SNY POINT BLANK TV: RAY FERRARO
Part I: the TSN analyst on the Islanders of 1992-93
Point Blank Night is TOMORROW at SOCIAL: Islanders at Lightning on more than a dozen screens. Free buffet, free shots, raffle and more! RSVP here.
—-
Here’s Part 1 of our discussion with former Islanders center Ray Ferraro of TSN, focusing on the team’s last playoff victories in 1993. Up next: I ask Ferraro to respond to the fans’ concerns about his recent criticism of the franchise.
44 Responses to SNY POINT BLANK TV: RAY FERRARO
Part I: the TSN analyst on the Islanders of 1992-93
-
Set says:
Great job as always Chris. I was always a fan of Ray Ferraro and it is a shame what happened to that 1992-1993 team. Hopefully the team that Garth Snow is currently building goes on a run (or many) like the Islanders did that spring.
-
hockeytime says:
Nice job Chris! I am a huge fan of these video spots! Can’t wait for part 2 Ray always has some not so nice words for the Isles. We will see if he is starting to change his tune.
-
kurvers28 says:
Ray is slipping. He said Turgeon was injured in game 7. It was game 6. Healy did not leave as a free agent. Also, the year Quebec drafted Deadmarsh in 1993 after the deal, we got Bertuzzi and not Brett Lindros. Come on Ray! haha.
-
Don't Mind the Haters says:
Gary Galley was just on HNIC radio and said Turgeon wanted to play the next game after the Hunter hit, but the Isles held him back because it wouldn’t look good (considering Hunter was suspended for 20 games).
This is the first I’ve heard of it. Is Galley mis-informed (which is what I think).
-
admin says:
Wow. That’s scary-clueless. Where Garry could invent that from, I have no idea. Hunter’s season was over, and the Islanders are going to keep their best player out of the playoffs to prove a point? Wow. CB
-
Derek A says:
Love the video interviews CB would be nice to get some current players on the show at some point. Feels great to have some good Isles video commentary available. Again I must bring up that a Podcast would be AWESOME! Thanks again Chris, and LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!
-
Billy the Kid says:
So interesting how the great Al Arbor spoke to and dealt with his players.
No wonder he has the record he does and is in the HOF. -
Ron says:
Nice to hear from Ray – he was responsible for a lot of great memories for me as an Isles fan. I think we all felt that they had something special, too – I guess all except Don Maloney. It’s a shame.
-
Mike says:
I think the next time Ray sees Dale Hunter he should run up behind him and just level him! lol. See how that cheapshot artist enjoys being bumrushed from behind.
-
John T. - Halifax, NS says:
CB – I dont say this enough, but your site is fantastic!!!! Love coming here to read your daily blurbs and watch things like this. Simply AWESOME!!! Thank you.
- JT
-
Mr. M. S. Greenspan says:
YEAH CB!!! YOU TORE THIS UP BOY!
-
Joe in Massapequa says:
CB, I am loving these additional videos on your site. The 93 season was one of my first really clear memories of the Isles and I don’t think I can every forgive Dale Hunter. To this day I still wonder what could have been if the Hunter cheap shot never happened. Nevertheless keep up the great work and I cannot wait for part two.
-
Russel Ginart says:
WOW, what a walk down memory lane. That 93 team had it going, Turgeon was THE man and was taken down. Two bad calls vs. the Montreal and that team could have made it to the finals. I remember Steve Thomas smoking a slap shot from the blue line and beating Patrick Roy cleanly. Earlier in that season the did the same thing to Roy, clearly Roy had a problem handling Steve’s shot.
-
puckhead says:
Good stuff CB……keep up the good work!
-
Dinerboss says:
That team had great chemistry,and good role players,and Turgeon was there allstar,we haven’t had a allstar on the team since ziggy palffy,I feel this team that Garth has put together is on it’s way to being similiar but we desparately need (for the longest time) an allstar player like we had in turgeon.someone who could carry a team on his back.JT, JB, KO,NN, perhaps someday,but we need a player like turgeon on this team now.the kids well be good but they need to mature.Aplayer of turgeons caliber would put this team into the playoffs for sure,and not just 7 or 8 seed! Garth find us a stud player like that with out trading any players from our current roster.us fans have been waiting long enough,help this team and it’s players on it to take it to the next level!
