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On February 7 in NYR history: A Hall of Famer spurs the Blueshirts

Red Kelly (middle left) and Andy Bathgate drop the puck between Wayne Gretzky #99 of the New York Rangers and Mats Sundin #13 of the Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images)

What happened on February 7 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1960 a proposed deal between the New York and the Detroit Red Wings officially went south when the two players swapped to the Rangers refused to report and announced their retirements. The big name in the deal was 32-year-old Red Kelly, a defenseman who had won the Norris Trophy, three Lady Byng Trophies and was a first or second team All-Star for eight straight years from 1950 to 1957.