Leetch just made the announcement that Adam Graves, who played with the Rangers for 10 years, will be the sixth player honored with a retired jersey....Graves looked stunned and hugged Leetch...
Expect the ceremony to be next year sometime...details to follow
Comments (10)
My favorite all-time ranger. First liner with grit and skill. Never backed down to protect Mess, or anyone else for that matter.
Best part, after the announcement, was when Graves gestured to Brian Leetch that the night was about Brian.
class act.
who's next? dale purinton? theo fleury? hell, anybody who ever donned a ranger sweater is eligible. horrible franchise.
Hey, The truth hurts,
Why do you waste your time blogging here just to call the Rangers a horrible franchise because they are retiring some of the greats on this team. Don Mattingly didn't play long on the Yanks, but played his heart out and was a fan favorite! Same goes for Graves!
With all due respect to Gravy... and God knows he deserves it... but COME ON, #9 should have been retired for Andy Bathgate long before Adam ever put it on.
Agree with Mike. Most people who post here wouldn't know who Andy Bathgate is unfortunately. Maybe the Rangers can have another Mark Messier night though and re-retire his number one night a year from now on? And MSG can hold back tickets from the public and sell them on auctions for ridiculous amounts of money. What a classy organization.
Knowing Graves, how long into his retirement speech do you think it will be before he mentions Andy Bathgate?
I wager 30 seconds....
I agree with Mike, that Andy Bathgate really should be honored. Honestly, this is just a slap in the face to Ranger greats: Bill Cook, Bun Cook, Harry Howell and of course Andy Bathgate, who wore #9.
I sure hope Graves acknowledges Mr. Bathgate. Jay, just because I didnt see him play does not mean that Andy Bathgate is not deserving. And what better way to preserve the memory of that Ranger great ?
Wow, what a wonderful moment! In an interview after the ceremony, Leetch said that he was basically one o f the only people who knew about that.
And I applaud the Rangers for letting Leetch make the announcement. What better way for Leetch's selflessness to be on display then to announce the retirement of one of his best friends at his own ceremony?
One of the Ranger moments, I will always remember.
Graves totally deserves this honor. He's a champion in every sense of the word.
The Rangers retiring 9 should have been done a long time ago to honor the greatest right wing in their sordid history - Andy Bathgate. I was fortunate enough to watch Bathgate play for the Rangers and he was truly a great player. As was the case with Ernie Banks of the Cubs, Bathgate played on some terrible Ranger teams. He retired in 1971 from the NHL. The Rangers have had ample opportunity to retire the number before such luminaries as Genr Carr wore the number. For some odd reason they have neglected to do so. This in no way denigrates Adam Graves a fine player and true gentleman. However, it is a denigration of the Rangers ownership and front office, who should be ashamed of themselves to have forgotten Bathgate a Hall of Famer.