Lines have been named for such things as the subways that run under Madison Square Garden, nationalities, food, animals and movies. They’ve included Hockey Hall of Famers and trios that played together for several seasons, as well as players who spent just a year or two with the Rangers. Some have keyed Stanley Cup runs, others came up short and still others barely made the playoffs.

Regardless, all of them bring warm memories to New York hockey fans.

Related: How Igor Shesterkin could pass Henrik Lundqvist as greatest Rangers goalie

Remembering greatest forward lines in Rangers history

Here’s a look at some of the most memorable lines in Rangers history.

GAG Line (Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert)

It’s not unusual for a team to put some muscle on a forward line to protect two players who are focused on offense. Such is the tale of arguably the best post-World War II line in Rangers history.

Gilbert and Ratelle grew up in the Montreal suburbs. The Rangers signed Gilbert at age 14, then inked Ratelle, whose school was next to Gilbert’s home, soon after at his friend’s behest. They played together in junior hockey for Guelph, making life miserable for goalies. Hadfield was claimed by the Rangers from the Chicago Black Hawks in the June 1961 Inter-League draft. He didn’t have the same skill level as Gilbert and Ratelle but brought muscle to an undersized team and actually led the NHL in penalty minutes with 151 in 1963-64.

Hadfield eventually improved his game to the point that he could contribute offensively, and GM-coach Emile Francis put him on the left side of a line with Ratelle in the middle and Gilbert on the right in 1965-66. Back problems hampered each over the next two seasons, but the threesome began clicking in 1967-68, with Hadfield reaching the 20-goal mark for the first time, while Ratelle (78 points) and Gilbert (77) finished fourth and fifth in NHL scoring.

The still-unnamed unit remained very productive during the next three seasons before having a season that might have ended with the Rangers’ first championship since 1940 were it not for an unfortunate injury. After a sizzling start, they were tagged “The GAG (Goal A Game) Line,” though their pace of production soon led to a revised tag of “The TAG (Two A Game) Line.” All three players broke the 40-goal mark, an NHL first, and they wound up with a combined total of 312 points, including the first 50-goal season in Rangers history by Hadfield, who had never scored more than 26 (he scored Nos. 49 and 50 on the final day of the season despite playing with a broken thumb).

Ratelle had 46 goals and 109 points in 63 games, and battled Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins for first in the scoring race when his regular season ended on March 1, 1972, after a slap shot by teammate Dale Rolfe broke his ankle. After the Rangers eliminated the Montreal Canadiens and the Black Hawks to make the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1950, The Rangers lost in six games to the Bruins, with Ratelle basically still playing on one leg.

The “GAG Line” lived up to its name in each of the next two seasons before a trade sent Hadfield to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the summer of 1974. Ratelle and Esposito switched teams in November 1975 when they were involved in one of the biggest deals in NHL history. Gilbert was the only one to retire with the Rangers, hanging up his skates in November 1977. Each had their number retired by the Rangers, and Gilbert remains the franchise’s all-time scorer leader (406 goals, 1,021 points).

The A Line (Bun Cook, Frank Boucher, Bill Cook)

No line in Rangers history stayed together for as long as their first great trio, each of whom is enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Cook brothers and Boucher each played in the Western Hockey League until the WHL folded after the 1925-26 season. The Rangers bought the contracts of the Cook brothers, then acquired Boucher from Boston after the Bruins had purchased his contract from Vancouver.

The threesome, which was named for the subway line that ran under the old Madison Square Garden, was an immediate hit. Bill Cook scored the first goal in franchise history, giving the Rangers a 1-0 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Montreal Maroons in their NHL debut on Nov. 16, 1926. He led the NHL with 33 goals and 37 points in 44 games, and the line helped the Rangers to first place in the American Division in 1926-27. One year later, they were key to the Rangers’ first championship run, with the line scoring every goal (five by Boucher) in a 3-2 series win over the Maroons in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Final.

The line was a perfect blend of scoring, playmaking and skill. Cook led the NHL in goals (28) and points (50) again in 1932-33, then scored the Cup-winning goal in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Boucher led the League in assists three times and topped all playoff scorers twice. He also won the Lady Byng Trophy seven times in a span of eight seasons; the NHL finally gave him the trophy in 1935 and commissioned another one. Bun Cook was an excellent passer in his own right (he came up with the idea of the drop pass) and scored at least 13 goals in each of his first nine seasons, none of which was longer than 48 games.

The “A Line” rolled along for New York’s first 11 seasons, longer than any other trio in team history. They received one last honor on Feb. 11, 1968, when they were among the 62 players invited to the final game at the “old Garden” and made one final rush that ended with Bill Cook putting the puck in the net.

The Messier Line (Adam Graves, Mark Messier, Tony Amonte/Alexei Kovalev/Pat Verbeek)

Messier and Graves won the Stanley Cup as teammates, but not linemates, with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990 and arrived in New York a few weeks apart in the fall of 1991; Graves as a free agent in September and Messier in a blockbuster trade a few weeks later. Coach Roger Nielson put them together, and they meshed perfectly: Graves, who had never reached double figures in goals in Edmonton, scored 26 playing on Messier’s left side that first season. Messier won the Hart Trophy as MVP with a 107-point season, and Amonte, a rookie, spent much of the season on their right wing and was a Calder Trophy finalst after scoring 35 goals. The Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy as the regular-season champion.

