The Rangers are in the middle of a downward spiral we have never seen before.
It's Friday, folks, and that means only one thing, "Ask The Maven."
Today's question comes from Phil Trontz of Elmhurst. Take it away, Phil.
IN THE HISTORY OF THE RANGERS FRANCHISE, HAS THERE EVER BEEN A COLLAPSE LIKE WHAT WE'VE SEEN THIS MONTH?
The Maven replies: Yes and no. During the 1941-42 season the Rangers finished in first place. Yet, a season later the Blueshirts dropped to dead last in the six-team league.
However, that one season plunge does not count in our discussion and for good reason. World War II had been on since 1939 and by 1942 NHL teams were losing players to both the Canadian and American armed forces.
"No team was hit harder than the Rangers," said Blueshirts historian-publicist Stan Saplin. "Part of the reason was that Lester Patrick he ran the team at the time thought that the Canadian government was planning to ban NHL hockey for the duration of the war.
"As a result of his wrong guess, Patrick sold off his best farm team players. When the NHL ban never happened, the Rangers were without a lot of players that might have helped them."
The Rangers not only finished sixth out of six teams in 1942-43 but failed to make the playoffs again until the 1947-48 season.
"The toughest year was 1944-45," added Saplin. "Patrick grabbed any players who were available and a few were up for just a cup of coffee. Al Ritson, Len Wharton and Jimmy Drummond to name a few.
"Our leading scorer was Ab DeMarco who had 24 goals in 50 games. And the top playmaker was Hank Goldup with 25 assists in 48 games. Bob Dill was our tough guy. He had 69 minutes in penalties over 48 games."
Dill, who had been a Golden Gloves amateur boxer in Minnesota, had the distinction of fighting Montreal's legendary Rocket Richard twice in one game.
The Rocket knocked him out once on the ice and a second time in the penalty box which then was shared by both teams.
Blueshirt latter day legend, Sean Avery, played Dill in the Richard movie and emerged from the cinematic bout in better shape than the real Dill!