1952–53 New York Rangers season

The 1952–53 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 27th season.^[1] During the regular season, the Rangers compiled a 17–37–16 record and finished with 50 points. The Rangers' last-place finish caused them to miss the NHL playoffs.^[2]

1952–53 New York Rangers
Division	6th NHL
1952–53 record	17–37–16
Goals for	152
Goals against	211
Team information
General manager	Frank Boucher
Coach	Bill Cook
Captain	Allan Stanley
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Wally Hergesheimer (30)
Assists	Paul Ronty (38)
Points	Wally Hergesheimer (59)
Penalty minutes	Hy Buller (73)
Wins	Gump Worsley (13)
Goals against average	Chuck Rayner (2.90)
← 1951–52 1953–54 →

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League^[3]

• v
• t
• e

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Detroit Red Wings	70	36	16	18	222	133	+89	90
2	Montreal Canadiens	70	28	23	19	155	148	+7	75
3	Boston Bruins	70	28	29	13	152	172	−20	69
4	Chicago Black Hawks	70	27	28	15	169	175	−6	69
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	27	30	13	156	167	−11	67
6	New York Rangers	70	17	37	16	152	211	−59	50

Record vs. opponents

1952–53 NHL Records ^[4]
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	4–5–5	2–10–2	9–2–3	5–7–2	8–5–1
Chicago	5–4–5	—	3–9–2	3–7–4	10–3–1	6–6–2
Detroit	10–2–2	9–3–2	—	4–4–6	7–3–4	7–4–3
Montreal	2–9–3	7–3–4	4–4–6	—	7–2–5	7–5–2
New York	7–5–2	3–10–1	3–7–4	2–7–5	—	2–8–4
Toronto	5–8–1	6–6–2	4–7–3	5–7–2	8–2–4	—

Schedule and results

1952–53 Game Log
October: 1–6–2 (Home: 1–1–1; Road: 0–5–1) Game October Opponent Score Record 1 9 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–3 0–1–0 2 12 @ Chicago Black Hawks 2–0 0–2–0 3 16 @ Montreal Canadiens 3–1 0–3–0 4 18 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 0–4–0 5 19 @ Boston Bruins 2–2 0–4–1 6 22 Boston Bruins 3–3 0–4–2 7 26 Detroit Red Wings 3–2 1–4–2 8 29 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 1–5–2 9 30 @ Chicago Black Hawks 8–3 1–6–2
November: 2–6–4 (Home: 2–1–3; Road: 0–5–1) Game November Opponent Score Record 10 1 @ Montreal Canadiens 4–1 1–7–2 11 2 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 1–7–3 12 5 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 1–8–3 13 9 @ Detroit Red Wings 3–1 1–9–3 14 12 Chicago Black Hawks 5–2 2–9–3 15 13 @ Chicago Black Hawks 6–2 2–10–3 16 16 Toronto Maple Leafs 6–3 2–11–3 17 19 Detroit Red Wings 2–2 2–11–4 18 23 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 2–11–5 19 26 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–2 3–11–5 20 27 @ Boston Bruins 3–1 3–12–5 21 30 @ Chicago Black Hawks 1–1 3–12–6
December: 2–6–5 (Home: 1–4–3; Road: 1–2–2) Game December Opponent Score Record 22 3 Chicago Black Hawks 5–3 3–13–6 23 4 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–3 3–14–6 24 6 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 2–2 3–14–7 25 7 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 3–14–8 26 10 Boston Bruins 4–1 3–15–8 27 14 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–2 3–15–9 28 17 Boston Bruins 5–0 4–15–9 29 18 @ Montreal Canadiens 6–2 4–16–9 30 20 @ Detroit Red Wings 1–1 4–16–10 31 21 Detroit Red Wings 5–2 4–17–10 32 25 @ Boston Bruins 2–1 5–17–10 33 28 Chicago Black Hawks 6–3 5–18–10 34 31 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–3 5–18–11
January: 5–7–1 (Home: 3–2–0; Road: 2–5–1) Game January Opponent Score Record 35 4 Boston Bruins 5–2 6–18–11 36 7 Chicago Black Hawks 6–4 6–19–11 37 8 @ Montreal Canadiens 4–4 6–19–12 38 11 Montreal Canadiens 7–0 7–19–12 39 14 Detroit Red Wings 3–2 8–19–12 40 17 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 1–0 8–20–12 41 18 @ Chicago Black Hawks 2–0 8–21–12 42 22 @ Detroit Red Wings 8–2 9–21–12 43 24 @ Boston Bruins 9–0 9–22–12 44 25 @ Boston Bruins 2–1 10–22–12 45 28 Montreal Canadiens 2–1 10–23–12 46 29 @ Montreal Canadiens 5–2 10–24–12 47 31 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 10–25–12
February: 4–5–3 (Home: 2–2–2; Road: 2–3–1) Game February Opponent Score Record 48 1 @ Chicago Black Hawks 1–0 11–25–12 49 5 @ Detroit Red Wings 3–3 11–25–13 50 8 Montreal Canadiens 1–1 11–25–14 51 11 Detroit Red Wings 2–2 11–25–15 52 14 @ Boston Bruins 5–4 11–26–15 53 15 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1 11–27–15 54 18 Boston Bruins 4–2 12–27–15 55 19 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–2 13–27–15 56 21 @ Montreal Canadiens 4–1 13–28–15 57 22 Detroit Red Wings 2–1 13–29–15 58 25 Boston Bruins 2–1 14–29–15 59 28 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 3–0 14–30–15
March: 3–7–1 (Home: 2–4–1; Road: 1–3–0) Game March Opponent Score Record 60 1 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–2 15–30–15 61 4 Chicago Black Hawks 4–1 15–31–15 62 5 @ Detroit Red Wings 7–1 15–32–15 63 7 @ Boston Bruins 2–1 16–32–15 64 8 Montreal Canadiens 4–3 17–32–15 65 11 Detroit Red Wings 2–0 17–33–15 66 14 @ Montreal Canadiens 3–2 17–34–15 67 15 Toronto Maple Leafs 1–1 17–34–16 68 18 Boston Bruins 2–1 17–35–16 69 21 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–0 17–36–16 70 22 Chicago Black Hawks 3–1 17–37–16

