Frank Boucher – The Rangers’ Classy Center, Coach, and Commander

During the early years of the New York Rangers’ existence, the franchise earned a reputation for being “The Classiest Team in Hockey”.

And there wasn’t anyone who embodied that portrayal more than Frank Boucher.

Boucher was born on October 7, 1901, in Ottawa, Ontario. At 20 years old, he first played in the National Hockey League with his hometown Ottawa Senators and alongside his brother, George. After one season with Ottawa, Boucher signed with the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. During his four seasons with Vancouver, Boucher developed into one of the top players in the league and in addition to earning the respect of his teammates, he also attracted the attention of his opponents.

When the league – known as the Western Hockey League by the end of the 1925-26 season – disbanded, NHL teams looked to take players from the WHL to help strengthen their own rosters. One of these teams was the Rangers, as they were about to begin their first NHL season in 1926-27. Two of the players whose contracts the Blueshirts purchased, brothers Bill Cook and Fred “Bun” Cook, played for the Saskatoon Crescents in the WHL and knew how talented Boucher was.

And, more importantly, they knew how well Boucher could fit with them if he was the center on a line with them as wingers. So, even though Boucher’s contract had initially been sold to the Boston Bruins, the Rangers negotiated a deal with Boston to acquire him.

There was a remarkable chemistry that developed almost immediately between these three players. Lester Patrick, the Rangers’ head coach and general manager at the time, also allowed them to figure out the best way to play with each other. Boucher, who wrote an autobiography nearly half a century after the start of his tenure with the Blueshirts called When the Rangers Were Young, said in the book that, “Lester left Bill, Bun, and me almost completely alone. Often during practices he would stay at one end of the rink with eight or nine players, and let the three of us at the other end flip the puck around and work on our plays. He never interfered with our experiments. I think he gave us this leeway because he had faith in our ability and this, to me, pointed up his greatness as a coach.”

Boucher recorded 28 points in 44 games during the Rangers’ inaugural 1926-27 season, and his 15 assists were the second-most in the NHL that year. In the first game in franchise history on November 16, 1926, against the Montreal Maroons at MSG, Boucher received a fighting major for a scrap he had with Montreal’s Merlyn “Bill” Phillips; the fight earned him a $15 fine from the NHL. It would ultimately be just one of two major penalties that Boucher received over 587 combined regular season and playoff games he played with the Rangers.

This was uncommon for the era in which Boucher played, and because of his style of play, an NHL award that was first presented shortly before the Rangers came into existence eventually became his to own.

In March of 1925, Lady Byng of Vimy – the wife of Canada’s Governor General at the time – decided to present a trophy to the NHL that the league would give out to the player who best possessed an exceptional combination of sportsmanship and playing ability. At the time, Lady Byng wanted the NHL to be less violent, and it was thought that recognizing a player who showed that the game could be played well without it would help in that cause.

In 1927-28, Boucher won the Lady Byng Trophy for the first time. He won it the next year, the year after that, and once again the following season. By the end of the 1934-35 season, Boucher received the honor seven times in an eight-year span.

Upon Boucher being named the winner for the seventh time, Lady Byng gave him the original trophy to keep, and she donated another trophy to be handed out to future winners. To date, no player in NHL history has won the Lady Byng Trophy more times than Boucher.

The Blueshirts’ brilliant center not only won the Lady Byng Trophy for the first time in 1927-28, but he also became a Stanley Cup champion. First, Boucher tied for third in the NHL with 35 points during the regular season, and his 23 goals were the fourth-most in the league. In the playoffs, his goal scoring prowess led the Blueshirts to a championship.

Boucher tallied six points (three goals, three assists) in four games during the first two rounds of the playoffs, helping the Rangers advance to the Stanley Cup Final against the Maroons. Game 2 of the series is best remembered for Patrick stepping in and playing goal following an injury to Lorne Chabot, but it overshadowed Boucher’s game-winning goal in overtime that tied the series at one game apiece.

With the Rangers facing elimination in Game 4 of the best-of-five series, Boucher registered the only goal of the contest to send the series to a winner-take-all Game 5. And in that deciding contest, the Blueshirts’ center scored both of the team’s goals in a 2-1 win to lead the team to the Cup. Boucher scored four of the Rangers’ five goals in the Stanley Cup Final, including all three game-winning goals, and he remains the only player in franchise history to tally three game-winning goals in a single playoff series.

Boucher led the NHL with 16 assists during the 1928-29 season, and when the NHL changed its rules to allow forward passing in the offensive zone, his offensive statistics took off. He recorded 62 points in 42 games during the campaign, which was the second-most in the league, and he once again led the NHL in assists with 36 helpers. Boucher also led the league with 28 assists during the 1932-33 season, and he helped the Rangers win the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history that year.

The 1932-33 season also marked the first of Boucher’s three consecutive selections to the NHL’s First All-Star Team. By the 1937-38 season – Boucher’s 12^th with the Blueshirts – he was 36 years old and his playing time had diminished. With this, he seamlessly shifted into the next phase of his tenure with the organization.

After Boucher coached the New York Rovers – the Rangers’ affiliated team in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League – and leading them to a league championship, Patrick decided to turn over the coaching reins of the Rangers to his former star center. And in Boucher’s first season behind the bench, he led “the best team he’d ever seen” to the third Stanley Cup in franchise history.

In the process, Boucher demonstrated his intellect for the game with some of the strategies he implemented. One such innovation made the Blueshirts an effective team while they were shorthanded. When the opposition had the puck in the Rangers’ zone, the Rangers would resort to a “box defense”, protecting the area around the net and forcing the opposing team to shoot from outside of the dangerous scoring areas; this strategy quickly developed into the blueprint that all teams would follow for defensive zone coverage. In addition, Boucher encouraged his players to go on the attack, if possible, while they were shorthanded, and this led to the Rangers scoring 10 shorthanded goals during the season (while only allowing 11 power play goals).

During that season, the Rangers posted a 10-game winning streak and 19-game point streak, both of which remain franchise records.

Boucher also helped guide the Rangers during a difficult period when several of the team’s best players left to serve their country in the armed forces during World War II. He even returned to the ice for a brief period of time as a player, tallying 14 points in 15 games during the 1943-44 season.

Midway through the 1945-46 season, Boucher succeeded Patrick as the second general manager in Rangers history. It was a role that Boucher held for 10 seasons, and during that time he helped oversee a memorable run to the Stanley Cup Final and set the stage for a future generation of Rangers stars.

Prior to the 1947-48 season, Boucher orchestrated a trade with the Montreal Canadiens in which the Blueshirts acquired center Buddy O’Connor and defenseman Frank Eddolls. That year, O’Connor won both the Lady Byng Trophy and the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player. Two seasons later, the team that Boucher assembled went on a memorable run that ended with a double overtime goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings.

While Boucher was the Rangers’ general manager, one of his accomplishments was rebuilding the rich farm system that the organization had. Through sponsored junior teams throughout North America, the Blueshirts were able to find new, young talent that would help the team for years to come. By the end of the 1954-55 season, the Blueshirts had that young nucleus, with players such as Gump Worsley in goal, Harry Howell, Lou Fontinato, and Jack Evans on the blue line, and Andy Bathgate and Dean Prentice up front.

But that season would be Boucher’s final one with the Blueshirts. When he announced his resignation on April 22, 1955, Boucher said in a statement that, “After 29 years as a player, coach, and manager since the original Rangers came to New York, I leave Madison Square Garden with the kindliest feelings and best wishes for future success.” In 1958, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

For nearly three decades, Frank Boucher positively impacted every part of the Rangers operation and helped make them the premier franchise that it has become.