- Jean Ratelle
Infobox Ice Hockey Player
position = Centre
shoots = Left
height_ft = 6
height_in = 1
weight_lb = 175
played_for =New York Rangers Boston Bruins
nationality = Canada
birth_date = birth date and age|1940|10|3
birth_place =Lac Saint-Jean , QCCanada
career_start = 1960
career_end = 1981
halloffame = 1985Joseph Gilbert Yvon "Jean" Ratelle (born
October 3 , 1940 inLac Saint-Jean ,Quebec ) is a formerCanadian ice hockey player and a member of theHockey 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.NHL career
A product of the
New York Rangers organization, a term utilized in the days prior to the NHL's Entry Draft, Ratelle's hockey career almost ended when he suffered a serious back injury at age 23 and had to undergo majorspinal cord surgery. He recovered to become a regular with the Rangers from 1963 until 1975 -- his greatest success coming with his linematesVic Hadfield andRod Gilbert in the so-called "GAG line" (which stood for Goal A Game) -- 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 ' legendPhil 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 andJohn 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 1975, Ratelle was traded with teammates
Brad Park andJoe Zanussi in a blockbuster deal to theBoston Bruins (ironically, for Esposito, and forCarol Vadnais ). Ratelle finished strongly that year for his second 100-point campaign. On March 21, 1976, he played his 1,000th game against theMontreal Canadiens . 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. He served for several years thereafter as an assistant coach for the Bruins.Remembered as a gentlemanly player (perennially in the running for the Lady Byng sportsmanship award), Ratelle played centre 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 theSoviet Union in the first-everSummit Series .In 1985, Jean Ratelle was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame , along withBernie Parent andBert Olmstead .Career statistics
ee also
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List of retired NHL players
*List of NHL statistical leaders
*List of NHL seasons
*List of NHL players with 1000 points External links
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