5 random players you forgot were on the New York Rangers

4. Andre Dupont

There was (however briefly) another Moose in Manhattan hockey before Messier. But between Messier’s historic leadership of the 1994 Rangers and Dupont’s participation in Philadelphia’s mid-’70s glory, it is hard to remember the latter’s New York days.

Unless, of course, you count his return visits for a slew of springtime run-ins that kindled a lasting regional rivalry.

Dupont did join the team that drafted him in 1969’s first round for seven games in 1970-71. After spending the bulk of that year in the minors, and garnering the Central League’s 1971 MVP award, he transferred to St. Louis. From there, he stuck in The Show and logged at least two full seasons apiece with the Blues, Flyers, and Nordiques.

Through seven-plus years on Broad Street’s blue line, Dupont spent the majority of his career helping the Flyers rise to perennial contention. He would join them on four runs to the Stanley Cup Final, including two championships. And he did most of that under his old minor league coach, Fred Shero, with whom he had won the 1971 Central League playoff crown on the Rangers’ then-affiliate in Omaha.

Dupont notably met his original NHL team in three postseasons. The first, a seven-game triumph, was Philadelphia’s second of three steps toward its first Cup in 1974.

Five years later, the Rangers (who now had Shero behind their big league bench) ended Dupont’s penultimate season as a Flyer with a 4-1 semifinal decision. But then the Flyers retorted with their own five-game victory in the 1980 quarterfinals en route to Dupont’s last Cup final.