I’ll have to be sure to grab a ticket for the January 24th Rangers game versus the Atlanta Thrashers, just to see the on-ice ceremony when New York retires Brian Leetch’s No. 2 jersey at Madison Square Garden.

I always felt the most underrated aspect of Leetch’s game was his mastery of the hip check. That’s the clean hip check, not the cheap-shot knee-on-knee version that players like Bryan Marchment dealt out.

Like any physical play, that move eventually wore out Leetch, contributing to the waning of his skating skills in his later years. Still, that maneuver, along with his conspicuous production as a offensive defenseman, made him one of the more complete players to lace them up for the Blueshirts. And it goes without saying that the Cup never would have been hoisted in Manhattan if Leetch weren’t in that 1993-94 lineup.