Precious few Rangers ever were profiled in the prestigious New Yorker Magazine but on February 15, 1947 acclaimed author Robert Lewis Taylor featured Blueshirts center Philipe Heni Watson.
Otherwise known as "Fiery Phil," Watson was born of a Scottish father and a French-Canadian mother. French became his mother tongue and English – well let's say he wasn't too good at it.
Watson was known for a lot of things including the fact that he set up the 1940 Stanley Cup-winning goal scored by Bryan Hextall against Toronto goalie Turk Broda.
He also was notorious for his temper which the New Yorker author called "highly volatile" and "belligerent."
One of my favorite Phiery Phil tales involved a hard-hitting game against the Maple Leafs.
As it happened the biggest, hardest-hitting Toronto defenseman, Bucko McDonald, knocked Watson on his keester so many times that Phil had to think of some way of insulting his tormentor.
"I knew that Bucko had been around a long time," said Watson, "and near the end of his career, so I decided to make fun of him for that."
Sure enough, late in a game, McDonald delivered a hard, hip check that sent Phil flying down to the ice – on his back.
As the hulking Leafs defenseman stood over his victim, Watson looked up and shouted his putdown: 'Bucko, you're nothing but a BEEN-HAS!"