-
UIF says:
93…good memories, and always good to hear an Arbour story.
-
Greg65 says:
Maloney traded Turgeon etc…away because they were torreys players. Isles could win 3 cups with those players…Maloney wouldnt get credit. After Malloney traded turgeon I called sports channel intermision w/ maloney and asked him if he traded turgeon because the rangers wanted him to ruin the Isles.Isles people were not happy, they called me back yelling that I changed my question on live air lol
-
pritchett54 says:
i hate dale hunter with a passion and always will.
-
Ajax says:
Always saw Ray as a class act. Loved the 93 team.
What were the comments he made about the team recently?
Guess I missed it! -
Isles fan in CA says:
Enjoying the video interviews. Keep em’ coming.
-
JerseyIslander says:
I remember watching those OT games late into the night in my bedroom as a kid… I still have my Turgeon autographed puck and Islanders jersey! Wish it fit still… haha.. You are the man CB!
-
Blizzard says: …. never forget what that dirt bag hunter did to Turgeon that in that playoff series. That was such a good run by the Isles.
-
RAMen says:
that was awesome. For me, the breaking up of the ’93 team was the beginning of a long purgatory as an Islander fan. It’s always interesting to hear the players perspective.
-
rb says:
Somebody really needs to write an Al Arbour book, or do a book with Al, collecting up the many stories from his playing career through all the coaching years.
-
I love Al Arbour! Treated his team like men when they deserved it, and like boys when they deserved that! On to another point: Bruno, as much affection as I have for him, cannot play defense if his life depended on it, but forward—hey, let’s try it for a game–you never know! JOSH, PLEASE come back soon!
-
2Bit says:
Great memories of that team! Heals & Flats, plus the rest of the gang got broken up way too soon. I really miss Chicken Parm & the NHL Tonight gang too.
-
Jzimm says:
I love Ray Ferarro, and with all due respect to Butch Goring, Ray would have been a great color guy for us, but he’s under contract with TSN.
Just to clear up a couple of facts that must have gotten fuzzy for Ray over the years:
- The Islanders beat the Caps in 6, not 7.
- In 1993, Healy was traded, not lost as a free agent. He had a circuitous route to the Rangers
- Mark Fitzpatrick was traded to Quebec for Ron Hextall and a flip-flop of 1993 first round picks, Quebec did in fact take Adam Deadmarsh, we took Todd Bertuzzi.
- Uwe Krupp was on that 1993-94 squad. He was traded at the 1994 draft to move up 3 slots when the Islanders took Brett Lindros
- Pierre Turgeon and Vladamir Malakhov were traded nearly two years later, I believe it was April 5th, 1995, to Montreal for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider, and Craig Darby after the Islanders were playing horribly and needed a change.
Reasons for Ferarro’s mix ups are understadable, of course; I was 17, 18, 19 at the time, and he was in his late 20′s or early 30′s. My biggest responsibility was picking up chicks at college, and his was winning games in the NHL. So obviously, my attention to the sequence of events is more fine tuned than any NHL player’s would be. He was a great hockey player, I loved having him here, hated losing him to the Rangers, a personality like Ray’s is important to any sports team. I LOVED his interview after Game 7 against the Penguins, boy was he fired up! I love his work on TSN, and this was a great interview, Chris, with behind the scenes information that we would have never known. Thank you so much for booking this one.
-
Gary Galley wasn’t anywhere near that team. In fact, he was still on the Bruins, and wouldn’t be an Islander until six years later. So I don’t even know where or how he got his information. Or perhaps he’s mixing Turgeon up with another player.
-
Sheppy says:
For those who wonder what could have been it Turgeon had not been injured during the 92-93 playoffs, I have a different take. Perhaps, the Islanders would have lost to the Pens. I think the loss of the team’s best player caused the team to circle the wagons and play with some real attitude. I also think the Pens looked past the Islanders, especially without Turgeon. For those who remember, the Islanders won the season series from the Pens that year. I predicted before the series that the Islanders would win (before Turgeon was hurt). My buddy let me “back out” of my bet once Turgeon was hurt. I actually did because I figured they were done without their best player. Boy, was I wrong.
-
Michael Laub says:
Nice job, CB. Great to hear Ray’s view of that great time.
