1980-81 O-Pee-Chee 100 Phil Esposito Hockey Card (Front)
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee 100 Phil Esposito Hockey Card (Back)
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
There is no info snippet on the back of this 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee Phil Esposito hockey card. However, there is some general hockey trivia: In 1926, Lester Patrick became the first coach of the Rangers.
En Français
En 1926, Lester Patrick devint le premier instructeur des Rangers.
Details
After Phil Esposito was traded from the Boston Bruins to the New York Rangers on November 7, 1975 with Carol Vadnais for Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi, he was no longer scoring goals at a record setting pace. However, right up until his last full season, 1979-80, Esposito was still putting up great numbers.
In 1980-81, he scored just seven goals and called it a career after 41 games. He had a bit of a swansong game in his final game against the Bruins at the Boston Garden. On November 26, 1980, Esposito had a goal and two assists against his former team, leading the Rangers to a 6-4 win. Both assists came on Ron Greschner goals scored on Rogie Vachon.
His 717th and last regular season NHL goal was scored on December 17, 1980 against the Winnipeg Jets at Madison Square Garden. Phil scored New York’s eighth goal of the game in an 8-2 win on goalie Lindsay Middlebrook with assists to Don Maloney and Barry Beck.
Between 1963-64 and 1980-81, Phil Esposito played 1,282 regular season and 130 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He won the Art Ross Trophy five times and was a Hart Trophy recipient twice. Esposito was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984 and his number 7 was retired by the Bruins in 1987.