When AHL Providence Reds owner Lou Pieri made a trade he not only wanted good players in return, they had to be SEXY stickhandlers. This is not a joke. On May 17, 1965, New York's general manager Emile (The Cat) Francis told Pieri that he wanted goalie Ed Giacomin for his rebuilding Blueshirts. "I'll give you four good players for Giacomin," said The Cat. "Are you willing?" "You can have Eddie," said Pieri, "except for one thing. A lot of my fans are women and I know for a fact that the ladies like to watch good looking, sexy players, so here's the deal. Send me a bunch of eight-by-ten glossy photos and I'll pick out the four I want." Then, a pause and Cat added, "And don't waste your time – and my time – by picking guys like Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle. They may fill your bill but these guys stay with the Rangers." Pieri and his staff mulled over about a dozen possibilities and Cat knocked a few of them off the list. Finally, the Providence boss narrowed it down to four and sent the eight by ten glossies back to Francis' Madison Square Garden office. Stan Fischler talks about Matt Rempe. The Final Four included the following: 1. Defenseman Aldo Guidolin was a utility player who also killed penalties as a Rangers forward but later moved to defense and went on to be an AHL Hall of Famer. 2. Goalie Marcel Paille: As Gump Worsley's back-up, the French-Canadian netminder was a standup puck-stopper who -- at times -- was better than Gump. (Better looking, too.) 3. Forward-Defenseman Jim Mikol. For a time the Kitchener, Ontario product loomed as an NHL regular but he never quite filled the bill. His NHL career ended with 36 Rangers games. 4. Sandy McGregor was a right wing and lesser talented of the quartet; but awfully good-looking. His major league career was limited to only two call-up Rangers games. Pieri was quite content with his four players. Francis was even more enthused with what he received. "Eddie may not have been sexy," Cat concluded, "but he made it to the Hall of Fame." As author Sean McCaffrey wrote in his excellent book, Tricks of the Trade, "It was a landslide victory for The Cat."
