New York Rangers Greatest Players

Taffy Abel Lloyd Ailsby Andy Aitkenhead Clint Albright Mike Allison Oscar Asmundson Walt Atanas Oscar Aubuchon Dave Balon   Jim Bartlett Andy Bathgate Barry Beck   Danny Belisle Frank Boucher Hy Buller Steve Buzinski Larry Cahan Lorne Chabot Bruce Cline  Bill Cook Bun Cook Mac Colville Neil Colville Art Coulter Cecil Dillon Ron Duguay Frank Eddolls Phil Esposito Nick Fotiu Bob Froese Robbie Ftorek Red Garrett Mike Gartner Eddie Giacomin Rod Gilbert Phil Goyette Gilles Gratton   Adam Graves Ron Greschner Wayne Gretzky Vic Hadfield Pat Hannigan  Andy Hebenton Ott Heller Camille "The Eel" Henry Bryan Hextall   Dutch Hiller Greg Holst Harry Howell Early Ingarfield Ted Irvine Jaromir Jagr Ching Johnson

Dave Kerr Eddie Kullman Tom Laidlaw Edgar Laprade Brian Leetch Tony Leswick Dave Maloney Don Maloney Don Marshall Larry Melnyk Mark Messier   Joe Miller Billy Moe Don Murdoch Murray Murdoch Jim "Chief" Neilson Bob Nevin Bernie Nicholls Brian Noonan Brad Park James Patrick Lester Patrick Lynn Patrick Muzz Patrick Alf Pike Walt Poddubny Babe Pratt   Leo Quenneville Bones Raleigh Jean Ratelle   Mike Richter John Ross Roach Mike Rogers Reijo Ruotsalainen   Simo Saarinen Earl Seibert Alex Shibicky Irv Spencer Clint Smith Pete Stemkowski Walt Tkaczuk   Zellio Toppazzini Phil Watson Gump Worsley Sergei Zubov

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Bruce Cline

Bruce Cline spent many years starring in the minor leagues, most notably with the Springfield Indians, Hershey Bears, and Providence Reds. He scored 773 points in the AHL, won four Calder Cup championships and the 1956 AHL Rookie of the Year.

The right winger was described as "ferocious and fearless," he never really caught on in the National Hockey League. He was most likely discriminated against because of his size. He was just 5'7" and 135lbs.

The New York Rangers did give the Quebec born mighty mite a half-season look in 1956-57. He appeared in 30 games that season, often playing on a line with Larry Popein and Dean Prentice. He would only score 2 goals and 5 points in his time in the bigs. He was soon returned to the AHL where he played until 1968.

After hockey Bruce and his wife Elyse returned to Quebec and had many jobs, including restaurant owner, hockey stick salesman, real estate agent and owner of two clothing stores.

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Greg Holst

Though his NHL career consisted of only 11 games, Greg Holst had a long and rewarding hockey career, most notably in Austria.

Born in Montreal, Greg started out by playing for University of New Brunswick where he collected 28 goals and 46 points in 37 games between 1971-73 and was a second team All-Star in 1973. Greg then won a spot on the Kingston Canadians (QMJHL) team and immediately became a vital part of that squad, leading the way with an 80 point performance.

Still, NHL scouts basically ignored him because he was a relatively small player at 5'10" and 170 lbs. The New York Rangers finally took a chance on him when they selected the little center 139th overall in 1974.

Apprenticing in the minor leagues, Greg had a successful first professional season in the rough Southern Hockey League (SHL). He chipped in with 70 points in 62 games for Winston-Salem Polar Bears and didn't back down from anyone, collecting a necessary 112 penalty minutes to survive.

Greg was invited to NY Rangers training camp before the start of the 1975-76 season and did very well, but was sent to Providence (AHL). In Providence he got a flying start and eventually captured the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as AHL's top rookie. In 69 games Greg scored 81 points, including 37 goals and 44 assists. In fact he played so well that he was called up to NY Rangers for two games.

The following two seasons Greg was still playing in the minors and couldn't crack the NY Rangers lineup. He played 5 games for New York in 1976-77 and 4 games in 1977-78. At this point he realized that he would probably be stuck in the minors for the rest of his career. That's when he started to look at other options.

When the Austrian club IEV Innsbruck offered Greg a lucrative contract in 1978, he thought to himself that it was worth a shot. Little did he know at that time that Austria would become his home.

Greg was an instant hit in Austria, and he would dominate the Austrian league for 15 years. In 533 regular season games he scored an impressive 921 points (462 goals and 459 assists). He also became an Austrian citizen and represented Austria in the Pool B World Championships on four occasions, winning the scoring title in 1983. He scored a total of 15 goals and 30 points in 28 WC games. In total he represented Austria on 53 occasions.

Greg's Austrian clubs included IEV Innsbruck (10 seasons), WEV Wien (1), HC Salzburg (1),VSV Villach (1), Gösser EV (1) and EC Graz (1). Greg eventually retired at the age of 39 in 1993, immediately turned to coaching in Austria.

In 1997-98 Greg became the coach for the Austrian U-20 and U-18 teams (juniors).He also became the assistant coach for the Austrian senior national team in 2000-2001.

Although his NHL career was very brief and hardly memorable, he made it up by having a long and rewarding European career. Somehow I suspect Greg Holst would not change a thing.

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Earl Ingarfield

Throughout the 1960's, the highlights for the New York Rangers and their fans were few and far between. However one player who everyone appreciated was Earl Ingarfield.

Earl was definitely not considered to be a star hockey player by most standards, but rather a spirited and determined journeyman who did his job very well although virtually unnoticed. Only three times did the underrated Earl score more than 20 goals, yet he was known for his graceful skating and a booming shot.

After completing junior hockey for his hometown Lethbridge Native Sons, Earl turned pro in 1954, playing just two games for Vancouver of the WHL. However he soon put together 3 successful years under his belt and earned a trial with the New York Rangers in 1958. For the first two years in NY he saw little ice time, but by 1960 the soft spoken Earl made the team permanently, notching 13 goals in 66 games.

The following season, he enjoyed his best season as a pro, scoring 26 goals, 31 assists and 57 points while playing a full 70 game schedule.

Earl often played center with Andy Bathgate on the right side and Dean Prentice on the left. The 1962 playoffs against Toronto really defined Earl's career. With Earl in the lineup the Rangers were on the verge of upsetting the heavily favored Leafs. However Earl got knocked out of the series with a serious injury. The result was disastrous for the Rangers, who ended up losing the series. New York newspapers quickly immortalized Earl by criticizing the Rangers play minus Earl.

Earl remained on Broadway until the beginning of 1967-68. The Pittsburgh Penguins took the veteran forward in the first ever expansion draft. Earl played a year and a half in "Steeltown" before a trade to the west coast. Earl eventually finished his career in usual anonymity in Oakland, but did in 54 games have a 21 goal, 45 point year in 1969. He retired in 1971.

Earl's son Earl Jr also enjoyed a professional hockey career, but was nowhere near as successful. He scored 4 goals and 4 assists in 39 career NHL games.

Earl Ingarfield stayed involved with the game and went on to coach the Regina Pats (WCJHL) and later became a scout for NY Islanders as well as the director of player personnel.

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