Michal Rozsival #33 of the New York Rangers (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
What happened on August 29 in the history of the New York Rangers
On this date in 2005, the New York Rangers signed 27-year-old free agent defenseman Michal Rozsival, a signing that barely got a mention. A Pittsburgh draft pick who had played four seasons with the Penguins, Rozsival had missed the entire 2003-04 season with a knee injury and then played the lockout 2004-05 season in the Czech Republic.
Ranger fans didn’t know what they were getting. The 6’1″, 210 pound defenseman turned into one of Glen Sather’s best free agent pickups In his first year in New York, he made just $703k and all he did was play all 82 games, lead all team defensemen in scoring with 30 points and had the best plus/minus rating on the team at +35, even better than Jaromir Jagr who scored a franchise record 123 points.