Graves and Messier stayed together until 1996-97, but the third member of the line wasn’t always the same. Amonte was sent to Chicago at the 1994 NHL Trade Deadline, opening up a spot for Kovalev. Graves broke the Rangers record with 52 goals and Messier topped the forwards with 84 points that magical season. Kovalev made his biggest mark in the playoffs, finishing with nine goals and 21 points to help the Rangers end their 54-year championship drought.

The right side changed again late in the 1994-95 season when the Rangers landed Verbeek from the Hartford Whalers. The “Little Ball of Hate” had 10 goals in 19 games after coming to New York, then scored 41 goals and finished with 82 points in 69 games during his one full season with the Rangers before leaving as a free agent.

Messier did the same a year later, signing with the Vancouver Canucks before returning three years later. He and Graves were reunited for the 2000-01 season before Graves ended his career by playing two seasons with the San Jose Sharks.

Bulldog Line (Dave Balon/Steve Vickers, Walt Tkachuk, Bill Fairbairn)

Few teams have two nicknamed lines, but the Rangers of the early 1970s did. While the soon-to-be-named “GAG Line” piled up goals and points, the “Bulldog Line” that Francis put together in 1969-70 became known for its work ethic, tenacity and two-way play.

Francis put Tkaczuk, a 22-year-old center, together with veteran left wing Balon and rookie right wing Fairbairn on a line that was an instant hit. Balon led the team with 33 goals, Tkaczuk was tops with 70 points and Fairbairn was second in Calder Trophy balloting after a 23-goal, 56-point season. The Bulldogs actually outscored their more heralded linemates with 203 points.

Tkaczuk and Fairbairn also became one of the League’s top penalty-killing duos.

Balon had his biggest goal-scoring season in 1970-71 with 36, and Tkachuk led the Rangers in scoring with 75 points — although Fairbairn, hampered by injuries, managed just 30 points in 56 games. Balon was traded early in 1971-72 after his play showed signs of decline (he was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis), but Tkaczuk and Fairbairn thrived despite a rotating set of left wings, combining for 46 goals, 125 points and a plus-68 rating to help the Rangers reach the Final for the first time since 1950.

Francis put Vickers on the left wing of a revised “Bulldog Line” in 1972-73, and Vickers rewarded him by scoring 30 goals, including three hat tricks, and winning the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. Fairbairn also had an NHL career-best 30 goals, and the trio combined for 17 game-winners. They stayed together for one more season before Vickers moved to the top line after Hadfield was traded in the summer of 1974. Fairbairn and Tkaczuk stayed together until early in the 1976-77 season, when Fairbairn was traded to the Minnesota North Stars.

Related: Marc Staal’s career with Rangers is one that deserves to be appreciated

The Bread Line (Alex Shibicky, Neil Colville, Mac Colville)

As the “A Line” was coasting to its final stop, the Rangers’ next great line was just leaving the station.

The Colville brothers and Shibicky played together coming up through the Rangers system, so it was no surprise that when they reached the NHL, they were put together on the same line (and lived in the same apartment). They soon became known as the Rangers’ “bread and butter,” hence their nickname. The threesome hit their stride in 1936-37 and remained together through 1941-42.

Shibicky was the most prolific scorer among the three, twice breaking the 20-goal mark in an era where the regular-season lasted just 48 games. One reason for his success was his pioneering use of the slap shot, which he described as being “just like a bullet.” Neil Coville was the most honored; he was a Second-Team All-Star in 1938-39 and again in 1939-40, when they helped the Rangers win their third Stanley Cup championship since entering the NHL in 1926. Mac Coville brought a solid two-way game that balanced the line.

All three enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1942 and returned to the Rangers after World War II, but the magic was gone. The only one of the three to have any post-war success was Neil Coville, who became a defenseman and played four seasons, earning a third Second-Team All-Star selection in 1947-48 that made him one of the few players in NHL history to be named an all-star as a forward and a defenseman.

No Name, Just Points (Dean Prentice, Larry Popein, Andy Bathgate)

No, that’s not their real name. Actually, the Rangers’ top line of the late 1950s and early 1960s never had a nickname. But Prentice and Bathgate, junior teammates at Guelph in the Ontario Hockey Association, were wings on a line with “The Pope” that put up a lot of offense and helped the Rangers to three straight playoff berths in the late 1950s.

Bathgate was the star of the trio and the only one in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He surpassed Frank Boucher’s single-season record of 62 points in 1955-56 and had at least 74 points in each of the next seven seasons — including an NHL career-high of 88 in 1958-59, when he won the Hart Trophy. His slap shot was one of the most feared in the NHL, and it was his backhander to Jacques Plante’s face in a Nov. 1, 1959, game against the Montreal Canadiens that began the era of the goalie mask. Bathgate was traded to Toronto in February 1964 after scoring 272 goals with the Rangers, a team record that lasted until Gilbert came along. The Rangers retired his No. 9 in 2009.

