1980–81 New York Rangers season

1980–81 New York Rangers
1980–81 New York Rangers
Division	4th Patrick
Conference	T-7th Campbell
1980–81 record	30–36–14
Goals for	312
Goals against	317
Team information
General manager	Fred Shero; Craig Patrick
Coach	Fred Shero; Craig Patrick
Captain	Walt Tkaczuk
Alternate captains	None
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Ed Johnstone/Anders Hedberg (30)
Assists	Ron Greschner (41)
Points	Anders Hedberg (70)
Penalty minutes	Barry Beck (231)
Wins	Doug Soetaert (16)
Goals against average	Steve Weeks (2.00)
	← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 New York Rangers season was the 55th season for the team in the National Hockey League (NHL). In the regular season, the Rangers finished in fourth place in the Patrick Division with 74 points and earned a berth in the playoffs. New York won series with the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues to reach the NHL semi-finals, where the team was defeated by the New York Islanders in a four-game sweep.^[1]

Regular season

Fred Shero, citing a drinking problem, chose to resign as coach. Craig Patrick, the Rangers' director of operations, replaced him. Craig Patrick became the third generation of the Patrick family to coach the Rangers, after Lester Patrick, Lynn Patrick and Muzz Patrick.^[2]

Halfway through the season, veteran Phil Esposito decided to retire. He retired after 18 seasons, the last six with the Rangers. He finished his career with 717 goals and 1,590 points.^[3]

Final standings

Patrick Division
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
New York Islanders	80	48	18	14	355	260	110
Philadelphia Flyers	80	41	24	15	313	249	97
Calgary Flames	80	39	27	14	329	298	92
New York Rangers	80	30	36	14	312	317	74
Washington Capitals	80	26	36	18	286	317	70

^[4]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results

1980-81 Game Log

October: 3-7-1 (Home: 2-3-0; Road: 1-4-1)

November: 3-7-3 (Home: 2-2-2; Road: 1-5-1)

December: 7-6-1 (Home: 3-4-0; Road: 4-2-1)

January: 6-4-3 (Home: 2-1-2; Road: 4-3-1)

February: 5-7-1 (Home: 5-2-1; Road: 0-5-0)

March: 4-4-5 (Home: 2-1-5; Road: 2-2-0)

April: 2-1-0 (Home: 1-0-0; Road: 1-1-0)

Playoffs

Key: Win Loss

1981 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Preliminary Round: vs. Los Angeles Kings - New York Rangers win series 3-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 8	New York Rangers	3 - 1	Los Angeles Kings		New York Rangers lead series 1-0
2	April 9	New York Rangers	4 - 5	Los Angeles Kings		Series tied 1-1
3	April 11	Los Angeles Kings	3 - 10	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	April 12	Los Angeles Kings	3 - 6	New York Rangers		New York Rangers win series 3-1

Quarter-finals: vs. St. Louis Blues - New York Rangers win series 4-2
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 16	New York Rangers	3 - 6	St. Louis Blues		St. Louis leads series 1-0
2	April 17	New York Rangers	6 - 4	St. Louis Blues		Series tied 1-1
3	April 19	St. Louis Blues	3 - 6	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	April 20	St. Louis Blues	1 - 4	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-1
5	April 22	New York Rangers	3 - 4	St. Louis Blues		New York Rangers lead series 3-2
6	April 24	St. Louis Blues	4 - 7	New York Rangers		New York Rangers win series 4-2

Semi-finals: vs. New York Islanders - New York Islanders win series 4-0
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 28	New York Rangers	2 - 5	New York Islanders		New York Islanders lead series 1-0
2	April 30	New York Rangers	3 - 7	New York Islanders		New York Islanders lead series 2-0
3	May 2	New York Islanders	5 - 1	New York Rangers		New York Islanders lead series 3-0
4	May 5	New York Islanders	5 - 2	New York Rangers		New York Islanders win series 4-0

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Anders Hedberg	80	30	40	70	0	52
Ed Johnstone	80	30	38	68	15	100
Ron Greschner	74	27	41	68	0	112
Mike Allison	75	26	38	64	12	83
Steve Vickers	73	19	39	58	7	40
Don Maloney	61	29	23	52	17	99
Dave Maloney	79	11	36	47	24	132
Ulf Nilsson	51	14	25	39	-3	42
Ron Duguay	50	17	21	38	2	83
Barry Beck	75	11	23	34	9	231
Dean Talafous	50	13	17	30	2	28
Tom Laidlaw	80	6	23	29	0	100
Walt Tkaczuk	43	6	22	28	13	28
Dave Silk	59	14	12	26	-24	58
Lance Nethery	33	11	12	23	0	12
Carol Vadnais	74	3	20	23	19	91
Jere Gillis^†	35	10	10	20	6	4
Phil Esposito	41	7	13	20	-13	20
Ed Hospodar	61	5	14	19	10	214
Chris Kotsopoulos	54	4	12	16	-10	153
Nick Fotiu^†	27	5	6	11	-6	91
Peter Wallin	12	1	5	6	-1	2
Doug Sulliman	32	4	1	5	-9	32
Dan McCarthy	5	4	0	4	3	4
Gary Burns	11	2	2	4	-9	18
Andre Dore	15	1	3	4	-1	15
Cam Connor	15	1	3	4	6	44
Mario Marois^‡	8	1	2	3	-5	46
Jeff Bandura	2	0	1	1	-3	0
Tim Bothwell	3	0	1	1	0	0
Mike McDougall	2	0	0	0	1	0

