Four Worst Injuries in Rangers History

As we await the status of both Adam Fox and K'Andre Miller, I thought now would be a good time to write about what I believe are the four worst injuries in Rangers history.

1. Jean Ratelle - 1972: Throughout most of the 1950s and '60s, the New York Rangers were not a particularly good team. In fact, it wasn't until the 1967-68 season that the roster Emile Francis assembled began to coalesce into a playoff contender. Beginning in the 1970-71 season, the Blueshirts made it to the semifinals four consecutive years and the Cup finals once. That one finals appearance was in 1972.

That season, the Rangers ran a close second to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference. Their GAG line consisted of Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield. Hadfield set the franchise record with 50 goals that season; a record that stood until Adam Graves scored 52 in 1994.

But it was Ratelle who was the team's star. He was on pace to finish the season with 125 points when he took a slap shot to the ankle by Dale Rolfe. X-rays revealed a fracture. Ratelle would miss the final 15 games of the regular season and the first two rounds of the postseason. 

Against Boston, Ratelle gave it his best, but was nowhere near a hundred percent. He registered one assist in the six-game series, while Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and Ken Hodge had their way with New York. The sight of Espo hoisting the Cup at Madison Square Garden was one that would haunt Rangers fans for years.

2. Ulf Nilsson - 1979: After a three-year rebuild by John Ferguson failed to bring results, Sonny Werblin fired Ferguson and hired Fred Shero from the Philadelphia Flyers to be the team's GM and head coach. One of the first things Shero did was sign Ulf Nilsson and Anders Herberg to two-year deals. Both players were stars with the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA, and they quickly became hits on Broadway.

The 1978-79 Rangers were the surprise team of the NHL that season, with Nilsson, Hedberg and a rejuvenated Phil Esposito leading the way. But in a game at the Garden against the hated Islanders, Nilsson got his skate caught in a rut on the ice when he was checked into the boards by Dennis Potvin. The result was a fractured ankle for Nilsson that sidelined the Swede the rest of the regular season and most of what would become the deepest playoff run in seven years.

After a stunning upset of their suburban rivals in the semifinals, the Rangers faced the Montreal Canadiens for the Cup. The Habs were looking to capture their fourth consecutive championship; the Blueshirts, their first since 1940. Nilsson gave it a go in the first two games at the Forum, but like Ratelle in '72, wasn't up to it. Shero benched him the rest of the way and Montreal, after dropping game one, would go on to take the next four. It was another bitter pill for a fanbase used to disappointments. 

3. Alex Kovalev - 1997: As I wrote in an earlier piece, the years following the Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup championship were difficult ones for Neil Smith. At times he didn't know which direction he wanted to go: retool or fortify the core. His signing of Wayne Gretzky in the summer of '96 signaled that Smith was going to run it back at least one more year.

The Rangers had a mostly up and down season in 1996-97. Gretzky and Mark Messier gave the Blueshirts a one-two punch down the middle. But it was a winger by the name of Alex Kovalev, who was having the best season of his career, that would go on to have the most consequential impact on the team's fortunes. On January 27, he tore his ACL and was lost for the remainder of the regular and postseason. 

After dispensing with the Florida Panthers in four and upsetting the New Jersey Devils in five, the Rangers went up against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals. After splitting the first two games at the Spectrum, the Rangers lost the final three. Messier would bolt for the Vancouver Canucks that summer. The core Smith had assembled had finally run its course. 

There's no way of knowing what difference a healthy Kovalev might've made against Philly. Maybe the Rangers still would've lost; or perhaps they've would've won. What is noteworthy is that two months after signing Gretzky, Smith was approached by Hartford Wailers GM Jim Rutherford who offered to trade Brendan Shanahan straight up for Kovalev. Smith turned him down. Imagine what Shanahan could've done playing alongside Gretzky. Who knows? Smith might've been the first Rangers GM since Lester Patrick to boast having two Stanley Cups on his resume. 

4. Mats Zuccarello - 2015: After going all the way to the finals in 2014, the Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy in the 2014-15 season. It was, by far, their best season, statistically, since the Cup year of '94. Rick Nash led the team in goals scored with 42, but the key to their success was their depth.

Mats Zuccarello may only have scored 15 goals, but his tenacity and grit made him a fan favorite. And his teammates could always rely on that tenacity and grit. 

In game five of the Rangers first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Zuccarello was struck in the head by a slap shot from Ryan McDonagh. The winger made it back to the bench but did not return. It was later learned that he suffered a fractured skull that affected his ability to talk. 