But Bathgate’s linemates were solid players in their own right. Prentice, one of the most underrated players in NHL history, had four 20-goal seasons and broke the 60-point mark twice. He played more than a decade after being traded to Boston early in the 1962-63 season and was a 26-goal scorer for the North Stars at age 40.

Popein was a solid two-way center during his six full seasons with the Rangers, averaging 12 goals and 33 points before he was sent back to Vancouver of the Western Hockey League in 1960. He coached the Rangers briefly in 1973-74.

Two Czechs and a Swede (Martin Straka, Michael Nylander, Jaromir Jagr)

For the two seasons they were together, the “Two Czechs and a Swede” combination of three over-30 forwards was as good a line as there was in the NHL.

Jagr, a five-time NHL scoring champion, arrived first, coming in a trade with the Washington Capitals midway through the 2003-04 season. Nylander played with six teams before he signed with the Rangers as a free agent in August 2004, though the lockout two months later kept him from playing his first game until 2005-06. Straka, a longtime teammate of Jagr with the Pittsburgh Penguins, signed as a free agent in August 2005.

The Rangers missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons, and little was expected from them coming out of the lockout. But new coach Tom Renney put Nylander between the two former Penguins, and they clicked right away. Jagr set Rangers records that still stand with 54 goals and 123 points, finishing second in the scoring race. Nylander had NHL career highs in points (79) and plus-minus (plus-31), and Straka had his best season in five years, finishing with 22 goals and 76 points. With their No. 1 line firing on all cylinders (99 goals, 278 points), the Rangers returned to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Jagr-Nylander-Straka unit led the Rangers to the postseason again in 2006-07 and helped them win a series for the first time since 1997. But Nylander was a 35-year-old free agent that summer and returned to the Capitals — and his old linemates weren’t the same without him. After a 71-point season in 2007-08, Jagr became a free agent and headed for the KHL; Straka retired after dropping from 70 points to 41.

The Powerhouse Line (Lynn Patrick, Phil Watson, Bryan Hextall)

This threesome came in the late 1930s and thrived from 1939, when Boucher replaced Lester Patrick as coach, until World War II decimated the Rangers.

They were an interesting mix. Lynn Patrick was Lester’s older son (Muzz, a defenseman, was also part of the team). Watson was a volatile playmaker from Montreal who later went on to coach the Rangers, and Hextall was a dynamic scorer who led the NHL in goals twice, in points once and scored the overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1940 Stanley Cup Final against the Maple Leafs in Toronto to give the Rangers their third championship.

But their best season actually came in 1941-42, when Patrick led the league in goals, Hextall was tops in points and the threesome finished 1-2-4 in the scoring race. Patrick and Hextall were First-Team All-Stars, and Watson was voted to the Second Team. They helped power the Rangers to a first-place finish, but the Maple Leafs upset them in the Semifinals.

All three had excellent seasons in 1942-43, but most of the rest of the team that had finished first the previous season had left for the war. Patrick departed in 1943, Watson played for the Canadiens in 1943-44 due to wartime travel restrictions and helped them win the Cup, and Hextall played one more season before being denied a permit to cross into the United States for the rest of the war. The trio never reunited after the fighting ended.

Related: How Artemi Panarin stacks up with Jaromir Jagr in Rangers history

The Mafia Line/ The Godfather Line (Don Murdoch, Phil Esposito, Don Maloney)

A “Godfather” and two “Dons” helped carry the Rangers to the 1979 Stanley Cup Final.

Esposito, the “Godfather” had never been the offensive force with the Rangers that he’d been with the Bruins before arriving in a November 1975 trade. But the return of Murdoch from a suspension midway through the 1978-79 season and the arrival of Maloney a few weeks later gave him the best-matched set of linemates he had during his time with the Rangers.

The trio meshed quickly. Maloney, the younger brother of defenseman Dave Maloney, provided some oomph with 26 points in 28 games from the left side, and Murdoch contributed 14 goals and 37 points in 40 games. Esposito, seemingly reinvigorated by his youthful linemates, scored 42 goals (including a four-goal night at Boston Garden) and tied for the team lead with 78 points. It was his only 40-goal season with the Rangers.

Together. they were the driving offensive force for a team that finished third in the Patrick Division, won a playoff series for the first time in five years and upset the regular-season champion New York Islanders before losing to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final.

Esposito and Maloney were 1-2 in scoring for the Rangers in 1979-80, and Murdoch scored 23 goals in 56 games before he was traded. Esposito retired midway through 1980-81, but Maloney went on to play 11 productive seasons in New York, though he never had the same offensive numbers he did while playing with Espo.

The Still Need a Nickname Line (Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere)

This nameless group deserves its own moniker after powering the Rangers to the Presidents’ Trophy last season and helping them get within two victories of the Stanley Cup Final.

Panarin has been one of the most productive players in Rangers history since signing as a free agent in July 2019. He broke the 60-assist and 90-point marks three times in his first four seasons with the Rangers (and had 58 points in 42 games during the COVID-shortened 56-game 2020-21 season), was a First-Team All-Star in 2019-20 and a Second-Team All-Star in 2022-23.

The ’22-23 season was his first playing with Trocheck, a center who signed as a free agent in the summer of 2022 and had his best season since 2017-18 playing with Panarin. They were joined in 2023-24 by Lafreniere, the first player taken in the 2020 NHL Draft who had yet to find the right spot in the lineup.

