The Biggest Blunder From a Rangers Coach

We all make mistakes – even the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal-winning coach Herb Books committed a boo-boo or two during his Rangers tenure.

Brooks' biggest blunder took place three years after the glamorous Gold event. Herbie simply refused to give a wonderful idea to blossom into a hotshot line as it had been in Winnipeg.

For research on this matter I turned to one of the best hockey minds – not to mention writers of my young lifetime now having a hot hockey time in California.

Joltin' Joe Dionisio happens to be Hockey Director at the famed Ice In Paradise rink in Santa Barbara. My pal of the past, the late Philly Flyers owner Ed Snider founded this phenomenal arena. But, lemme return to Joe's story about Brooks' Blueshirts' blunder.

It was the fall of 1982 and Herb was getting his Rangers ready for the 82-83 season at training camp. The rival Islanders were in the midst of their Dynasty years and the Blueshirts were building to beat the Nassaumen.

Brooks already had two Swedish aces, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, who previously starred in the World Hockey Association with legendary left wing Bobby Hull. They were the Murderers Row of the Winnipeg Jets.

WHA or NHL, the Hull-Hedberg-Nilsson "Hot Line" emerged as one of the all-time sensational forward units. Bobby had the 100 m.p.h. shot while the Swedes worked like perfectly meshed gears.

According to Joltin' Joe, the retired Hull vowed that the only way he'd make a comeback would be if he could rejoin his pals Ulf and Anders with the Blueshirts.

Dionisio: "A good eighteen months after his last NHL game as a Hartford Whaler, Hull hoped to rekindle his magic with Anders and Ulf. The Golden Jet was now 42 but impressed Brooks at a practice. Herb said that Bobby, 'looks youthful psychologically.' But, unfortunately Herb eventually cut Bobby from the Rangers' roster."

Covering hockey, as The Maven was at the time, I felt that Brooks was in error. The sudden cut was a big-time mistake. Plus, those of us who covered the Rangers desperately wanted to see The Hot Line revived.

"I'm convinced that Herb got it wrong," Joltin' Joe concludes. "Brooks ignored the axiom – that older vets rarely hit their stride early in training camp; especially in Hull's case since he was away from the game for a year."

Then, a pause, and a bit of gallows humor reflection: "It would have been one Hull-uva comeback!"