O'Connor, Panarin each made splash in first season with Rangers

Legendary hockey reporter and analyst Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

This week, Stan looks at two players who made an instant impact in their first seasons with the New York Rangers more than seven decades apart -- Buddy O'Connor and Artemi Panarin.

Once upon a time more than seven decades ago, the New York Rangers acquired a forward who catapulted them from the NHL netherworld into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

His name was Buddy O'Connor, who went from being a member of the chorus with the Montreal Canadiens to a leading man on Broadway, helping the Rangers advance to the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. He was voted winner of the West Side Trophy as their most valuable player.

O'Connor's counterpart today is forward Artemi Panarin, who signed a seven-year, $81.5 million contract with New York on July 1, 2019. Like O'Connor more than seven decades ago, Panarin has become an instant sensation with the Rangers; he was tied for third place in the NHL scoring race with 93 points (32 goals, 63 assists) when the NHL season was paused on March 12 because of concerns about the coronavirus.

"He's better than I ever thought he'd be," goalie Henrik Lundqvist said, "and he could get better."

Coach David Quinn is also a big fan.

"It seems as if this is the best hockey he's ever played," Quinn said. "For me, Artemi is just fun to watch."

Like O'Connor, Panarin already had established his credentials before coming to New York, then took his game to another level.

"'The Breadman' has all the moves," linemate Ryan Strome said, using Panarin's nickname. "He's deceptive, creative and -- like special players -- he thinks on a different level."

Strome could just as easily have been talking about O'Connor circa 1947. The one difference is that there was no free agency in the post-World War II Original Six era. Frank Boucher, New York's general manager at the time, didn't have the luxury of writing a check to land a player like Panarin. It required a multiplayer trade that worked out in the Rangers' favor.

On Aug. 19, 1947, O'Connor was traded to New York by Montreal along with defenseman Frank Eddolls for defenseman Hal Laycoe and forwards Joe Bell and George Robertson. Like an understudy finally getting a big part in a Broadway play, O'Connor took a leading role with his new team and ran with it.

"Buddy flew all year," Rangers publicity director Stan Saplin said. "He captured the hearts of New York hockey fans."

It was a shrewd move by Boucher, showing that he'd done his homework.

"Watching the Canadiens a season earlier (1946-47), I noticed that O'Connor wasn't getting the ice time I thought he deserved," Boucher said, "so I went after Buddy and took a chance on Eddolls as a throw-in."

O'Connor was not only the NHL's lightest player (142 pounds) in 1947-48, he was also the best, becoming the first player in League history to be voted winner of the Hart Trophy as League MVP and the Lady Byng Trophy for skillful and gentlemanly play in the same season. He was also the first player in Rangers history to win the Hart Trophy.

Boucher waxed ecstatic when asked what made O'Connor special.

"He's smooth, rhythmic and deceptive," said Boucher, a Hall of Fame center who played on two Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Rangers. "He handles the puck softer than any other player I've seen. He puts the puck on a teammate's stick with the weight of a feather. His linemates never had to waste valuable time fighting for its control. These extra seconds gave them the opportunity to sight their targets better."

Rangers fans could say the same about Panarin, who won the Calder Trophy in 2015-16, his rookie season, as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks after leading all first-year players in scoring with 77 points (30 goals, 47 assists). He was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on June 23, 2017, and had 82 and 87 points in two seasons before opting for free agency.

Not surprisingly, Panarin attracted plenty of attention. He opted to sign with the Rangers and wasted no time taking his game to another level, becoming the first player in team history to have 60 points in his first 43 games.

"A plus with Artemi is that he also brings entertainment value to the game," said Rangers president John Davidson, who had Panarin in Columbus when he ran the Blue Jackets. "Plus, he gets the job done."

A training camp auto accident on Oct. 4, 1948, severely injured four Rangers -- including O'Connor, who was hospitalized with four broken ribs and missed 14 games in 1948-49. He rebounded in 1949-50, when he played a key role in the Rangers' drive to Game 7 of the 1950 Cup Final before New York lost to Detroit in double overtime. O'Connor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.

Considering his talent and the manner in which he's piled up points in his first season with the Rangers, the sky's the limit for Panarin in terms of future awards -- and perhaps winning the championship that barely eluded O'Connor.