New coach Peter Laviolette found it when he put Lafreniere with Panarin and Trocheck and saw each have a career season. Panarin’s 120 points are second in Rangers history, and his 49 goals are tied for fifth. Trocheck surpassed his career best with 77 points, and Lafreniere had a breakout season with 28 goals (26 at even strength) and 57 points (only six on the power play). The threesome also combined for 21 goals and 49 points in the playoffs, finishing 1-2-4 in team scoring.

Barring injuries, it’s hard to see Laviolette breaking up this trio any time soon. They still have plenty of room for growth — especially by Lafreniere, who turns 23 three days into the season.

That’s 40 seasons, four decades, behind the mic of Rangers games. But the 77-year-old believes the time is right for a final lap, hopefully ending with another Stanley Cup championship, like the one he called in 1994.

“I think Andy Murray, the tennis pro, said it perfectly for me at Wimbledon (in July) when he said ‘The heart says I want to do this for the rest of my life. The head says you can’t.’,” Rosen explained. “So, it’s a time where I’m on top where I feel very positive, I’ve gotten great reception from the fans. The last few years have been exciting for the Rangers. … so, it’s been real good and you want to go out on top and I feel that’s the way I’m going to leave.”

Rosen is already in the Hockey Hall of Fame, winning the Foster Hewitt Award in 2016, and was enshrined in the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame this summer. The kid from Brooklyn who was a Rangers die-hard growing up, has now been the voice of Blueshirts hockey for multiple generations of fans. That’s something not lost on Rosen.

And he’s loved every second of the ride. Beginning with those mid ’80s Rangers teams featuring John Vanbiesbrouck, Ron Greschner and Ron Duguay to the 1994 champions of Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Mike Richter, Brian Leetch and, yes, Mike Keenan. And then the ups and downs since the turn of the century, and years of Henrik Lundqvist, and now two conference final runs in the past three seasons after a swift rebuild.

“There are mixed emotions because this has been such a huge part of my life for so long,” Rosen said. “Every year I’d wake up and know I’ve got Rangers hockey … that was always in front of me. Now, it’s coming down toward the end. The feeling is bittersweet because I know the time has arrived.”

Among a variety of topics discussed on the Rink Rap podcast, Rosen dished on his three main color analysts over the years.

“I’ve been blessed that way to have great, great partners at MSG Network,” he said. “It’s made my job so much easier because you don’t have to worry about the guy next to you. You know, he’s got it down.”

WATCH: Exclusive 1-on-1 interview with Sam Rosen

Sam Rosen shares insight about Rangers color analysts

Through four decades of calling Rangers game on television, Rosen has worked primarily with three color analysts: Phil Esposito, John Davidson and Joe Micheletti. Rosen discussed each on the podcast, and also had this to say about Dave Maloney, whom he’s worked with on the radio side, as well.

“He doesn’t just bleed, he explodes Rangers blue,” Rosen said in descriptive fashion. “And if the referee makes a bad call, he’s pounding on the table. And if as player makes a bad play, it’s ‘What is he doing?!’

Phil Esposito

Rosen’s first partner on Rangers games was Esposito, the Hall of Famer who was Blueshirts captain after a storied career with the Boston Bruins. Esposito would later go on to become general manager and coach of the Rangers.

“Espo, gregarious personality, loved to have fun, would not go to the rink in the morning for the morning skate. ‘No Sam, you do that,'” Rosen explained. “I would say 90 percent of the time he didn’t know half the players on the ice during the game. ‘Where did this guy come from, Sam?’ So, that was my job. But with him, as soon as the puck was dropped I knew he knew the hows and whys of the game.”

Esposito was a straight shooter and a big personality. So, it didn’t take much for Rosen to draw the hockey legend out nor to have a good time together on the air.

“He loved to have fun,” Rosen said. “One time in Montreal, there was a delay on the ice and I said, ‘What do you think we should do, Phil.’ And he said, ‘Let’s schmooze!’ So we schmoozed until they dropped the puck again. We had a lot of fun.”

Related: Die-hard begs Rangers to honor Sam Rosen with this power-play plan

John Davidson

Former Rangers goalie John Davidson was Rosen’s broadcast partner for 20 years before he became an NHL executive, including two seasons as Blueshirts president from 2019-21.

“J.D. is the gold standard of broadcasters in hockey,” Rosen stated.

The two had an outstanding on-air rapport and are close personal friends. To this day, Rosen cannot gush enough about Davidson’s skills behind the mic or his work ethic preparing for broadcasts.

“He set the standard because he related to everyone at every level. He helped teach the game,” Rosen said. “I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and said ‘I learned the game of hockey from you and J.D.’ And J.D. was the man. He related to the fans, related to the players — spoke to them on their level, related to executives — which he became, related to ownership. He just set the standard.”

Related: 5 iconic Rangers play-by-play calls by Sam Rosen

Joe Micheletti

Joe Micheletti replaced Davidson and will be working his 19th season alongside Rosen in 2024-25. A former NHL player, coach and executive, Micheletti honed his analyst skills working with Howie Rose on Islanders broadcasts before moving to Broadway.

