61. Murray Murdoch

I changed my ranking system after having posted Murray Murdoch at #59 – in my new rankings, Murdoch fell to #61, so enjoy this bonus entry!

Murray Murdoch has been called the first player the Rangers ever signed.¹ For a while, it looked like they might never play a game without him. For the first 11 Rangers seasons, Murdoch was in the lineup every single game, regular season or playoffs. When asked if that streak was ever in jeopardy, Murdoch recalled, “Oh, I had my injuries…I had a shoulder separation in the last playoff game one year. There were times when I played when maybe I shouldn’t have…we did play when we were hurt. You only carried 14 or 15 men, you know.”²

For that entire stretch, Murdoch played a supporting and checking role. He was never one of the three most offensively productive forwards for the Rangers in any year. The star forwards during Murdoch’s career were Bun Cook, Frank Boucher, and Bill Cook, one of the great lines in hockey history. Bill Cook called Murdoch “a grand guy; he was the brains of the outfit.”³ Particularly in the early years of Murdoch’s playing days, if you weren’t on the top line, you were truly a reserve player that did not see a lot of ice time. Murdoch later said, “Back in those days, all teams were built around the first line. The first line did exactly as they pleased. The second line did exactly as they were told. The third line was so happy to be there that they never said a word. I was on the second line.”⁴ Teammate Alex Shibicky said of Murdoch, “When he came on the ice, the other team wouldn’t score,”⁵ and Murdoch remembered, “I think for years I killed every penalty the Rangers had.”⁶ But, year after year, Murdoch also took full advantage of his limited opportunities to chip in enough offense to help in that regard as well.

In the Rangers debut season, Murdoch scored half of his goals for the year in a game against Chicago on January 16, 1927. He knocked in two goals 10 seconds apart in the second period, and then with the game tied and 1:10 remaining in the third, Murdoch completed the hat trick on a game-winning, dramatic rush. In three later seasons he popped off for 20+ adjusted goals, including 31 in his career year of 1933-34.

The Rangers were Cup contenders throughout Murdoch’s tenure, and his name was etched on the trophy with the 1928 and 1933 championship teams. His offense generally ticked up a bit in the playoffs, and in 1933 he and Cecil Dillon surprised everyone by leading the Rangers offensive attack in the playoffs while Boucher and the Cook brothers were held relatively quiet.

After his playing days, Murdoch coached Yale hockey for 27 years. The Rangers invited him back to the Garden more than once, and he was among the former players on the ice to welcome Mark Messier to the team in 1991. At 90 years old, Murdoch was still following and cheering on the team during the 1994 Cup run. “I didn’t miss a minute, no sir. Oh the memories that brought.”⁷

Murray Murdoch passed away in 2001.

You can see Murdoch, #9, crashing the net in practice at the 2:00 minute mark of this video:

1. The New York Times. May 15, 1994. ↩︎
2. Mahoney, Daniel. The Most Wonderful Times: Memories of New York Rangers Alumni. 2020. ↩︎
3. Mahoney, Daniel. The Most Wonderful Times: Memories of New York Rangers Alumni. 2020. ↩︎
4. Halligan, John. New York Rangers: Seventy-Five Years. Tehabi Books. 2000. ↩︎
5. Halligan, John. New York Rangers: Seventy-Five Years. Tehabi Books. 2000. ↩︎
6. Mahoney, Daniel. The Most Wonderful Times: Memories of New York Rangers Alumni. 2020. ↩︎
7. Halligan, John. New York Rangers: Seventy-Five Years. Tehabi Books. 2000. ↩︎

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click here for the list of the Rangers Top 60 Producers of Offense
and an explanation of my adjusted stats and ranking method