The Top Ten Most Important People in Rangers' History: No. 6 Eddie Giacomin

The sixth most important player in New York Rangers history and the first goalie of the series is the legendary Eddie Giacomin.

After being acquired in the 1960’s in a transaction with a minor league team, he would make his first NHL start for the Rangers in 1965. The first season would be a rocky one, as he would only win eight out of 35 games. But in the next season, Giacomin caught fire by winning 30 games.

He would go on to win that amount or more in each of the next four seasons. That's a team record; currently, Lundqvist has three.

Throughout the '60s and '70s, he would prove to be a premier goalie and one of the most consistent in the league by leading the NHL in games played four times.

Towards the end of his career, as the quality of Giacomin’s play began to slide, general manager Emile Francis put him on waivers in an attempt to shake up the team. He was quickly claimed by the Detroit Red Wings and lo and behold, the next game the Rangers played was against Detroit.

Chants of “Eddie, Eddie!” rained down from the fiery Garden crowd as they cheered his every move. They even showed their loyalty to him by booing the Rangers every time they scored a goal. A Ranger player is reported to have skated by Giacomin after scoring and leaning over to him and saying, “I’m sorry.” Eddie replied, “Hey, it’s just a part of the game.”

His Red Wings career would not be long and it looked very odd seeing him in red after all those seasons in blue. He would go on to win 301 games as a Ranger, the most in franchise history until Mike Richter broke the record in 2001.

Giacomin would have his number retired in 1989 and the chants of “Eddie!” poured down once more. He will always be remembered as the face of the franchise and the first real fan favorite.

Note: This is the fifth in a series of 10 articles detailing the 10 most important people in Rangers history. Stay tuned for more.