“Joe Micheletti is right out of that (J.D.) mold,” Rosen explained, referencing how detailed his partner is and how much time he puts into gathering pertinent information.

“Again, another person where players know him, he’s worked in different scenarios — working the sideline, being at ice level, working up in the booth. So, the players know him. He knows the game inside out and is able to present it in such a fashion where I don’t have to worry about it. I know if I stop talking, Joe will jump in with something relevant to what’s going on because he’s seeing the big picture.

But Rosen did point out a funny oddity with Michelletti.

“Joe has his little yellow sheets of paper that he folds up and scribbles his notes, which you can’t decipher. Nobody could read it except him.” Rosen said with a laugh. “He’s got all the notes that he needs to relate the game perfectly to the fans.”

As the anticipation builds for what this team can do after an exciting run to Eastern Conference Final, it’s time to look back on the franchise’s rich history.

The Blueshirts have been in the NHL since 1926 and have had some amazing moments. Of course, being around that long they have their share of some embarrassing ones too.

So we decided to take you back to a few true blooper gems from the Rangers archives.

Rangers bloopers: The Hockey Sock Rock

In 1979, some of hockey’s greats decided it was a good idea to get into the Rock N’ Roll business. This is a classic but pretty embarrassing when you look back. I think Phil Esposito’s induction into the Hall of Fame was delayed because of this. “How was I to know he was a ref-er-ree!!!”

Maybe it was really cool back in the day, but this is definitely cringeworthy now.

Ooooh Lala… Oh No

Was there something funny in the air in 1979? Anders Hedberg, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney and of course…Phil Esposito were featured in a popular jeans commercial that totally backfired. The line ‘Ooh La La Sasson’ would be changed to Ooh La La So Soon whenever the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs.

The jeans were really nice though.

Hockey Sock Rock Rangers edition

Ok, ok…if Hockey Sock Rock wasn’t bad enough, John Davidson did a segment for an NHL direct to video release in the 80’s that will make you shake your head.

Phil Esposito led the charge again with Ron Duguay and Dave Maloney. Also in the video is a song by the some L.A. Kings stars which include Marcel Dionne, who later would play for the Rangers too.

John Giannone rare blooper

John Giannone is one of the best in the business, but this moment during an old MSG broadcast in 2015 is one he would love to forget. In fairness to John, it wasn’t his mistake alone because someone in the truck aired the wrong clip.

After a brief commercial break the appropriate clip aired and Giannone captured the moment beautifully as he always does.

The Great Mistake

It’s spelled G-R-E-T-Z-K-Y! Not G-R-E-T-K-Z-Y!

Did the Rangers really do that? Yes, on October 30th, 1997 the Rangers misspelled the name of the greatest hockey player in the world to ever lace up skates. AGAINST THE ISLANDERS NO LESS! I bet many of you have locked this embarrassing moment away. Sorry to shed light on this debacle again. Wayne Gretzky we apologize…again…and again.

Wayne Gretzky’s amazing career spanned 20 years beginning with the Edmonton Oilers. He was then traded to the L.A. Kings in what is still considered one of the most shocking moves in sports. Gretzky made a pit stop with the St. Louis Blues before ending his illustrious career on Broadway.

The all-time leader in NHL scoring with 2,857 points: Wayne Gretkzy– I mean Gretzky.

Lias Andersson falls on opening night

Lias Andersson suffered one of the most embarrassing moments for a Ranger. The setting was Opening Night against the Winnipeg Jets on October 3, 2019.

Andersson was feeling really good coming out of training camp after making the team for the 2019-20 season. The Rangers first-round pick from the 2017 Draft was on the opening night roster and was being introduced to the crowd.

Stick raised in the air triumphantly to acknowledge the fans’ cheers, Andersson forgot about the perilous TV wire that took him down on the way to center ice.

The Rangers did go on to win that game 6-4 with Artemi Panarin recording three points in his Garden debut.

In the end, this was Andersson’s final season with the Rangers. He was eventually traded to the L.A. Kings for a second round pick in the 2020 Draft.

Wait a minute? Is there a trend between the Rangers and Kings when it comes to bloopers? We may have to investigate that in the future.

NHL News and Rumors

• Was the Jack Eichel trade worth it
• Did last year’s conference finalists get better?
• Nazem Kadri heading for the Islanders?

But in 2021, that is about to change.

Original Six Rivalry Renewed

As part of a new divisional realignment for next season that is COVID protocol-friendly, the Rangers and Bruins will see themselves together in the new East Division. The two Original Six rivals will battle it out along with the Sabres, Devils, Islanders, Flyers, Penguins and Capitals. This will also represent the 20 time these two rivals were in a division together.

The rules for the division, as stated by the NHL, will have the Rangers face the Bruins eight times this season, which is different from the usual four seasonal matchups the Rangers play against fellow Metropolitan Division teams.

The 1970’s was the peak of the Rangers-Bruins rivalry. Blood was shed, punches were thrown, sweaters were pulled, and other forms of anger were unleashed on the ice. But which particular moments and incidents stand out the most?

