NY Rangers best of the decade: Best forgotten player

Best of the decade posts:
Ranking the seasons part 1
Ranking the seasons part 2
Best regular season game
Best playoff game
Best playoff moment
Worst moment (non-Alec Martinez division)
Best player (non-Hank division)

As the 2010’s come to a close, there have been a lot of good memories for the Rangers. The decade was one of the best in Rangers history, with seven playoff appearances, nine playoff series wins, two Eastern Conference Finals appearances and one Stanley Cup Finals appearance. As we round out the close of the decade, I polled the BSB writers for their top moments. One more category here, and that’s the best forgotten player.

Rob L: Michael Sauer. Sauer came in with McDonagh, essentially, during the last run of Staal-Girardi getting 25 TOI per night in 2010-11. Now, Sauer was definitely in the supporting role with McDonagh and Steve Eminger (his original partner for the first half of the year), however he was a stable bottom 4 rock that could’ve provided NYR with another solid RHD option if his career hadn’t been ended due to concussions.

Tyler: Mine is a little out there, but does anyone remember how good Ryan Clowe was after we traded for him from the Sharks? Let’s recap…He literally got to the rink JUST in time for warm-ups after traveling, and then put up a 2-goal game along with a newly acquired Brassard against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was unfortunate that he ultimately went down with a bad concussion at the end, but I’ll never forget his immediate impact to the team when coming over.

Pat: Ruslan Fedotenko. Remember when he was a part of the best fourth line in hockey?

Becky: Erik Christensen. He was average at best for the 60 regular minutes of every game, but you get that guy in a shootout and he’s a guaranteed goal. He shot 56.25% in the two seasons spanning Oct 2010 – Apr 2012. Do I miss him? No. Was he forgotten? Yes.

Rob C: I’m going to reach back into the beginning of the decade and say Vinny Prospal. That guy was a bundle of energy, a perfect player for the Torts-era Rangers, and actually produced at a pretty high level (58 points in 2009-10!).

Dave: Oscar Lindberg – remember him? Remember when there was a debate about keeping him over Jesper Fast? It looks silly in hindsight, but in Lindberg’s two full seasons with the Rangers, he had an impact. He put up 21-27-48 in a 4C role, really stabilizing the bottom-six. He was also a net-positive from a possession standpoint, something not many Rangers were capable of in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons. If the Rangers had a Lindberg type on the fourth line, we wouldn’t be worried about some of the mess we are seeing today.