Obviously his season was over. While the Rangers didn't need him to prevail over the Pens, not having him against the Washington Capitals almost cost them the series, as the Blueshirts had to come from 3-1 down to advance. But against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they fell short, getting shut out in game seven at the Garden. 

Like the other injuries, this one is hard to quantify. Even if the Rangers had beaten the Bolts, the Chicago Blackhawks might have been a bridge too far, with or without Zuccarello. Still, there's no denying his loss was felt.

Rangers At the Break

Heading into the break, the New York Rangers record stands at 27-24-4. Their 58 points puts them just three behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot. After a horrific December in which they went 3-10-0, the Rangers have gone 11-5-3 in 2025. The power play was 26.8 percent (7th best), while the penalty kill was 75.6 percent (tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Dicks for 16th best). The team's save percentage was .897 (5th best).

Now before I get into what the Rangers need to do going forward, I wanted to take a moment or two to give a shout out to the NHL and the NHLPA. Regardless of what happens tonight in Boston, the Four Nations Face-Off Tournament has been an unqualified success. Not since 1996 have fans been treated to this kind of competitiveness within the sport in what basically amounts to an exhibition series. Kudos all around.

The only blemish has been Charlie McAvoy. The Boston Bruin and Team USA defenseman sustained an injury on a cross check in the game against Finland, which was apparently misdiagnosed by Team USA physicians. He subsequently developed an infection and was hospitalized in Boston. His presence will be sorely missed tonight against Team Canada.

Apart from that, though, if I were Gary Bettman and Marty Walsh, I would do everything in my power to make sure something like this becomes an annual event. You don't necessarily need a round robin like we saw in this tournament; but perhaps a best 2 out of 3 featuring a team from North America vs. a team from Europe would suffice.

Imagine what the lineups would look like:

Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, Branden Pointe, Mitch Marner, Cale Makar, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, both Tkachuk brothers, Jake Guentzel, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy and Connor Hellebuyck going up against Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, William Nylander, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin, Filip Forsberg, Jesper Bratt, Mikael Granlund, Kirill Kaprizov, Andrei Svechnikov, Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. I'll gladly take that any day over what the NHL laughingly calls an All-Star game.

Now back to the Rangers.

If this team is going to make the playoffs, they need to get serious. No more blown leads like they had against the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens, all of which became OT losses. No more sleepwalking against a Pittsburgh Penguins team that was missing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. And no more reckless cross-ice passes in the offensive zone with 30 seconds left in the third period of a tie game that directly led to a regulation loss to the Avs. All told, the Blueshirts have given up six points over the last six weeks; six points they can ill afford to give up. If they had just three of those points back, they'd be tied with the Red Wings right now.

Starting Saturday, the Rangers need to go on a win streak. They play the Sabres in Buffalo, the Penguins in Pittsburgh and the Islanders at UBS Arena. Anything less than 3-0 against those teams is inexcusable. Indeed, between now and the end of the regular season, they probably need to go 20-7. If that seems like a tall order, it is. But that's what happens when you dig a hole as deep as the Blueshirts have.

In order to accomplish this herculean feat, the big boys are going to have to come through. Assuming Chris Drury doesn't clean house at the trade deadline - unlikely - it's time for Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider to pull their respective heads out their asses and wake the fuck up. Since the arrival of J.T. Miller, Zibanejad has 2 goals and 6 assists over his last 5 games. He needs to keep that pace up if this team has any chance of making the postseason. Likewise for Kreider, whose shorthanded goal against the Bruins proved to be the game winner.

Adam Fox also needs to step it up. It is unacceptable for a player as gifted as he is to have only four goals on the season, and keep in mind two of those goals were empty netters. Though he was never a particularly fast skater, this season he's looked more like Carol Vadnais than the former Norris trophy winner we all know and love. Vincent Trocheck has filled the leadership void created after Jacob Trouba was sent packing admirably, but even he needs to step it up offensively.

But while the players must ultimately bear the lion's share of responsibility for this nightmare of a season, their head coach isn't without blame. The fact is Peter Laviolette has been way too patient with this group. Case in point: Alexis Lafreniere. Over the last few weeks, the young winger has looked lost; his failure to back check has led to several glaring goals against. It is high time Laviolette employed some tough love and sat him for a game or two, if not for his sake than to send a message loud and clear that lack of effort will not be tolerated. You don't have to be John Tortorella to get your team's attention. 

