As time passes, and we avidly follow our favorite sports teams, a multitude of players come and go. While we may recall them during their time with the team, some slip through the crevices of our memory, only to resurface through a nostalgic memory or an old piece of media, causing us to reconnect their faces and names with the iconic Rangers uniform.
Among the hallowed names like Messier, Leetch, Giacomin, Lundqvist, and others, there are those more forgotten Rangers, such as Emerson Etem, Jayson Megna, Eric Staal, Petr Prucha, and others who may have faded from our recollection. As we traverse the regular season, we’ll delve into a few of these “Forgotten Rangers” On this edition of Forgotten Rangers, a mercenary brawler and fast dude whose brother lost to the Rangers in 1994.
Jody Shelley, Forward
Time with Rangers: 21 games at the end of the 2009-10 season
Many Ranger fans would rather forget how the 2009-10 season concluded. It was a heart-wrenching experience as the Philadelphia Flyers dashed our playoff hopes on the last day of the season. It seemed that Olli Jokinen couldn’t raise a puck, and John Tortorella appeared to have forgotten about a certain player named Marian Gaborik, whom they were paying a substantial sum of money to sit on the bench. Can you believe they paid Gaborik to be a benchwarmer? Right? Right?
Nevertheless, the team wasn’t the worst and displayed commendable effort in their late-season playoff push. Surprisingly, one of the catalysts behind this push was Jody Shelley, who arrived in a trade from San Jose in exchange for a draft pick. This long-time enforcer for the Sharks and Blue Jackets was brought in to add some physicality to the team’s bottom line. Playing alongside Brandon Prust and Artem Anisimov on the fourth line, they fulfilled their roles admirably.
Shelley participated in 21 games, accumulating 6 points and 37 penalty minutes, which included a few skirmishes on the ice. After the Rangers fell short of the postseason, Shelley moved on to join the Flyers, where he continued to play until his retirement in 2013. He is now a color commentator for the Columbus Blue Jackets TV broadcasts.
Russ Courtnall, Forward
Time with Rangers: 14 games during the 1996-97 season, 15 playoff games.
Russ Courtnall, a nimble winger with a knack for finding the back of the net, had an intriguing connection—he was pals with the legendary Wayne Gretzky, ever heard of him? This friendship likely played a role in the Rangers’ decision to make a significant trade before the 1997 trade deadline. In this deal, the Rangers acquired Courtnall and Esa Tikkanen in exchange for Brian Noonan and Sergei Nemchinov.
Courtnall’s tenure with the Rangers lasted until the end of the season, during which he contributed seven points in 14 regular-season games. He carried this momentum into the playoffs, tallying, you guessed it, seven more points in 15 postseason contests. Courtnall made a significant impact during his relatively short stint with the Rangers with a timely playoff goal.
(Russ Courtnall playoff goal at 17 minutes, 34 seconds of the video)
Following the Rangers’ elimination by the Flyers, Courtnall chose to sign as a free agent with the Kings, where he continued to play until his retirement after the 1998-99 season.
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