Rod Gilbert, 1941-2021

If you're a hockey fan not old enough to remember the 1970s, the 1st name when you think of when you think of the New York Rangers is probably Mark Messier.

Or, if you're the kind of fan who watches hockey because he likes fights, you might think of Tie Domi, Joey Kocur, or Sean Avery.

But if you're older than I am, the 1st name you'll think of is Rod Gilbert, who remains the team's all time leading scorer, and possibly it's greatest all-time player.

Rodrigue Gabriel Gilbert (the name is French, so it's pronounced "Zheel-BEAR") was born on July 1, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He grew up there as a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, but it would be the New York Rangers who signed him.

They assigned him to one of their farm teams, the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association, outside Hamilton. In a 1960 game, he slipped on some garbage that was thrown onto the ice, and fell. A vertebra in his back was broken, and he was paralyzed. He underwent spinal fusion surgery to correct it, but a mistake was made, and there was hemorrhaging in his leg, and they nearly had to amputate.

He recovered, and debuted with the Rangers on November 27, 1960, at the old Madison Square Garden. The Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a 3-3 tie. He played the 1961-62 season with the Hatters, renamed the Guelph Royals, again playing just 1 game in the NHL season. But he was called up for good for the 1962-63 season, playing in all 70 games then on the schedule. He did so again in each of the next 2 seasons, scoring 24 and 25 goals, respectively. He was on his way to stardom.

But there was a roadblock, as his back troubles returned, and he required a 2nd spinal fusion surgery, missing half the 1965-66 season. He returned for 1966-67, the last season of the "Original Six Era," scoring 28. On February 24, 1968, 2 weeks after the Rangers moved into what was then known as "the New Madison Square Garden Center," he scored 4 goals in a game against the Canadiens.

He played on the right wing, on a forward line with Jean Ratelle at center and Vic Hadfield at left wing. This became known as the Goal-A-Game Line, or the "GAG Line," a play on a joke being a "gag line."

This line, and the play of defensemen Brad Park, Jim Neilson and Rod Seiling; and of goaltender Eddie Giacomin, helped lift the Rangers out of mediocrity. After getting all the way to overtime of Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, they missed the Playoffs in 12 of the next 16 years, at a time when all you had to do to make the Playoffs was finish at least 4th in the 6-team league. In the 20 years after that Finals appearance, including 8 with Gilbert as a result, the Rangers appeared in a grand total of 42 Playoff games, winning just 10.

Finally, things began to turn around. The Rangers seemed to feed off the success of other teams in New York: The Jets winning Super Bowl III in 1969, the Mets winning the World Series later that year, and the Knicks, the Rangers' co-tenants at Madison Square Garden, winning the NBA Championship in 1970.

In 1970-71, Gilbert scored 30 goals for the 1st time. Dave Balon scored 36, Ratelle and Walt Tkaczuk 26 each, Hadfield 22, Bob Nevin 21 and Ted Irvine 20. Giacomin was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie. For the 1st time in 21 years, the Rangers won a Playoff series, beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, before losing the Stanley Cup Semifinals to the Black Hawks in 7 games.

In nearly all came together in 1971-72. Hadfield became the 1st Ranger to score 50 goals in a season, Ratelle and Gilbert each hit a respective career high with 46 and 43, Park and Tkaczuk each scored 24, Bill Fairbairn 22 and Bobby Rousseau 21. The Broadway Blueshirts beat the Canadiens in the Quarterfinals and the Black Hawks in the Semifinals. But they ran right into the Boston Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, and lost the Finals in 6 games.

That was as close to the Cup as the Rangers would get between 1950 and 1994. They lost in the Semifinals in 1973 and again in 1974, and were embarrassed by the 3rd-year expansion New York Islanders in the Preliminary Round in 1975.

Gilbert, Ratelle, Hadfield, Park and Seiling were picked for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series with the Soviet Union. Gilbert, Ratelle and Park each scored a goal, and Canada won the series, 4-3 with a tie.

Early in the 1975-76 season, the Ranger team that had come so close and thrilled so many -- until 1994, it was the most popular Ranger team ever -- was broken up. First, Giacomin was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. Then came "The Trade," with the Rangers sending Ratelle, Park and Joe Zanussi to the Bruins for Esposito and Carol Vadnais.

On the surface, the trade made some sense. Esposito was losing playing time, and he wanted to play as close to full-time as possible. Getting Ratelle enabled the Bruins to get a scorer nearly on his level. Orr's injuries meant that his spectacular career was coming to a much-too-soon end, and Park was then seen as the NHL's 2nd-best defenseman. The Rangers got Espo, still a reliable offensive player, and Vadnais, who provided some toughness.

But the trade was hated, both in the New York Tri-State Area and in New England. When asked, 40 years later, when he got over being traded by the Rangers, Park said he still hadn't.

Esposito had worn Number 7 in Boston, and demanded it in New York. That was Gilbert's number, and he was the most popular Ranger of all time, and he refused to give it up. Esposito refused to play unless he got it. Gilbert felt he'd earned the right to keep it, and wouldn't budge. Finally, Esposito gave in, and switched to Number 77.

Gilbert's back troubles returned. In 1976, after still managing to play in 70 of a possible 80 games, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded "to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey."

Before the 1977-78 season, at age 36, Gilbert got into a contract dispute with general manager John Ferguson. He signed, but he wasn't happy about the way he was treated, and his bad back was flaring up again. On November 23, 1977, in a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies (the team that became the New Jersey Devils in 1982) at The Garden, he had a goal and an assist. It seemed like as good a time as any to retire, and he did.

He had played in 8 NHL All-Star Games. He still holds, 44 years after his last game, the Ranger career records for goals (406), points (goals + assists, 1,021), game-winning goals (52), postseason goals (34), and games played by a forward (1,065). At the time he retired, the only right wing who had scored more points was Gordie Howe.

A change in management led to the repair of his relationship with the Rangers. On October 14, 1979, they retired his Number 7, the 1st player they honored this way. In 2018, he would be joined by his GAG Line mates Hadfield, 11 (shared with Messier); and Ratelle, 19.

(Frank Boucher, star of their 1928 and 1933 Stanley Cup winners and coach of their 1940 winners, had also worn 7, and it probably should have been retired for him before Gilbert was ever signed by the Rangers. It would have avoided the dispute between him and Esposito later on.)

In 1982, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1991, he was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy, named for the Rangers' 1st head coach and general manager, for service to hockey in America. In 2017, the NHL named him to their 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

Like boxers Jack Dempsey and Sugar Ray Robinson, and New York sports legends Mickey Mantle, Rusty Staub and Walt Frazier, he opened a restaurant in Manhattan: Gilbert's was on 3rd Avenue at 75th Street. And he made regular personal appearances for the Rangers' Garden of Dreams Foundation, working with children. The number of people coming forward today who met him through the Foundation who have testified to how nice he was is overwhelming.

He married twice, the 2nd time in 1991, to Judith Christy, in a ceremony performed at New York City Hall by Mayor David Dinkins. He had children Chantal, Justin, Holly and Brooke; and 7 grandchildren.

Rod Gilbert died yesterday, August 22, 2021, at the age of 80. As of this posting, a cause of death has not been disclosed.