Nearly 60 years ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers engaged in a seven-player trade. The Leafs would go on to win the Stanley Cup that season, but this deal benefitted both teams.
As rumors swirl about the Toronto Maple Leafs making a big splash in the trade market this season, it’s a good time to harken back to THN’s Feb. 29, 1964, edition – Vol. 17, Issue 22 – which chronicled a blockbuster trade between the Leafs and New York Rangers.
(And don’t forget, for full access to THN’s exclusive 76-year archive, subscribe to the magazine.)
The trade between the Leafs and Blueshirts sent winger Andy Bathgate and center Don McKenney to Toronto in exchange for wingers Dick Duff and Bob Nevin and youngsters Rod Seiling, Arnie Brown and Bill Collins. Bathgate had spent 10 full years with the Rangers, but he quickly adapted to the Leafs and helped Toronto to a Stanley Cup championship that season.
The other side of the trade saw Duff (who won two Cups with the Leafs) – and Nevin (who won two Cups with Toronto) land in Manhattan. Duff played parts of two seasons with the Rangers before moving on to Montreal, with whom he won four more Cups. Nevin, meanwhile, went on to play parts of eight seasons as a Ranger and spent his prime with the Rangers. And youngster Seiling would emerge as a defensive force for the Rangers, playing in New York City for a decade.
At the time, the Blueshirts were building for the future with this huge trade, while the Leafs were in win-now mode. This was a trade that benefitted both teams, and in 2023-24, we might very well see both the Rangers and Leafs make big moves before this year’s trade deadline.
It’s not likely we’ll see them consummate a trade with each other this season, but these Original Six squads always find a way to make the headlines.
RANGERS SEEN PLANNING FOR NHL FUTURE IN 7-PLAYER SWAP WITH MAPLE LEAFS
By THN Staff
Vol. 17, Issue 22, Feb. 29, 1964
The Toronto Maple Leafs conceivably got the better of the New York Rangers in their spectacular seven-player swap before the Feb. 23 NHL deadline, but the Blueshirts may have the last word in the biggest single hockey deal of the season.
“We made the trade with an eye on the future,” said Rangers’ general manager Muzz Patrick. On the other hand, Leafs’ president Stafford Smythe said his club was looking more at the current season. “We traded for the present,” he added, “because it is more important to our club to be strengthened now. We’ll worry about the future later.”
The big swap sent right winger Andy Bathgate and centre Don McKenney to the Maple Leafs in exchange for wingers Dick Duff and Bob Nevin, a pair of defensive hockey players, and three promising youngsters, Rod Seiling, 19-year-old forward-defenseman with Toronto Junior Marlboros, who played with Canada’s Olympic hockey squad. defenseman Arnie Brown of Rochester Americans, who is 22 and a big man, and rookie forward Bill Collins, 21. who is with Denver Invaders of the Western League.
Patrick said the Rangers concern for the moment was getting a couple of good checking forwards and in his opinion, Duff and Nevin filled the bill.
Duff said he was certain he would regain his old form with the Rangers because “I know I’m going to like playing for a guy like (coach) Red Sullivan.” Duff, who has been in Punch Imlach’s doghouse at Toronto for some time, was pleased with the trade. Nevin admitted he was surprised by the deal. Bathgate expressed dismay but was happy with the swap and McKenney, who hadn’t been going too well with Rangers this season, said the trade “was like someone taking a great weight off my shoulders when I got the news.”
The Rangers thinking behind the whole affair obviously lay in the future plans of the club.
The central figure in the look-to-the-future talk is Seiling.
“It was Seiling that did it for us,” said Smythe. They (the Rangers) wouldn’t even talk about Bathgate if we weren’t willing to give up Seiling.”
“We’ll have to wait a few years to really assess the trade,” said Punch Imlach, coach of the Leafs. “Rangers got one of the top juniors in the country in Seiling, one of the top rookies in the Western League in Collins and one of the best rookies in the American League in Brown.”
“Seiling will stay with Marlboros until the end of the season,” said Patrick. “But the other two might get the call.”
Hockey observers figured the trade will make the Leafs a tough hockey club for the forthcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Leafs swapped with the hope of grabbing off a quick dividend. The Toronto front office wasn’t concerned with what Bathgate and McKenney would do for the Leafs in the future. They were only interested in what the two seasoned and well-established NHL stars could do for the Leafs now and in the playoffs.
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