The Infamous Mike Milbury shoe incident

In 1979, typical rivalry matchup at Madison Square Garden went unusually south, and fast at that. After punching Ulf Nilsson, Boston winger Al Secord was accosted by a fan in the stands, which had the Bruins, led by Terry O’Reilly, go into the crowd, to hunt down the culprit.

“There was no way he was going to strike one of my teammates and steal his stick, wield it like a weapon and then disappear into the crowd and go to a local bar with a souvenir and a great story,” O’Reilly said in a 2009 New York Times interview. “As soon as I got him into a bearhug, I felt like I was being pummeled by multiple people. All I could do was cover up.”

Blueshirts get some Stanley Cup retribution

The Rangers eliminated the Bruins from the 1973 playoffs in a four-game sweep, but it had an even more bittersweet feeling than usual.

The Blueshirts had fallen to Boston in the Stanley Cup Finals the prior year before, and after 1973, the two franchises wouldn’t face off in a playoff series until 2013.

Two years after the sweep, a major, impactful moment occurred between the two Eastern Conference power houses.

Espo heads to Broadway

Before the 1975-76 season, Phil Esposito had twelve seasons-worth of NHL experience under his belt, and had led the league in goal scoring in the previous six-straight seasons before then. On November 7, 1975, he was sent to Madison Square Garden.

The Bruins traded their star goal scoring machine to the Rangers along with Carol Vadnais, and received Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and Joe Zanussi from the Blueshirts. It truly was a massive trade.

Esposito would go on to score 184 goals and notch 220 helpers in 422 games played donning the Rangers sweater, and finished up his tenure after the 1980-81 campaign.

The extensiveness Rangers’ history against the Bruins isn’t nearly as prominent as compared to other clashes. The Devils and Islanders, for example, have served more of a role as personal hatred for the Garden Faithful. But there are clearly certain moments in time the two clubs have marked with special interest in their history books. And now that the Blueshirts and B’s will face each other more than they’ve ever had this season, perhaps some more memories will be made. Whether they’re good or bad remains to be seen.

Rangers vs Bruins Dates

• 2/10/21 vs Boston
• 2/12/21 vs Boston
• 2/26/21 vs Boston
• 2/28/21 vs Boston
• 3/11/21 @ Boston
• 3/13/21 @ Boston
• 5/06/21 @ Boston
• 5/08/21 @ Boston (Final game of season)

READ NEXT: Brad Marchand calls out Ryan Lindgren, say’s he’s not an NHLer

The Yankees and Red Sox are considered the gold standard when it comes to mutual disdain and unbridled hatred. The Knicks and Celtics have been doing continuous battle on the hard wood floor since the NBA’s inception back in 1949. The Jets and Patriots have been sworn enemies since 1960 and the debut of the old American Football League when they were known as the New York Titans and Boston Patriots respectively. Heck, even the Giants and Patriots have a great deal of animosity towards one another thanks to Big Blue’s two monumental upsets of the heavily favored Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and XLVI.

Long History

In 1926, Madison Square Garden honcho Tex Rickard was awarded his own NHL franchise. “Tex’s Rangers” as they were known as, commenced play on November 16th with a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Maroons. On December 7th of that year, the Rangers played their inaugural game against the Boston Bruins and the National Hockey League joined the ranks of the New York versus Boston rivalry landscape.

The Blueshirts and Bruins rivalry got off to a rousing and immediate start in the 1929 Stanley Cup Finals where team from Bean Town knocked off the defending champions from the Big Apple in a brief two-games-to-none series. During the pre World Ward II era of the NHL, the Bruins and Rangers were consistently among the upper echelon franchises winning divisions, capturing Stanley Cups and having some of the league’s top players and engaging personalities.

However, when the United States and Canada entered the overseas conflicts in Europe and Japan, New York and Boston’s rosters were depleted when their best players went off to war. In fact, from 1942 through 1967, a 25 year period commonly refereed to as the “Original Six” era, the Rangers and the Bruins are the only franchises that survived World War II and The Depression not to capture hockey’s ultimate prize.

The Pain, The Trade

After almost three decades of futility and frustration, the late 1960’s saw a resurgence to the Bruins/Ranger rivalry and saw each team return to prominence and Stanley Cup contention. In 1972, these two historic combatants battled in a memorable six game championship series. Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the rest of the “Big Bad Bruins” proved to be too much for Rod Gilbert, Brad Park the rest of Emile “The Cat” Francis’ squad. The Bruins raised Lord Stanley’s silver chalice inside the hallowed halls of the World’s Most Famous Arena which must have made the Long Suffering Garden Faithful cringe, snarl and weep.

In November 1975, the unthinkable happened when these two bitter enemies made one of the most blockbuster and controversial trades in NHL history. The Bruins dealt superstar center Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais to the Rangers for Brad Park, Joe Zanussi and Jean Ratelle. The shock waves this deal sent throughout Rangerstown were enormous

To put this trade in perspective, the above transaction is tantamount to today’s Rangers sending Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox to the Islanders for Anders Lee and Nick Leddy. You talk to any Ranger fan north of 55 years old, and I guarantee you they remember where they were when they found out about the Bruins larceny and how they felt.