Bottom line: The Rangers have the horses to make the playoffs. Whether or not they do depends on how badly they want it.

Knicks At the Break

Going into the All-Star break, the New York Knicks record stands at 36-18. They are solidly in third place in the Eastern Conference, five and a half games ahead of the Indiana Pacers and two and a half games behind the Boston Celtics. Since November 15, they've gone 31-12, for a .721 winning percentage. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers have a higher winning percentage over that span. Overall, this is the best start this franchise has had since the 1996-97 season when they went 39-15 over their first 54 games. They finished that season 57-25 and went to the ECF. This season, they are on pace to finish 55-27.

Objectively speaking, the Knicks are an outstanding team on the cusp of being elite. Their starting five is arguably the best in the NBA. I say arguably because, let's face it, when Kristaps Porziņģis is healthy, the Celtics starting five is better. Still, that's pretty damn impressive. Give Leon Rose props for putting this roster together over the last three years.

But for all the accolades the starters get - and deservedly so - it's the bench that remains this team's Achilles heal. Right now, Tom Thibodeau has maybe three players he can trust coming off the bench: Precious Achiuwa, Deuce McBride and Cam Payne. And with OG Anunoby missing the last five games due to an injured foot, Thibs was forced to start Achiuwa at the four. As a result, the Knicks starting five leads the league in minutes played per game, with Mikal Bridges (38.2) and Josh Hart (37.8) leading the way.

That might help explain why they ran out of gas against the Thunder in Oklahoma City in early January after leading for most of the game, or why they are 11-12 against teams that are .500 or better. And keep in mind, they still have three games against the Cavs, who are 20-6 against those very same teams. 

With the Knicks up against the second apron, Rose didn't have the cap space he needed to bring in reinforcements at the trade deadline. The return of Mitchell Robinson - now slated for late February - is pretty much it. The 7-0, 240 pound center should provide badly needed help for a team that is ranked near the bottom of the league in both rim and perimeter defense. But how much will Robinson be able to contribute to this team? Realistically, if Thibs can get 12-15 minutes per game out of him, that's still better than nothing.

Another question is whether the return of Robinson means Karl-Anthony Towns moves over to the four? When he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season, KAT played the four while Rudy Gobert played the five. That combo proved to be one of the most effective in the NBA, with the T-Wolves advancing to the Western Conference finals before eventually losing to the Dallas Mavericks. If Thibs elects to go that route, it means Anunoby switches back to the three where, frankly, he is more effective and Bridges becomes the two, with Hart coming off the bench. All of this, however, hinges on how durable Robinson is once he returns.

If I had to guess, I'd say Thibs will experiment with KAT at the four, but ultimately decide to keep him at the five. Doing that allows him to bring Robinson in off the bench where he will be the most useful. Besides, even when fully healthy, Robinson isn't much of a scorer, and against a team like the Celtics - their most likely opponent in the second round - the Knicks will need offensive production from their center position, and Towns is, without a doubt, the most prolific scoring center New York has had since Patrick Ewing.

To reiterate what I wrote above, and what I've been saying pretty much all season long, this is an outstanding team on the cusp of being elite. That Rose hasn't gotten consideration for Executive of the Year is nothing short of a crime, given the state this franchise was in prior to his arrival. There are still some holes left to fill, but I am confident they will be filled during the offseason.

Be patient, Knicks fans, the light you see at the end of the tunnel ISN'T a freight train. 

Time Was Always on the Mets Side

Well, it's finally done. The Polar Bear is coming back to Queens. After several months of intense negotiations, in which Steve Cohen verbally expressed his frustrations, Pete Alonso and his agent Scott Boras cried uncle.

To be clear, time was always on the Mets side. Boras thought he had a winning hand. He thought if he could just hold out a little longer, he would get Cohen to give in. As it turns out, though, Cohen and his GM David Stearns knew the market better than he did. So they gave Alonso two choices: a three-year deal for $71 million with no opt outs or a two-year deal for $54 million with an opt out after 2025. Alonso chose the latter. Which means we'll probably be back here again a year from now. But that's next year. 

Forget all that nonsense about those "offers" from the Los Angeles Angels and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Angels are where ball players go to die. Think about it: they had Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in 2023 and still managed to win only 73 games. Can you imagine Pete playing for them? Honestly, that was an easy bluff for Cohen to call. 

