THE YOUNGEST OF THE RANGERS:
RALEIGH, MALONEY AND VANBIESBROUCK
by John Halligan
Don Raleigh |
They are the youngest players in the almost 80-year history of the New York Rangers. There are three of them – a forward, a defenseman and a goaltender. Their names are Don Raleigh, Dave Maloney and John Vanbiesbrouck.
Raleigh, a 5-11, 150-pound center whose nickname was ‘Bones,’ was the first to arrive, and he remains the youngest “true” Ranger today, arguably with an asterisk (See Editor’s Note below). He played 15 games as a 17 year-old in 1943-44, before suffering a broken jaw in a game against Toronto. In his 15-game stint that season, he collected two goals and two assists. Raleigh was only the third Ranger to be awarded the prestigious number seven sweater. (Frank Boucher and Phil Watson preceded him). In 535 career games with the Blueshirts, Raleigh netted 101 goals and 219 assists for 320 points, along with 96 penalty minutes.
Defenseman Maloney was 18 years, four months and 18 days old when he played his first Ranger game on December 18, 1974, a 7-0 victory over the Minnesota North Stars at Madison Square Garden. He played only four games that season after he and fellow defenseman Ron Greschner were summoned to New York from the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League. Dave would also become the youngest captain in Ranger history, a post he inherited from Phil Esposito at 22 years-of-age on October 11, 1978.
Unlike his younger brother Don, Dave Maloney would wait more than a year to score his first Ranger goal on February 28, 1976. That was also against Minnesota and goalie Cesare Maniago. The Rangers lost that night, 5-3, at Minnesota. Three years later Don Maloney would upstage his brother by scoring a goal in his very first Ranger game on Valentine’s Day – F February 14, 1979. The Rangers won, 5-1, at The Garden.
Dave Maloney |
Dave Maloney’s career on Broadway spanned a total of 10 seasons, where he collected 295 points (70 goals, 225 assists) and 1,115 penalty minutes, good for fourth on the club’s all-time list.
Like Maloney, Vanbiesbrouck was 18 (18 years, 93 days to be exact) when he played his first Rangers game on December 5, 1981, winning a 2-1 decision over the Colorado Rockies at Colorado. John wouldn’t play another game for New York for two seasons, playing instead for his junior team, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHA.
In addition to a strong NHL career with the Blueshirts, which included the 1985-86 Vezina Trophy as the league’s top netminder, Vanbiesbrouck would become quite notable as the first man ever to play for the Rangers, the New York Islanders, the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers during a career (Vladimir Malakhov has also played for all four clubs), the four NHL teams most closely located in geographic proximity. The Beezer would play 20 NHL seasons and 882 games, 449 of them with the Rangers. An even 200 of them were victories for the Blueshirts, posting a 200-177-47 mark on Broadway.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Technically speaking, although he was not a “true” Ranger, goaltender Harry Lumley can challenge Raleigh as the youngest Blueshirt player ever. Lumley, like Raleigh, was only 17 when he was pressed into emergency service with the team when regular Rangers netminder Ken McAuley was injured during a game with the Red Wings in Detroit on December 23, 1943. The property of the Red Wings at the time, Lumley was “loaned” to the Rangers for the night. The Red Wings won, 5-3.)
_________________
John Halligan currently serves as Director of Communications and Special Projects for the National Hockey League after spending 24 years with the New York Rangers as Public Relations Director, Business Manager and Vice President of Communications.
|
