DEAR MAVEN: WAS THERE EVER A TIME WHEN NHL TEAMS ACTUALLY COULD ‘BORROW’ PLAYERS FROM OTHER NHL CLUBS?
Yes, there was. The World War II era was extremely challenging for big-league hockey. At one point, in 1942, the Canadian government threatened to shut down the NHL altogether. The New York (Brooklyn) Americans had to fold and other clubs lost many players to the Canadian and American armed forces.
When the Rangers opened training camp in October 1942, they didn’t even have a goalie. They tried an amateur from Saskatchewan named Steve Buzinski but he was a failure so manager Lester Patrick had to find a replacement.
What Patrick did was phone his Detroit opposite, Red Wings GM Jack Adams, and ask for permission to borrow Motor City farmhand Jimmy Franks. Since the Wings were better stocked with netminders, Adams agreed.
I was ten years old at the time and remembered reading about Franks in a New York Post story which I still have in my scrapbook. Being a Rangers fan, I rooted for Jimmy did better than Steve; and he did; but only for a short time because this was a terrible last place Blueshirt team.
Franks managed 23 games with the New Yorkers and finished with a record of 5-14-4 and a 4.48 goals against average. In George Grimm’s excellent book, “Undermanned But Undaunted,” the author reveals Jimmy’s courage in Franks’ last game as a Ranger, January 24, 1943.
He suffered a broken wrist in the first period but continued to play. He was then knocked out by a shot with two minutes remaining in the second period and had to be carried off the ice yet returned to play in the third period of the Rangers 7-0 loss. It was an impressive display of courage in the face of adversity.
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