Eddie Giacomin, who came to the NHL relatively late but made up for any lost time by becoming one of the steadiest goaltenders of his era while spending 10 seasons with the Rangers and whose poignant return to Madison Square Garden as a member of the Detroit Red Wings during the 1975-76 season remains one of New York hockey’s lasting memories, died Sunday. He was 86.
Giacomin, then 36, had been placed on waivers by the Rangers after he got off to a slow start to the season and was quickly claimed by Detroit. Two days later, Giacomin, his head still spinning, returned to the Garden as a member of the Red Wings and was greeted by chants of “Ed-die, Ed-die” even before the national anthem was played, moving the popular goaltender wearing Detroit’s unfamiliar red jersey and the equally unfamiliar No. 31 to tears.
“I stood in the crease and looked into the glass during the national anthem, and it was too much,’’ Giacomin told the New York Times in 1989 on the eve of his jersey retirement ceremony. “I’d seen those people for years. They kept up the applause, not easing up. The tears came because I couldn’t understand why I had been let go, couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong.’’
Giacomin had been summoned to the rink in Long Beach, N.Y. where the Rangers practiced a few nights earlier, Halloween night, unsure why general manager Emile Francis wanted to see him. As his wife, Marge, waited in the car, Giacomin walked across the dark and deserted parking lot. Once inside, Francis gave him the somber news — that he had been claimed on waivers by Detroit.
“It was like I had fallen through a trap door and was tumbling in space,’’ Giacomin told the Times. ‘’I walked toward the car, but didn’t know whether I should stop or just keep walking, keep walking out into the water. I was stunned.’’
He was still reeling when he stepped on the ice two nights later to a greeting he clearly wasn’t prepared for.
“I don’t think we stopped chanting Eddie the whole night,” said future broadcaster Howie Rose, then a teenager seated in the blue seats high above the ice.
“I don’t think I experienced anything to that level in any of my previous games,” said the late Rod Gilbert. “That’s how powerful his relationship [with the fans] was.”
The Red Wings, with the Garden crowd clearly in the visiting goaltender’s corner, jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the opening period.
“The Rangers were apologizing for shooting at me, for scoring on me. … They didn’t want to shoot,” Giacomin said. “You play 10 years. … I’m in a Red Wings uniform instead of a Rangers uniform. Of course, it was emotional.”
That night Giacomin and his new team beat the Rangers and John Davidson, the young goaltender for whom the Blueshirts needed to clear playing time, 6-4.
Steve Vickers had one of the Rangers goals.
“The home fans booed me for scoring a goal against Eddie,” Vickers said years later. “The next shift I apologized to him. He said ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just your job.’ ”
A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Giacomin, who played without a mask for the bulk of his career, revolutionized the game with his smooth stick handling, setting a standard for future goaltenders.
He was an All-Star in six seasons spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s and helped the Rangers break a four-season playoff drought when he led the league in wins (30) and shutouts (nine) during the 1966-67 season, his first full season with the team.
He led the league in wins each of the next two seasons and during the 1970-71 season teamed with Gilles Villemure to win the Vezina Trophy by allowing the fewest goals in the league during the regular season.
The Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs after that season for their first postseason series win since 1950 and came within one win of the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season the Rangers did reach the Cup final but fell to the Boston Bruins in six games.
Earlier postseason exits the next three years — including one in the preliminary round to the Islanders who were only in their third year of existence — hastened the roster shake-up that saw Giacomin finish his career with two-plus seasons in Detroit.
His retired No. 1 hangs in the Garden rafters, the second Ranger to be so honored after Rod Gilbert and his No. 7.
“I dreamed about playing in the NHL, but one could never dream about this happening,” Giacomin said. “It just couldn’t have entered your mind.’’
Edward Giacomin was born on June 6, 1939 is Sudbury, Ontario. His brother Rollie was also a goaltender and when he couldn’t make a game for the Eastern Hockey League’s Washington Presidents he suggested his brother take his place. Eddie joined the AHL’s Providence Reds in 1960 and spent five seasons there before the Rangers traded for him in 1965.
Already 26 by the time he reached the NHL, Giacomin impressed early but finished the 1965-66 season with an 8-20 record with six ties for the last-place Rangers, a performance that had earned him a demotion to the AHL for several games. But he came on strong the following season to cement his place with the Rangers and in the NHL.
In 13 NHL seasons, Giacomin, who retired in 1978, registered a 290-209 record with 96 ties, a 2.82 goals-against average, .902 save percentage and 54 shutouts.
After his playing career, Giacomin spent a season as an analyst on Islanders broadcasts and served stints as an assistant coach with both the Rangers and Red Wings. He also spent time as the Rangers goaltender coach.
Giacomin said he never asked Francis, who died in February 2022, why he dealt him away. In the end, he decided it was a business decision.
‘’He had to know what he was doing,’’ Giacomin told the Times. ‘’He had to know Detroit would take me, and maybe he thought I’d get a couple more years in the league with them. And he also had to know they were coming into town that Sunday and what would happen with the fans.
“It’s a funny way, but maybe it was his way of saying thank you.’’
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