final time in 1991.
Pat LaFontaine 1997-98
Another player better remembered for his days as an Islander, Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine nonetheless had a strong but short stint in the Big Apple.
LaFontaine was one of the best scorers of his generation, but injuries — namely concussions — slowed his effectiveness towards the middle stages of the 1990s due in part to him being unable to stay on the ice.
Following the 1992-93 season, LaFontaine appeared in fewer than 30 games three times, and more than 70 just twice. That decline led to the Sabres sending him to the Rangers in September 1997.
He’d have a strong start, notching four goals in the first four games of the season, and was tied for the team lead with 23 through 67 games before colliding with teammate Mike Keane on March 16 against Ottawa. The result was a concussion and ultimately the end of LaFontaine’s career.
He finished with 23 goals and and 39 points for 62 points in 67 games. His 62 points were second-best on the team behind Wayne Gretzky’s 90, and ahead of Alexei Kovalev and Brian Leetch.
Markus Naslund 2008-09
The Rangers have long been known as a franchise that gets a former star player a few years too late, and it’s hard to argue that wasn’t the case with Markus Naslund.
The longtime Canuck who was the franchise’s leader in goals and points at the time of his departure, signed a two-year contract with the Rangers in July 2008. As with others on this list, you know it mostly didn’t work out.
Naslund turned 35 just a few weeks after signing the deal, didn’t have the type of season he or the Rangers were hoping for. But that’s not to say it wasn’t a decent year as a Blueshirt.
The Swede was in decline after peaking with three straight 40-goal campaigns, including 48 in 2002-03. But Naslund still managed to score a team-high 24 goals and finished his one-year stint in New York fourth in points with 46 points while appearing in all 82 games.
He added three points during the team’s seven-game loss to the Washington Capitals.
Naslund opted to hang up his skates after the season.
Petr Sykora 2005-06
The Rangers were having their best season since the Gretzky era, on their way to a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1997 when they acquired forward Petr Sykora from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Jan. 6.
The former Devil turned in a strong half season on Broadway, posting 16 goals and 31 points in just 40 games as a Ranger.
The strong play ran out in the postseason, as Sykora was held pointless in four games against his former team, who swept the Rangers out of the playoffs.
Sykora signed as a free agent with Edmonton that summer.
Frank Vatrano 2021-22
The second member of the Rangers’ 2022 deadline additions, Frank Vatrano fit in New York like a glove upon arriving from Florida.
Inserted alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, the shoot-first winger scored eight goals in 22 regular season games before adding five more in the playoffs to help the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final.
Like Copp, Vatrano priced his way out of New York and signed a four-year contract with the Ducks that summer.
Nikolai Zherdev 2008-09
While he’s no doubt a divisive figure among Rangers fans, it’s hard to write off Nikolai Zherdev’s one season in New York during the 2008-09 campaign.
The Rangers acquired the former fourth overall pick that July after the winger posted what would be career-highs with 26 goals and 61 points at just 23 years old. And while Zherdev didn’t equal those totals, he wasn’t far off either with 23 goals and tied Scott Gomez for the team lead with 58 points in 82 games.
After a strong season from a player who was still just 24, the Rangers qualified the restrict free agent. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement on an extension and eventually went to an arbitrator, who awarded Zhedev $3.9M, more than the Rangers’ $3.25M offer.
New York opted to decline the offer and Zhedev became a UFA. He signed in the KHL, but returned to the NHL for one more season with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010-11 before going back to Russia for good.
Some stats via Hockey-Reference
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