As for the Blue Jays, Toronto has been, and always will be, a hockey town. They live and die with their Maple Leafs. Seriously, Alonso could win the Triple Crown and all anyone would care about was whether Auston Matthews was going to lead the NHL in goals. Why do you think Vladimir Guerrero Jr gave the Jays a deadline of February 17 to present an acceptable long-term contract offer? He wants to be there as much as a nun wants to be at a frat party. 

Indeed, the silver lining in all this is that by giving Pete $30 million up front, it gives the Mets an excuse to pivot to Guerrero Jr should he decide to play hardball with them after the season. Ya gotta love the way Cohen operates.

So now that the Mets finally have their lineup in place for this coming season, the only question is who bats behind Francisco Lindor: Alonso or Juan Soto? Either way, this will be the most potent offense the Amazins have had since that 2006-08 team, which had Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and David Wright. To paraphrase Mr. T., "I pity the fool who has to pitch to that lineup."

After the Soto signing, I thought the Mets were good, but not quite good enough to beat out the Philadelphia Phillies or Atlanta Braves for the NL East. With Alonso back, and with the improvements Stearns has made to the bullpen, this might be the second best team in all of baseball.

The Flushing Faithful have waited a long time for this moment. It's finally here.

Five Worst Trades in Rangers History

Because the topic often comes up, I thought I'd give my two cents worth. As always, feel free to disagree with the order, or perhaps even add your own nominations.

1. Rick Middleton to the Boston Bruins for Ken Hodge: This trade has often been compared to the Mets sending Amos Otis to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Foy. But it's actually much worse. The Mets had won the World Series and had Tommie Agee in centerfield. Ed Charles had just retired and the Mets weren't sure if Wayne Garret could handle playing 3rd base full time, so you could almost forgive them for wanting to shore up what they perceived was a weakness on the infield. 

There is no such absolution for the Rangers. They were clearly in rebuild mode entering the 1976-77 season. John Ferguson was now in his second year as GM. Middleton was a young winger with enormous potential, while Hodge was a seasoned veteran whose best years were well behind him. Aside from the fact that Hodge had played with Phil Esposito during his Bruins days, there was simply no justification for making this trade. None.

2. J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, Vlad Namestnikov, 2018 1st-Round Pick and 2019 2nd-Round Pick: The decision by Jeff Gorton to rebuild in the winter of 2018 was, in retrospect, the correct one. The window for this core was clearly closing, so it was time to break up the band. Where he fouled up was the return he got. Steve Yzerman clearly fleeced him on this deal. Of the three players who came over from the Lightning, only Howden - now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights - has had anything remotely resembling a successful NHL career. And the draft picks the Rangers received didn't amount to much either.

McDonagh, meanwhile, played an integral role in helping Tampa win two consecutive Stanley Cups, while Miller has become one of the NHL's premier centers, albeit playing for the Vancouver Canucks. By re-acquiring Miller last week, you could say Chris Drury has at least partially atoned for Gorton's mistake, though seven years after the fact.

3. Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller to the Washington Capitals for Bobby Carpenter: On paper, this trade made perfect sense. Phil Esposito had replaced Craig Patrick as Rangers GM and was looking to make his bones. Carpenter checked all the boxes: size, speed, you name it. It should've been a slam dunk. Except Carpenter was a flop on Broadway, registering a measly 10 points in 28 games before Espo dealt him to the LA Kings for Marcel Dionne. 

Ridley and Miller, on the other hand, would go on to have successful careers playing for the Caps, while Carpenter eventually finished his career with the New Jersey Devils, a shell of the player the Rangers thought they were getting when they traded for him. The moral of the story is quite simple: the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the street.

4. Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ulf Samuelsson and Luc Robitaille: The post Stanley Cup years were very difficult ones for Neil Smith. At times, he didn't know which direction he wanted to take: retool or stay with the core. After the Rangers got swept by the Philadelphia Flyers in '95, he panicked and traded two of his more talented players for an admittedly physical defenseman and a veteran forward whose best years were behind him.

Zubov would go on to win another Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999, while Nedved enjoyed his best season playing on a line with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Oh, and by the way, the Pens beat the Rangers 4-1 in the second round of the '96 playoffs. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make.

5. Jean Ratelle and Brad Park to the Boston Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais: After the Islanders upset the Rangers in the 1975 preliminary round, it was clear this core was done. Emile Francis knew in his heart what he needed to do and that was rebuild. Instead, he swapped stars with the hated Bruins.