The Shoe Incident

Unarguably, the singular most infamous, viscous and unforgettable (for the wrong reasons) moment in this 90-plus year rivalry is what took place two days before Christmas in 1979 at the Garden. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 4-3 and right after the final buzzer, several Bruin players climbed over the Plexiglas to attack antagonizing Ranger fans. Of course, the visual of Mike Milbury beating a fan with his own shoe is seared into the memory bank’s of each franchises fan bases.

With the addition of the New York Islanders and then the New Jersey Devils to the NHL ranks, the Rangers and Bruins rivalry has lost some of its luster since that 1979 near-riot in the stands. Being in separate divisions and meeting only once in the postseason (2013) in almost 50 years also douses the figurative flames that have burned since the roaring 1920’s. Be that as it may, New York versus Boston, Rangers versus Bruins still, to this day, is a hot ticket whenever each franchise travels along the I-95 corridor to face off against one another and each team’s fan bases commonly venture into enemy territory to support their beloved franchise.

Every team has their share of embarrassing moments, so we decided to find a few gems from the Rangers archives to share with you.

The Hockey Sock Rock

This is a classic but a complete and total embarrassment when you look back. I think Phil Esposito’s induction into the Hall of Fame was delayed because of this. “How was I to know he was a ref-er-ree!!!” Ugh.

JD Doubling Down

Ok, ok…if Hockey Sock Rock wasn’t bad enough, John Davidson did a segment for an NHL direct to video release that will make you cringe.

Ooooh Lala…

Dear Lord…WHY??? What? Were the late 70’s and 80’s a big joke or something? Anders Hedberg, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney and of course…Phil Esposito did a really lame jeans commercial that totally backfired. The line Ooh La La Sasson would be changed to Ooh La La So Soon whenever the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs. Way to go NYR Marketing Department!

Insanely Crappola!

John Giannone is one of the best in the biz, but this moment during an old MSG broadcast is one he would love to soon forget. Happens to the best John. Of course, in fairness to John it wasn’t his mistake alone because someone in the truck aired the wrong clip.

The Great Mistake

Did they really? Yes on October 30th, 1997 the Rangers misspelled the name of the greatest hockey player in the world to ever lace up skates. AGAINST THE ISLANDERS NO LESS! I bet many of you have put this embarrassing moment behind you like a skeleton in a closet. Sorry to shed light on this debacle again. Wayne Gretzky we apologize…again…and again.

G-R-E-T-Z-K-Y! Not G-R-E-T-K-Z-Y! C’mon man!

I hope this made you laugh a little today. The Rangers history is rich with great players and moments but even these gaffs belong. In my opinion, they make the team more endearing.

The annual NHL Entry Draft is more or less a crapshoot. 18-year-old kids are evaluated and graded like cattle being sold at an auction. There is no way to truly tell how any of these neophytes will react and perform once they receive a seven-figure contract and don an NHL sweater.

Experts, scouts and sports fans alike will do their best to try and pinpoint which player will be selected by which team. But the fact is, drafts in all sports, are tantamount to throwing a dart and hoping yours gets as close to the bulls-eye as possible. After all, most players that get drafted into the NHL are teenagers who grew up in some small Canadian farming town or in a city or village thousands of miles away on a different continent. How any “expert” can pigeonhole a player’s potential is beyond me.

While many general managers in all sports “get it wrong” quite often, the New York Rangers seem to have cornered the market in first round busts. Rangers bosses such as Phil Esposito, Neil Smith and most egregiously, Glen Sather, have turned whiffing on high draft picks into an art form. The laundry list of Rangers first-round picks that went belly-up includes, and is not limited to, Jayson More, Michael Stewart, Peter Ferraro, Jeff Brown, Daniel Goneau and of course, who could forget (even though we’ve tried to) Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark?

As we leave the 20th century and enter the new millennium, the Rangers brain trust continued their drafting ineptitude. Hugh Jessiman, Al Montoya, Bob Sanguinetti, and Dylan Mcllrath all made Ranger fans do one big collective face-palm. The Rangers did not have a first-round draft pick between the years of 2013-2016 as the picks were traded away in an effort to help improve the roster for deep playoff runs. As bad as the aforementioned draft blunders were and as incompetent as the Ranger scouts have come draft time, nothing will top the 1977 draft in the “what could have been” department.

In June of 1977, the Rangers were coming off of back-to-back seasons in which they missed the playoffs and were in desperate need of an infusion of talent. The great Ranger players of the early-to-mid 1970’s teams were either gone or were shells of their former selves. The Rangers had two picks in the first round (8,13) and general manager John Ferguson had to get it right. He had a golden opportunity to bring in two talented players to help the rebuilding Rangers get back to prominence.

At pick number eight, Ferguson went with French Canadian winger Lucien DeBlois. At pick 13, Ferguson went with French Canadian center, Ron Duguay. Both of these players had excellent careers in the Canadian Junior leagues. Both were projected as being quality NHL players. However, still left on the board was another French Canadian forward named Mike Bossy. Bossy was hands down, the most talented player in that year’s draft. He scored an astounding 309 goals in just 263 games for his Junior team. Bossy slipped in the draft mainly because he had a reputation of being lazy, selfish and non-committal in the defensive zone. All he cared about was scoring goals and padding his stat line. So, that was why several teams passed on what would become one of the most prolific goal scorers in NHL history and that was why he still remained on the draft board when the Islanders selected at number 15. Islanders GM Bill Torrey decided the time was ripe to select the talented yet enigmatic Bossy and the rest, as they say, is history.

