Rod Gilbert

Rodrigue Gabriel Gilbert (July 1, 1941 – August 19, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played his entire career for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Known as "Mr. Ranger", he played right wing on the GAG line (Goal-A-Game line) with Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982, and was the first player in Rangers history to have his number retired. After his playing career, he became president of the Rangers' alumni association.

Early life Gilbert was born in Montreal on July 1, 1941, the son of Alma, a homemaker, and Gabriel Gilbert, a blacksmith. He played three seasons for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1957 to 1960. Corrective surgery went awry and led to hemorrhaging in his leg, and doctors feared amputation would be necessary, but Gilbert recovered.

Playing career

After finishing his junior career with the Guelph Royals, Gilbert joined the Rangers near the end of the 1960–61 NHL season. He soon became popular with the Rangers' fans, and he rose in prominence as an NHL star. However, it was not without pain. In 1965–66, his career was nearly derailed when he went through a second spinal fusion operation. This surgery was performed by Dr. Kazuo Yanagisawa. Gilbert was out of action for half a season, but he bounced back in 1966–67 and scored 28 goals.

At the beginning of the 1977–78 NHL season, Gilbert and Rangers' General Manager John Ferguson got into a contract dispute. He would retire after the season, his eighteenth in the NHL. His number 7 was retired by the Rangers on October 14, 1979, the first number to be retired by the team.

Post-playing career After retiring from professional hockey, he became head coach of the American Hockey League New Haven Nighthawks for the 1980–81 season. Gilbert opened his own restaurant, 'Gilbert's,' on Third Avenue near 75th street in Manhattan. He subsequently worked for Fundamental Brokers on Wall Street, assisting the company in opening a branch in his hometown of Montreal. He returned to the Rangers organization in August 1989. There, he acted as director of special projects and community relations representative, as well as president of its alumni association. Combined, they had four children together, Holly, Brooke, Chantal and Justin, and seven grandchildren. Chantal and Justin were children from his first wife, Judith Linton from Crawfordville, Florida. Linton was a stewardess for National Airlines at the time. He was one of ten athletes who were featured in American artist Andy Warhol's 1979 Athlete Series of paintings, which featured prominent sports figures from the 1970s. Others in the series include O. J. Simpson, Chris Evert, and Pelé.

Gilbert died in Manhattan on August 19, 2021. He was 80 years old. At the time of his death, more than 40 years after his career ended, he remained the Rangers’ leading scorer.

Career statistics Sources:

Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1957–58 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA 32 14 16 30 14 — — — — — 1958–59 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA 54 27 34 61 40 10 5 4 9 14 1959–60 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA 47 39 52 91 40 5 3 3 6 4 1959–60 Trois-Rivières Lions EPHL 3 4 6 10 0 5 2 2 4 2 1960–61 Guelph Royals OHA 47 54 49 103 47 6 4 4 8 6 1960–61 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1961–62 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 0 0 0 4 2 3 5 4 1961–62 Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers EPHL 21 12 11 23 22 4 0 0 0 4 1962–63 New York Rangers NHL 70 11 20 31 20 — — — — — 1963–64 New York Rangers NHL 70 24 40 64 62 — — — — — 1964–65 New York Rangers NHL 70 25 36 61 54 — — — — — 1965–66 New York Rangers NHL 34 10 15 25 20 — — — — — 1966–67 New York Rangers NHL 64 28 18 46 12 4 2 2 4 6 1967–68 New York Rangers NHL 73 29 48 77 12 6 5 0 5 4 1968–69 New York Rangers NHL 66 28 49 77 22 4 1 0 1 2 1969–70 New York Rangers NHL 72 16 37 53 22 6 4 5 9 0 1970–71 New York Rangers NHL 78 30 31 61 65 13 4 6 10 8 1971–72 New York Rangers NHL 73 43 54 97 64 16 7 8 15 11 1972–73 New York Rangers NHL 76 25 59 84 25 10 5 1 6 2 1973–74 New York Rangers NHL 75 36 41 77 20 13 3 5 8 4 1974–75 New York Rangers NHL 76 36 61 97 22 3 1 3 4 2 1975–76 New York Rangers NHL 70 36 50 86 32 — — — — — 1976–77 New York Rangers NHL 77 27 48 75 50 — — — — — 1977–78 New York Rangers NHL 19 2 7 9 6 — — — — — NHL totals 1,065 406 615 1,021 510 79 34 33 67 43

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1972 Canada SS 6 1 3 4 9 1977 Canada WC 9 2 2 4 12 Senior totals 15 3 5 8 21

Awards and honors Named to the NHL second All-Star team (1967–68) Played in NHL All-Star Game (1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977)

Records New York Rangers team record for career goals (406) Shares New York Rangers team record for assists in one game (5; three times)