52. Ryan Callahan

Ryan Callahan was Mr. Everything for the Rangers for more than 500 games (including playoffs). He was mostly known for his all-out play that featured hits and shot blocks galore, but he also put the puck in the net at a nice clip. Rangers coach John Tortorella said, “…you call him a grinder. And he is. But he gets overlooked as far as his offensive abilities and his talent, because the other stuff sticks out. But that’s why he’s our captain, and that’s how he leads us.”¹

Cally grew up a Sabres fan in the Rochester, New York area. Unheralded as a prospect, the Rangers got him in the 4th round of the 2004 draft. After getting his feet wet in the NHL with limited minutes and offense in 2006-07 and 2007-08, Callahan stepped up into an essential role for the team for the next five and a half seasons. He typified the “Black and Blueshirts” Tortorella-era Rangers who focused first on high-effort, suffocating defense (and Henrik Lundqvist heroics) while hoping—and often succeeding—to scrape together just enough offense to win.

Early in his career, Cally was often paired on a line with Chris Drury, and then in 2010-11 and 2011-12, usually lined up with Brandon Dubinsky. After Dubinsky was traded in the summer of 2012, Cally spent 2012-13 with Derek Stepan as his center, and helped Stepan to a career offensive year. Callahan also logged a lot of minutes with Brad Richards in 2011-12 and 2013-14. In total, he shared a point on scoring plays most often with Dubinsky (47) and Richards (42).

Callahan’s offense peaked in the 2010-11 through 2012-13 seasons, during which time he scored adjusted goals at a rate of 35 per 82 games. He also served on both the first power play and penalty kill units those years. “He is a huge piece to everything we do,” Tortorella said in 2012. “He is our identity. Offensively and defensively, I look up and down the bench for him.”²

When captain Drury retired in the summer of 2011, Callahan was the clear choice to take over the C. Callahan wore the letter well for two and a half seasons.

Unfortunately, with his contract set to run out after the 2013-14 season, he and the Rangers could not come to terms on a new one before the 2014 trade deadline. So GM Glen Sather sent Callahan to Tampa Bay in exchange for Martin St. Louis (who still had another year on his deal). Callahan played parts of six seasons in Tampa that were highlighted by one more good offensive year in 2014-15 and an appearance in the 2015 Cup finals before injury struggles cut down his games and production. When he made his retirement official in 2020 he reflected, “There is no feeling like hearing the Garden erupt from scoring a goal, blocking a shot, or making a big hit! My proudest moment in my career was being able to wear the C on a Rangers sweater.”

Since his playing days, Callahan has been a broadcaster/analyst for NHL games on ESPN and ABC.