Try this sobering nugget on for size. Even though both Duguay and DeBlois were serviceable NHL players, their combined career goal scoring total of 523 was dwarfed by Bossy’s total of 573. And, Bossy’s eye-popping stat line came in less than half the games of the two one-time Rangers forwards. Bossy played in 752 career games while the two former Rangers skated in a combined 1853 contests. Bossy also won the 1982 Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, not to mention, four Stanley Cups. Duguay’s claim to fame was those Ooohhh-La-La Sasson commercials and DeBlois is probably most known to Ranger fans for being part of that blockbuster trade between the Rangers and Colorado Rockies in 1979 that brought Barry Beck to Broadway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyAqMfJHMEo

This scenario in which the Rangers decided to play it safe and not take a chance on an enigma is very reminiscent to the 1983 NFL draft in which the New York Jets selected the practical Ken O’Brien instead of the high-risk, high-reward choice of Dan Marino. Marino went on to re-write the NFL record books for quarterbacks while O’Brien was, and here’s that word again, serviceable. What could have been if the Rangers selected Bossy with either of their first round picks? Would the sniping winger from Montreal have had the same impact playing his home games in Manhattan as opposed to playing in Uniondale? We’ll never know for sure. However, one thing we can say with absolute certainty is the Rangers have not had any homegrown forward come anywhere close to the offensive juggernaut that was Mike Bossy. The likes of Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr, and Wayne Gretzky all were established NHL superstars long before putting on the Broadway Blue.

My hope is current Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton has learned from the ill-fated choices of his predecessors and that recent draft picks Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil and Vitali Kravtsov will not only live up to expectations, but exceed them and carve out their own legacies in New York Rangers lore. Hopefully, one day, the Rangers will have their own Mike Bossy and the dreaded mistakes of the 1977 NHL draft will be put to bed forever.

Every team has their share of embarrassing moments, so we decided to find a few gems from the Rangers archives to share with you.

The Hockey Sock Rock

This is a classic but a complete and total embarrassment when you look back. I think Phil Esposito’s induction into the Hall of Fame was delayed because of this. “How was I to know he was a ref-er-ree!!!” Ugh.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsJ1OEGIqg4″]

JD Doubling Down

Ok, ok…if Hockey Sock Rock wasn’t bad enough, John Davidson did a segment for an NHL direct to video release that will make you cringe.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0UoRgYJTJs”]

Ooooh Lala…

Dear Lord…WHY??? What? Were the late 70’s and 80’s a big joke or something? Anders Hedberg, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney and of course…Phil Esposito did a really lame jeans commercial that totally backfired. The line Ooh La La Sasson would be changed to Ooh La La So Soon whenever the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs. Way to go NYR Marketing Department!

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UilzHNm95Qg&list=RDUilzHNm95Qg&index=14″]

Insanely Crappola!

John Giannone is one of the best in the biz, but this moment during an old MSG broadcast is one he would love to soon forget. Happens to the best John.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSfgk4fQto”]

The Great Mistake

Did they really? Yes on October 30th, 1997 the Rangers misspelled the name of the greatest hockey player in the world to ever lace up skates. AGAINST THE ISLANDERS NO LESS! I bet many of you have put this embarrassing moment behind you like a skeleton in a closet. Sorry to shed light on this debacle again. Wayne Gretzky we apologize…again…and again.

G-R-E-T-Z-K-Y! Not G-R-E-T-K-Z-Y! C’mon man!

Every team has their share of embarrassing moments, so we decided to find a few gems from the Rangers archives to share with you.

The Hockey Sock Rock

This is a classic but a complete and total embarrassment when you look back. I think Phil Esposito was almost kept out of the Hall of Fame for this. “How was I to know he was a ref-er-ree!!!” Ugh.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsJ1OEGIqg4″]

JD Doubling Down

Ok, ok…if Hockey Sock Rock wasn’t bad enough, John Davidson did a segment for an NHL direct to video release that will make you cringe.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0UoRgYJTJs”]

Ooooh Lala…

Dear Lord…WHY??? What? Were the late 70’s and 80’s a big joke or something? Anders Hedberg, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney and of course…Phil Esposito did a really lame jeans commercial that totally backfired. The line Ooh La La Sasson would be changed to Ooh La La So Soon whenever the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs. Way to go NYR Marketing Department!

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UilzHNm95Qg&list=RDUilzHNm95Qg&index=14″]

Insanely Crappola!

John Giannone is one of the best in the biz, but this moment during last season’s MSG broadcast is one he would love to soon forget. Happens to the best John.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSfgk4fQto”]

The Great Mistake

Did they really? Yes on October 30th, 1997 the Rangers misspelled the name of the greatest hockey player in the world to ever lace up skates. AGAINST THE ISLANDERS NO LESS! I bet many of you have put this embarrassing moment behind you like a skeleton in a closet. Sorry to shed light on this debacle again. Wayne Gretzky we apologize…again…and again.

G-R-E-T-Z-K-Y! Not G-R-E-T-K-Z-Y! C’mon man!