Rangers Daily: Remembering Eddie Giacomin
The tributes are pouring in for Eddie Giacomin over the past 24 hours. And deservedly so after the New York Rangers legend died Monday at the age of 86.
Our John Kreiser did an excellent job recounting Giacomin’s journey from late-bloomer, to star goalie in the NHL, to Hockey Hall of Famer whose No. 1 was the second number ever retired by the Rangers.
Larry Brooks shared a heartfelt tribute in the New York Post. In fact, Giacomin was such a New York sports icon that The Post dedicated its back page to him Tuesday.
Former Rangers and Islanders broadcaster Howie Rose offered this on X: “This one really hurts. I can unabashedly say that Eddie Giacomin was one my handful of boyhood idols. He especially, and Emile Francis’ teams of that era made me fall in love with hockey, and by extension helped launch my career. RIP. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie …”
Before there were “I-Gor!” or “Hen-rik!” chants at Madison Square Garden, even before “Rich-ter!,” “Bee-zer!” and “J-D!” rocked the fabled arena, Rangers fans were routinely celebrating Giacomin screaming “Edd-ie!” for all to hear.
The Blueshirt Faithful sure do love their goalies. And there was a real New York love affair with Giacomin, who played an exciting — and successful — style between the pipes.
The night of Nov. 2, 1975, is one of the most memorable in Rangers history. Two days after he was waived by the Rangers, Giacomin returned to The Garden and led the Detroit Red Wings to victory. Never has a visiting player been treated better than Eddie that night. Rangers fans turned on the home team out of pure love for their favorite goalie, who openly wept on the Garden ice.
When I got to know Giacomin later in his life, he remained bitter about the end of his Rangers tenure, still holding a grudge against the organization. Kreiser tells the story that Giacomin even refused to be interviewed at the time for his book “The Game of My Life,” published in 2006.
He wasn’t being a bad guy. It was just difficult for Eddie to talk about how he was treated at the end of his Rangers career. But he was always a gentleman.
Giacomin was a proud person. Proud to be a New York Ranger. Proud to be a real man of the people — the Rangers fans.
May he rest in peace.
New York Rangers news and analysis
Breaking news as we posted the Rangers Daily: J.T. Miller was named the 29th captain in franchise history. More to come on Forever Blueshirts.
Noah Laba had a nice rookie camp. Now let’s see how the 22-year-old center looks in his first NHL training camp, as a long shot to land the 3C role with the Rangers.
Speaking of long shots, Adam Sykora has an even bigger hill to climb to play for the Rangers this season than Laba, despite taking part in his third rookie camp.
John Kreiser takes a close look at the eight promotional theme nights the Rangers will hold to help celebrate their centennial season n 2025-26.
NHL news and rumors
Forever Blueshirts: How about former Rangers forward Anthony Duclair explaining how gruesome his groin injury was last season? He also offered up that Islanders coach Patrick Roy went out of his way to apologize in person this summer for harsh public comments he made about Duclair late last season.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Sidney Crosby spoke with reporters and made some things perfectly clear: he’s hungry to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he’s not looking to leave the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sportsnet: Team president Jeff Gorton and coach Martin St. Louis aren’t tempering playoff expectations for the Montreal Canadiens this season. Instead, they are embracing the high expectations for their exciting young team.
X: Renaud Lavoie of TVAS reports that the Canadiens are in discussions to extend the contracts of Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes.
New York Post: Islanders center Mathew Barzal said that his knee is “fully healed, ready to go” after surgery late last season.
The Athletic ($$): Pierre LeBrun shared what some top NHL players think about expanding the Stanley Cup Playoffs and a possible play-in game or round.
