Jean Ratelle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Joseph Gilbert Yvon "Jean" Ratelle (born October 3, 1940 in Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. It has often been said of Jean Ratelle that he was so consistently effective at a high level of play day in and day out that he has been overlooked by some as one of the greatest to have played the game.

Contents

[edit] NHL career

Drafted by the New York Rangers, his hockey career almost ended when he suffered a serious back injury at age 23 and had to undergo major spinal cord surgery. He recovered to become a regular with the Rangers from 1963 until 1975 -- his greatest success coming with his linemates Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert in the so-called "GAG" line -- and was the perennial scoring leader for the Rangers between 1968 and 1973 when the team was a powerhouse annually among the league's best.

Ratelle was poised to beat out Boston Bruins' legend Phil Esposito for the scoring title in 1972 before he lost fifteen games due to an injury, but came back for the Stanley Cup finals against Boston to lead his team. Only Esposito, Bobby Orr and John Bucyk had before then had scored as many points in league history as Ratelle had managed in his shortened season. His 109 points that season remained a Rangers' scoring record until 2006, when Jaromir Jagr broke the mark.

In November of 1975, Ratelle was traded with teammate Brad Park in a blockbuster deal to the Boston Bruins (ironically, for Esposito). Ratelle finished strongly that year for his second 100-point campaign. He starred for several more seasons for Boston, gaining admiration for his slick passing, skill at faceoffs and all-around excellent play, retiring a Bruin after the 1981 season.

Remembered as a gentlemanly player (perennially in the running for the Lady Byng sportsmanship award), Ratelle played center ice in the NHL for twenty-one seasons, accumulating 1267 points on 491 goals and 776 assists. At the time of his retirement, he was the league's sixth all-time leading scorer. While he never played on a team that won the Stanley Cup, Ratelle was a member of the 1972 Team Canada squad that defeated the Soviet Union in the first-ever Summit Series.

In 1985, Jean Ratelle was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

[edit] Career Statistics

                                  Regular Season              
Season  Team                    Lge   GP   G   A    Pts  PIM   
    
1960-61 New York Rangers        NHL   3    2   1    3    0  
1961-62 New York Rangers        NHL   31   4   8    12   4    
1962-63 New York Rangers        NHL   48   11  9    20   8   
1963-64 New York Rangers        NHL   15   0   7    7    6  
1964-65 New York Rangers        NHL   54   14  21   35   14  
1965-66 New York Rangers        NHL   67   21  30   51   10    
1966-67 New York Rangers        NHL   41   6   5    11   4   
1967-68 New York Rangers        NHL   74   32  46   78   18  
1968-69 New York Rangers        NHL   75   32  46   78   26  
1969-70 New York Rangers        NHL   75   32  42   74   28  
1970-71 New York Rangers        NHL   78   26  46   72   14 
1971-72 New York Rangers        NHL   63   46  63   109  4
1972-73 New York Rangers        NHL   78   41  53   94   12
1973-74 New York Rangers        NHL   68   28  39   67   16
1974-75 New York Rangers        NHL   79   36  55   91   26
1975-76 New York/Boston         NHL   80   36  69   105  18
1976-77 Boston Bruins           NHL   78   33  61   94   22
1977-78 Boston Bruins           NHL   80   25  59   84   10
1978-79 Boston Bruins           NHL   80   27  45   72   12
1979-80 Boston Bruins           NHL   67   28  45   73   8
1980-81 Boston Bruins           NHL   47   11  26   37   16

                   NHL Totals         1281 491 776  1267 276

[edit] Awards and honors

[edit] See also

Preceded by:
John Bucyk		 Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy
1972		 Succeeded by:
Gilbert Perreault
Preceded by:
Marcel Dionne		 Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy
1976		 Succeeded by:
Marcel Dionne
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../j/e/a/Jean_Ratelle_64af.html"
In other languages