NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 22: (L-R) Former New York Ranger players Adam Graves, Brian Leetch, Mark Messier, Mike Richter and Eddie Giacomin salute Andy Bathpage and Harry Howell on their numbers being retired prior to the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers on February 22, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
On this night 45 years ago, Eddie Giacomin returned to Madison Square Garden — and made grown men cry
I was exactly one month into my fifth year of life on November 2, 1975, when Eddie Giacomin skated to the crease wearing the red and white of the Detroit Red Wings, just two days after the New York Rangers, the only NHL team he’d ever known waived him.