More than a few NHL players through the years can almost be dubbed micro-stars or localized superstars. Toronto has Wendel Clark. Vancouver has Don Lever. The New York Rangers have Ron Greschner. These were great players but maybe not that well known outside the cities where the played the majority of the NHL careers.
Greschner was a high offense defenseman who played his entire NHL career with the Rangers. His name litters New York’s career record books. He is ranked number 12 on the Rangers top 100 list of all-time. Yet, outside Madison Square Garden, Ron flies under the radar. A ‘familiar’ name but probably not one that pops up as the answer to, “What players define the history of the New York Rangers.”
Ron Greschner – Junior and Minor Pro
Greschner played major junior hockey for the New Westminster Bruins of the WHL (WCHL at the time). That franchise has since moved on to become the Kamloops Blazers. Ron played for three years between 1971-72 and 1973-74. He narrowly missed out on New Westminster’s junior hockey dynasty with the club winning WHL championships in four consecutive seasons from 1974-75 to 1977-78.
In his final season with the Bruins, Greschner led the team in scoring with 33 goals and 70 assists for 103 points over 67 regular season games. These numbers were on the outside of the league’s top ten and Ron graduated from junior with no major accolades. His career WHL totals from the blue line included 56 goals and 126 assists for 182 points over 179 games.
His time in the minors was limited to just seven games with the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League in 1974-75. With five goals and six assists from the point in those seven games, Greschner was too much for the Rangers to ignore. The Reds finished first overall but could have used Ron in the Calder Cup playoffs, upset in the opening round by the Springfield Indians.
Ron Greschner – NHL
The Rangers made Greschner a second round pick at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, 32nd overall. Closer to home, the Vancouver Blazers took him fifth overall in the WHA’s 1974 Secret Amateur Draft. Ahead of him in the WHA draft were just Greg Joly, Bill Lochead, Tiger Williams and Cam Connor. Connor was the only one to play in the World Hockey Association.
Ron played 982 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1974-75 and 1989-90, all with the Rangers. Greschner scored 179 and assisted on 431 for 610 points over that time and also sat 1,226 minutes in the penalty box. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Ron played 84 games and added 49 points.
His point total still ranks seventh all-time in a Rangers jersey. Only Harry Howell, Brian Leetch and Rod Gilbert have played more games for New York. His assists rank him seventh all-time for the franchise and he leads with his penalty minute total.
By far his best season offensively in the NHL came in 1977-78. Greschner scored 24 and assisted on 48 for 72 points over 78 games. He was behind just Phil Esposito and Pat Hickey for the team scoring lead. The Rangers finished fourth in the four team Patrick Division but still qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs. They were quickly ousted by the Buffalo Sabres in the preliminary round. Jean-Guy Talbot was the head coach of that New York team, his only year with the Rangers and his last year as head coach in the NHL.
The injury plagued Greschner played 80 games in 1976-77. It was the only season he played the full schedule. A decade later, he served as the Rangers team captain.
The closest Ron came to a Stanley Cup championship came in 1978-79. The Rangers, under head coach Fred Shero, reached the finals before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. Game four was pivotal, needing overtime to decide a winner. If New York had won, the series would have tied at two. Instead, the Rangers fell behind three games to one. Anders Hedberg and Phil Esposito led the team during the regular season but it was Espo, Don Maloney and Greschner providing the offense in the post season.
Ron Greschner – Rookie Card
The Ron Greschner rookie card appears as number 146 in both the 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee and 1975-76 Topps sets. The Greschner RC is valued at three times that of a common card. Of course, he’s shown as a member of the Rangers.
In a prime example of the number issue that pisses off so many pure collectors, in the picture on the front of that 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee card, Greschner is not wearing his number 4. In fact, he’s wearing a mess of other people’s equipment. His gloves are clearly numbered 16. His jersey is somewhere in the teens, not 16 and definitely not 4.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1971-72 | New Westminster Bruins | WCHL | 44 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 126 |
| 1972-73 | New Westminster Bruins | WCHL | 68 | 22 | 47 | 69 | 169 |
| 1973-74 | New Westminster Bruins | WCHL | 67 | 33 | 70 | 103 | 170 |
| 1974-75 | Providence Reds | AHL | 7 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 10 |
| 1974-75 | New York Rangers | NHL | 70 | 8 | 37 | 45 | 93 |
| 1975-76 | New York Rangers | NHL | 77 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 93 |
| 1976-77 | New York Rangers | NHL | 80 | 11 | 36 | 47 | 89 |
| 1977-78 | New York Rangers | NHL | 78 | 24 | 48 | 72 | 100 |
| 1978-79 | New York Rangers | NHL | 60 | 17 | 36 | 53 | 66 |
| 1979-80 | New York Rangers | NHL | 76 | 21 | 37 | 58 | 103 |
| 1980-81 | New York Rangers | NHL | 74 | 27 | 41 | 68 | 112 |
| 1981-82 | New York Rangers | NHL | 29 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 16 |
| 1982-83 | New York Rangers | NHL | 10 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| 1983-84 | New York Rangers | NHL | 77 | 12 | 44 | 56 | 117 |
| 1984-85 | New York Rangers | NHL | 48 | 16 | 29 | 45 | 42 |
| 1985-86 | New York Rangers | NHL | 78 | 20 | 28 | 48 | 104 |
| 1986-87 | New York Rangers | NHL | 61 | 6 | 34 | 40 | 62 |
| 1987-88 | New York Rangers | NHL | 51 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 82 |
| 1988-89 | New York Rangers | NHL | 58 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 94 |
| 1989-90 | New York Rangers | NHL | 55 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 53 |
| NHL Totals | 982 | 179 | 431 | 610 | 1226 |