Playoffs

The Rangers finished in last place in the NHL and failed to qualify for the 1953 Stanley Cup playoffs.^[2]

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Wally Hergesheimer 70 30 29 59 10 Paul Ronty 70 16 38 54 20 Nick Mickoski 70 19 16 35 39 Jack Stoddard 60 12 13 25 29 Hy Buller 70 7 18 25 73 Neil Strain 52 11 13 24 12 Don Raleigh 55 4 18 22 2 Leo Reise 61 4 15 19 53 Ed Kullman 70 8 10 18 61 Allan Stanley 70 5 12 17 52 Harry Howell 67 3 8 11 46 Steve Kraftcheck 69 2 9 11 45 Dean Prentice 55 6 3 9 20 Pete Babando^† 30 4 5 9 2 Herb Dickenson 11 4 4 8 2 Aldo Guidolin 30 4 4 8 24 Ed Slowinski 37 2 5 7 14 George Senick 13 2 3 5 8 Jim Conacher 17 1 4 5 2 Ron Murphy 15 3 1 4 0 Edgar Laprade 11 2 1 3 2 Gaye Stewart^‡ 18 1 2 3 8 Jim Ross 11 0 2 2 4 Kelly Burnett 3 1 0 1 0 Aggie Kukulowicz 3 1 0 1 0 Gordie Haworth 2 0 1 1 0 Andy Bathgate 18 0 1 1 6 Frank Bathgate 2 0 0 0 2 Jackie McLeod 3 0 0 0 2 Mike Labadie 3 0 0 0 0 Ian MacIntosh 4 0 0 0 4

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Lorne Worsley	50	3000	13	29	8	153	3.06	2
Chuck Rayner	20	1200	4	8	8	58	2.90	1

^†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

Calder Memorial Trophy (Top first-year player): Lorne "Gump" Worsley^[6]

The New York Rangers did not have any players chosen for the All-Star Teams for the 1952–53 NHL season.^[2]

Transactions

The following is a list of all transactions that occurred for the Rangers during the 1952–53 NHL season. It lists which team each player was traded to and for which player(s) or other consideration(s), if applicable.

August 18, 1952	To Detroit Red Wings Jim Morrison Reg Sinclair cash	To New York Rangers Leo Reise Jr.	^[7]^[8]
October 8, 1952	To Montreal Canadiens rights to Frank Eddolls	To New York Rangers cash	^[7]^[9]
January 9, 1953	To Chicago Black Hawks cash	To New York Rangers righs to Pete Babando	^[7]^[10]

References

1. "New York Rangers". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
2. "1952–53 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
3. "Standings: 1952–1953". National Hockey League. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
4. "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
5. "1952–53 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
6. "NHL Calder Memorial Trophy Winners". National Hockey League. June 29, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
7. "NHL trades for 1952-1953". NHL Trade Tracker. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
8. Diamond, Dan, ed. (2003). Total NHL. Chicago: Triumph Books. p. 717, 767 & 799. ISBN 978-1-57243-604-6.
9. Diamond, Dan, ed. (2003). Total NHL. Chicago: Triumph Books. p. 548. ISBN 978-1-57243-604-6.
10. Diamond, Dan, ed. (2003). Total NHL. Chicago: Triumph Books. p. 458. ISBN 978-1-57243-604-6.