Lesser Known New York Rangers: Volume 3
90 years of existence, the Rangers have had a plethora of players come and go through the gates of Madison Square Garden. Some names known and some not so popular and some you probably had no idea played for the Rangers, or didn’t even remember their time here. Lesser Known Rangers dives into this topic by looking into players to whom you had no idea donned a Blueshirt. So strap yourselves in and prepare to take a trip down obscure hockey player avenue! Let’s begin!
To read past volumes of Lesser Known Rangers, click here or here.
Todd White, Center
Time with Rangers: 18 games in 2010-11
Having been in the league for more than ten years, Todd White was your prototypical bottom six center. Sprinkling some time in the SEL, IHL, AHL and NHL, White was a journeyman. White’s best statistical season was 2009-09 with the now defunct Atlants Thrashers, where he netted 22 goals and played alongside Bryan Little and Ilya Kovalchuk. Their line was dubbed as the “Little White Russian” line.
In August of 2010, White was traded for Donald Brashear and other Lesser Known Ranger Patrick Rissmiller. White was brought in to provide depth for the bottom six forward corps. Unfortunately, White did not make an impact, and after only 18 games for the Rangers, only scoring a goal and tallying one assist, White was waived and went unclaimed. In a move that shattered the world so much, people forgot about it, White ended up playing nine games for the Connecticut Whale. He scored three goals and two assists before leaving hockey completely later that season.
Todd White’s tenure with the Rangers could be described as…well, how can you describe it really? He was there and then he was gone in a flash.
Tim Kennedy, Left Wing
Time with Rangers: 53 games for HFD/CT Whale, None for Rangers
Local hype machines can be great but also massively detrimental to a professional player.
Well, what do you mean by local hype machines?
Whenever a player plays for the team he grew up watching or plays for a team from the same city they were raised in, they are subject to the local hype machine where they are hyped up beyond anyone’s rational belief. Tim Kennedy was subject to this hype.
Being raised in Western NY and putting up a decent rookie campaign with 26 points in 76 games, Tim Kennedy was seen as a hero, being that he was from Buffalo. Kennedy had a decent college career for Michigan State University, putting up 43 points in his final two seasons. I could not tell you how many times I heard his name uttered by people I knew that liked the Sabres.
Things didn’t pan out for Kennedy and the Sabres as both sides could not agree on contract demands. Kennedy thought he was worth more and the Sabres were not willing to pay those demands, so they bought his contract out. Kennedy then signed a contract with the Rangers before the 2010-11 season, hoping to make the team out of camp to provide secondary scoring for the big club.
Kennedy dressed up for a few preseason games (there’s actual evidence of this with the photo above, surprisingly) but failed to make the Rangers’ opening night roster, waived then sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack which briefly became the Connecticut Whale. Nothing ever came of Kennedy for the Rangers. His short time in blue consisted of a few preseason games, a ride in the AHL and then a trade to the Florida Panthers, with a third round pick for Bryan McCabe.
Kennedy played for the Panthers, Sharks, and Coyotes as well as a few trips overseas before coming back to North America to play for his hometown Rochester Americans and most recently, the Binghamton Devils.
Enver Lisin, Right Wing
Time with Rangers: 57 games in 2009-10
Smack dab in the middle of the new John Tortorella regime, the Rangers were in the midst of a re tool. After being ousted by Washington in the first round in the previous season’s playoffs, Glen Sather and company decided to build a team around their new head coach. One of those moves was trading speedy winger Lauri Korpikoski to Phoenix for Russian winger Enver Lisin. Lisin posted 13 goals in 48 games the prior season for Phoenix previously. Known for being a fast skater with great hands and a quick shot, the Rangers were hoping Lisin could make an impact in some form offensively.
The Rangers were looking for scorers. Their previous season scoring leaders were Nikolai Zherdev and Scott Gomez, both of whom would not be on the team the following season, all the while, the Rangers had just signed Marian Gaborik and were looking to shore up some secondary scoring on the bottom six. Lisin was young and seemed to have a scoring touch to his game and the Rangers wanted to cultivate this talent for their benefit.
Lisin did not live up to the expectations he could have reached with the Rangers as he only posted 6 goals in 57 games played. John Tortorella’s system proved to be costly for him, as he was unable to produce offensive numbers that the Rangers were expecting. After the season, the Rangers did not offer him a contract, effectively ending his short tenure with the boys in blue.
Lisin returned to Russia, where he is still playing hockey for to this day. He currently plays for Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the KHL.
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