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Ron Duguay	14	8	9	17	16
Ulf Nilsson	14	8	8	16	23
Anders Hedberg	14	8	8	16	6
Barry Beck	14	5	8	13	32
Ron Greschner	14	4	8	12	17
Steve Vickers	12	4	7	11	14
Peter Wallin	14	2	6	8	6
Lance Nethery	14	5	3	8	9
Dean Talafous	14	3	5	8	2
Jere Gillis	14	2	5	7	9
Don Maloney	13	1	6	7	13
Tom Laidlaw	14	1	4	5	18
Carol Vadnais	14	1	3	4	26
Mike Allison	14	3	1	4	20
Ed Johnstone	8	2	2	4	4
Chris Kotsopoulos	14	0	3	3	63
Ed Hospodar	12	2	0	2	93
Dave Maloney	2	0	2	2	9
John Hughes	3	0	1	1	6
Doug Sulliman	3	1	0	1	0
Gary Burns	1	0	0	0	2
Nick Fotiu	2	0	0	0	4

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Doug Soetaert	39	2320	16	16	7	152	3.93	0
Steve Baker	21	1260	10	6	5	73	3.48	2
John Davidson	10	560	1	7	1	48	5.14	0
Wayne Thomas	10	600	3	6	1	34	3.40	0
Steve Weeks	1	60	0	1	0	2	2.00	0

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Steve Baker	14	826	7	7	55	4.00	0
Steve Weeks	1	14	0	0	1	4.29	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[5]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the Montreal Forum.^[6]^[7]

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	14	Jim Malone	F	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
2	35	Mike Allison	RW	Canada	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
4	77	Kurt Kleinendorst	C	United States	Providence College (NCAA)
5	98	Scot Kleinendorst	D	United States	Providence College (NCAA)
6	119	Reijo Ruotsalainen	D	Finland	Karpat (SM-liiga)
7	140	Bob Scurfield	C	Canada	Western Michigan University (NCAA)
8	161	Bart Wilson	D	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
9	182	Chris Wray	RW	United States	Boston College (NCAA)
10	203	Anders Backstrom	D	Sweden	Brynas (Elitserien)

Farm teams

References

^ "1980–81 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
^ McFarlane, p. 204
^ McFarlane, p. 205
^ Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
^ "1980-81 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "1980 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
^ "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-04-28.

Bibliography

McFarlane, Brian (1989). One hundred years of hockey. Toronto, Ontario: Deneau Publishers. ISBN 0-88879-216-6.

External links

[1] "1980–81 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2010-11-13.

[2] McFarlane, p. 204

[3] McFarlane, p. 205

[nhl-gd-standings-4] Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.

[5] "1980-81 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[6] "1980 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved 2012-04-28.

[7] "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Retrieved 2012-04-28.

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v t e New York Rangers
Founded in 1926 Based in New York, New York
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season
History	History (Original Six) Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (James Dolan, chairman) General manager Chris Drury Head coach Peter Laviolette Team captain Jacob Trouba Current roster
Arenas	Madison Square Garden III Madison Square Garden IV
Rivalries	New Jersey Devils New York Islanders Philadelphia Flyers Washington Capitals
Affiliates	AHL Hartford Wolf Pack ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones
Media	TV MSG Network Radio WEPN-FM
Culture and lore	Curse of 1940 "It's a power play goal!" GAG line Eric Lindros trade George Kalinsky Emile Francis Award Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award Ice Hockey in Harlem Hockey Night Live! "Good Feeling" (Flo Rida song) "Hockey Sock Rock" "I Wanna Be a NY Ranger" "Slapshot" Theme from New York, New York "The Face Painter" (Seinfeld episode) Mystery, Alaska John Amirante 1991 Las Vegas outdoor game June 17th, 1994 2011 NHL Premiere 2012 NHL Winter Classic 2014 NHL Stadium Series 2018 NHL Winter Classic 2023 Big City Greens Classic 2024 NHL Stadium Series
Category Commons

v t e New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1980–81 NHL season
Patrick	Calgary NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Washington
Adams	Boston Buffalo Minnesota Quebec Toronto
Norris	Detroit Hartford Los Angeles Montreal Pittsburgh
Smythe	Chicago Colorado Edmonton St. Louis Vancouver Winnipeg
See also	Draft Waiver Draft All-Star Game Stanley Cup playoffs Stanley Cup Finals