While Espo and Vadnais played an integral role in the Rangers getting to the finals in '79, there's no denying the fact that Boston got the better of this trade. Ratelle, Park and Middleton (see above) gave fans in Beantown years of excitement, while Rangers fans had to endure three seasons of misery until some of their younger players developed under a new front office regime.

It's Miller Time

Make no mistake about it, the New York Rangers were twenty minutes away from not only losing their fourth straight game, but from finding themselves on the exit ramp as far as the playoffs were concerned. After a crushing loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the final seconds of regulation, the Blueshirts followed that up with two uninspiring performances against the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. The reason they were only trailing the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 going into the third period was because Jonathan Quick was keeping them in the game. Their postseason hopes were on the brink.

That's when the prodigal son came through. With the Rangers on the power play, J.T. Miller took a cross ice pass from Artemi Panarin and fired a shot towards Adin Hill that he was unable to handle. Mika Zibanejad pounced on the loose puck and deposited it in the back of the net to tie the game. A few minutes later, K'Andre Miller blasted a shot from the left point that beat Hill cleanly to give New York a 3-2 lead. And with under two minutes left in regulation, and the Rangers on another power play, Panarin scored the insurance goal to ice the game. J.T. Miller assisted on that goal as well.

In just two games since returning to the Rangers, Miller has two goals and two assists. He was the lone bright spot in Boston, scoring twice and leading the team with six shots on goal. Against Vegas, he was a plus 2 and was on the ice for three of the Rangers four goals. His presence has been felt both on the bench and on the ice. How significant has Miller been? Mika Zibanaejad had his best game of the season with a goal and two assists, playing on Miller's right side with Panarin on the left. The trio combined for two goals and six assists. It's no exaggeration to say that every time that line was on the ice they were creating scoring chances. 

Peter Laviolette has gotten a lot of criticism this season - most of it justified - for the way his team has played. But his decision to unite his three best offensive players is, for now at least, an unqualified success. Most coaches would've just buried Zibanajead on the third line given the way he's played, but Laviolette realized - correctly, I might add - that if this team is going to make a run at the playoffs, it will need contributions from number 93. Credit him for that much.

But it wasn't just the three points Zibanejad registered that was noteworthy. He looked like a man possessed out there. He battled all game long. He kept the puck in the zone on the Rangers first power play goal. Frankly, I haven't seen him play with this much intensity in well over a year. If Miller can motivate this guy, this might just go down as the most consequential Rangers trade since October of 1991. Yes, I went there. But before you get on my case, I'm not suggesting that J.T. Miller is Mark Messier. I may be old but I'm not senile. What I am suggesting is that Miller, like Messier before him, is a passionate player who can't stand losing. I'm positive that's what led to his "leave of absence" earlier in the year, which eventually led to his exit out of Vancouver. Sometimes you're the cancer; other times you're the cure. In this case, Chris Drury is hoping it's the latter.

And speaking of Drury, his detractors might end up eating crow before the season is out. Since last summer he has unloaded both Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba without retaining a cent of their respective salaries; acquired two stay at home defensemen in Urho Vaakanainen and Will Borgen who have solidified a blue line that was as leaky as the RMS Titanic; and landed a number one center in Miller for a player whose next shift might well be his last and a lottery protected first round draft pick. 

As a result of his wheeling and dealing, the Rangers currently have $9.3 million in available cap space, which translates to $16.5 million in deadline cap space, meaning if the Rangers actually do make a run at the postseason, Drury will have a boatload of cap space at his disposal to further tweak this roster. Maybe he isn't Mr. Congeniality, but the guy knows his shit. He's ten times the GM Glen Sather ever was. 

But all that may be irrelevant if the Rangers don't make the postseason. After last night's win, they're currently five points out. Between now and the NHL trade deadline on March 7, the Blueshirts play eleven games. All but three are against teams that are currently in the playoffs. Conservatively speaking, New York will have to win at least eight of those games in order to get within striking distance of a wildcard spot; no small feat given how erratic they've been. 

Indeed, for the Rangers to avoid being only the third team in NHL history to miss the playoffs after winning the Presidents trophy the season before, they will likely have to go 21-8-1 over their last 30 games. They would then finish with a record of 46-31-5 for 97 points. And even that might not be enough to get in. That's how tight the playoff race is in the Eastern Conference this year.

The problem with digging a hole halfway to China is that sometimes you wind up closer to downtown Beijing than you do to midtown Manhattan.