Just to clarify though – Healy was left unprotected in the expansion draft and then traded to the Rangers, no? Ray said he left as a free agent and that kind of lets Maloney off the hook a bit. How could you leave him unprotected??? Also left Tom Fitzgerald unprotected, who was claimed by Fla.
Also, Turgeon didn’t get traded until the next season. He was on the team that got smoked by the Rangers in the first round. -
Nyslefan says:
Thanks so much CB for the great questions to an Islanders great. I still can’t believe Ferraro’s light treatment of Hunter though. That wasn’t a “hit.” That wasn’t even a hockey fight. That was an assault. Even the Bertuzzi incident doesn’t compare. 20 games for that kind of action is lenient. He should have been banned from the NHL. Sid/Ovi and other stars are at risk today b/c not enough was done then.
-
TurgeonFan77132 (Matt) says:
Hey CB- any chances of contacting Pierre Turgeon for a future interview? I think a lot of us fans who were old enough to follow the 1992-93 season would get a kick out of that.
-
Frustrated Voter says:
CB, should Pierre Turgeon be a candidate for the Hall of Fame? I would love to hear your views.
-
kallur says:
Great interview, great Ferarro. I’ve mentioned this before: second game in Montreal, game tied, third period, Hogue gets a clean break on Roy. Shoots it high, or wide. They lose that game in OT, I believe. Had Hogue scored there, Isles would have returned to LI at 1-1, I believe they would have won that series, I have no doubts they would have beaten LA. Would have, in fact, had the year Montreal ended up having instead : the fluke Cup year.
Most significant missed shot in Isles history. And on kind of the same subject: does anyone here remember the finals against Minnesota, the one game the Isles lost? For my money, the most exciting game in Isles history. Non-stop action, every period. I saw it in the bedroom of a NYC apartment where a wild party was going on, yet I just couldn’t leave the room. -
One other point on that team: three 40-goal scorers (Turgeon, King, Ferraro) and two 30-goal scorers (Hogue and Thomas, Thomas scoring four on the last day of the season to get to 30, if I recall (against Buffalo?))
-
Zim says:
In fact, Glenn Healy was not traded by the Islanders at least. He was left exposed in the 1993 expansion draft and was taken by Anaheim and was then traded to Tampa who then flipped him to NYR. I remember listening on the 20/20 on FAN that day and every 20/20 had the latest on Healy. It was sickening when he got claimed and even moreso 40 minutes later when he was a Ranger.
-
Kallur, perhaps, I am mixing up years, but didn’t Turgeon have 58 goals that year? That would mean we had a 50 goal scorer, two 40 goal scorers, and two 30 goal scorers…even more impressive.
-
Brian says:
Wasn’t Glen Healy left unprotected in the 1993 Expansion Draft and slected by the Ducks? Who then almost immediately dealt him to the Rangers?
-
Dan says:
Great piece brought back a lot of memeories. I really enjoyed it. Thanks Chris and Thanks Ray!
-
kallur says:
Sheppy;
I don’t recall Turgeon scoring that many, and for some strange reason I actually remember it as precisely 40 goals all of them, but that sounds too unlikely to be possible so perhaps you’re right.
As for someone asking about Turgeon in the H of F, I wouldn’t think so. He would qualify to me as a Bill Guerin-type also-ran, needed just a bit more game.
Boy … Don Maloney, then Mike Milbury. Thank God for the Glory Years… -
Hextall72 says:
Great stuff chris.. Keep em coming.. Although ray’s timelines are off a bit much, it’s all good.. It’s almost 20 years later
-
19 Isle in NJ 22 says:
Awesome stuff… Ray refreshed my memory alright.
What Ray said torwards the end about the team coming apart. Literally. That is what resonates with me about that time. There were some kids coming together with the vets and it seemed just perfect. Was Healey really a catalyst (the loose thread) for the begining of the end? Was the need for goaltending that desperate to force panic trades?
*
Love hearing how Al was stern with a well respected veteran. Not worried about someone taking their game else where in free-agency because he didn’t like the way he was talked to.It’s too bad we didn’t get to see what that team could really do.
-
D in BIG D says:
Great stuff Mr.Botta!!
Very nice Chris. Good to get some insight behind the scenes of that 92-93 squad and how it suddenly was demolished.
Would love to one day have you ask Turgeon that same question about Dale Hunter and current thoughts he still has on that.