To All Rangers Fans, you have only 20 seconds each to guess the following:
Two Rangers teammates in the post-World War II era had rare nicknames. See if you can guess why:
KILLER: was swift forward Alex Kaleta's nickname, but why "Killer?"
SONJA: was defenseman – and future Hall of Famer – Allan Stanley's handle. But why "Sonja?"
Give up?
OK, here goes:
KILLER: Obtained from the Chicago Black Hawks, Alex Kaleta was an offensive menace with good speed and a hard shot.
Unfortunately, Alex was not much for hitting and studiously avoided getting caught even remotely near the boards. Soon it became noticeable, Because of that, one night a beat writer watched Kaleta avoiding a check and derisively yelled out, "There goes the Killer again." Soon, another reporter picked up on it and one night a banner hung in the end arena, "KILLER." (But we loved Alex just the same.)
SONJA: Defenseman Allan Stanley was a highly-touted defenseman with the Boston Olympics and then the Providence Reds. Rangers manager Frank Boucher made a deal with Providence which then amounted to a $70,000 price tag. Big Allan thus became a Ranger.
A Different Kind Of Rangers-Islanders Rivalry Is Upon Us
A couple of days ago a <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers" target="_blank">Rangers</a> fan posted a notice on X/Twitter accompanied by a photo of Russian offensive ace Maxim Shabanov.
Stanley was a smart, solid but hardly-boisterous blue liner with the Rangers and certainly not what the fight-favoring Gallery Gods had expected. Their disappointment turned to frustration and soon they began mocking him with the nickname "SONJA" – named after a beautiful motion picture ice skating star, Sonja Henie.
At the time that was the height of insult and eventually Boucher traded Stanley to the Boston Bruins. Nobody mocked Big Allan when he became a Maple Leaf The former "Sonja" helped Toronto to no less than four Stanley Cups!