Although many of his offensive records have now been left in the dust by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, former Boston Bruins/New York Rangers center Phil Esposito is still regarded by hockey experts as one of the greatest players in NHL history.

A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Esposito was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks as a teenager. After some time in junior hockey, he was called up to the NHL in’64 quickly earning a spot on the teams top line between Bobby Hull and Marcel Dionne. In’67, Esposito was traded to the Boston Bruins along with Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield.

It wasnt long before Esposito started to destroy long standing NHL records. In’69, he became the first NHL player to top the 100 point mark (combined goals and assists) for the season”he obliterated the record with 126 points, which would be the first of six times that hed top the century mark. He topped 100 points in five straight seasons between’71 and’75, missing a sixth straight season by a single point with 99 in’70. Bruins fans were fond of displaying car bumper stickers that read Jesus Saves; Esposito scores on the rebound.

In the’70-71 season, Esposito scored 76 goals to smash the NHL’s single season scoring record. That record stood for over a decade until Wayne Gretzky scored 79 for the Edmonton Oilers in’81-82. Gretzky also broke Espositos single season points record of 154. Perhaps the most amazing element of Espositos game was the frequency with which he put the puck on net”Espo had 550 shots on goal in’70-71. No one has since come close”in fact, just last Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals became the first player to come within 100 shots of Espositos mark.

In’75, Esposito was traded with Brad Park to the New York Rangers for Brad Park, Joe Zanussi and Jean Ratelle. He had slowed somewhat, but was still enough of a valuable player and team leader that he was named the Rangers’ captain. He remained a very dangerous scoring threat until the end of his career.

After his retirement in’75, he remained active in hockey. He served as the GM of the Rangers before helping secure an expansion team for Tampa, Florida in’92. Esposito served as the President and GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning until’98. Esposito now hosts a daily hockey radio show on XM Radio, and has even done some acting appearing in a recurring role as a fire chief on the TV series Rescue Me.

Ross Everett is a consulting handicapper for Sports-1 and an authority on professional hockey history and NHL hockey betting . He’s a published expert on handicapping theory, as well as financial investment strategy. He contributes to a number of websites providing insight on how to bet on NFL football, hockey and mixed martial arts.

The rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens is the oldest and most bitter rivalry in the history of the National Hockey League, which has led to these teams being each other’s arch-rivals. From 1944 to 1978, the two teams met each other in the playoffs 12 times, and faced off in five Stanley Cup Finals. While the on-ice competition is fierce, the Leafs-Habs rivalry is actually symbolic of a much deeper cleavage in Canadian history and society ” that between English and French-Canadians. It’s the rivalry between Canada’s largest cities: Toronto, the largest and the heart of Anglo-Canada and Montreal, the second-largest and the heart of Franco-Canada.

As early back as 92 years ago, this rivalry was laying out the groundwork for a bigger one to come. All of Toronto’s fans were generally English speakers, as the fans in Montreal were of French origins. The Maple Leafs logo resembled the Canadian army logo.

In Montreal, the Canadiens were built around a French fan base, as the province of Quebec had its origins with the French republic. In fact, the Canadiens chose to sing “O Canada” before each game, and most of the song was recited in French over English.

While certainly heated during the 1940s and 1950s, the Leafs-Habs rivalry was particularly acute during the 1960s; one of the two teams would capture the Stanley Cup each year in the decade, with the exceptions of 1961 and 1970. The rivalry perhaps reached its zenith in the 1967 season, when both teams met in the Stanley Cup Finals during the centennial year of Canadian Confederation. The city of Montreal was hosting Expo 67 that year, and the Canadiens were expected to beat the Leafs quite handily. Still, underdog Toronto upset the Habs to capture the Cup. Toronto captured their last cup to date in a 4-2 series win over the Canadiens.

The fortunes of the two teams since 1967 have also seen a marked difference; the Habs have won ten Stanley Cup championships since that year, while the Maple Leafs still have yet to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. Toronto came close to reaching the Finals in 1993, where they would have faced the Wales Conference champion Habs in the 100th anniversary year of the Stanley Cup (and Toronto would have lost). However, they were narrowly defeated in the Campbell Conference Finals by the Los Angeles Kings. This rivalry is featured in the murals of Toronto’s College subway station.

Eleven seasons ago, the NHL decided to switch the Maple Leafs into the same division as Montreal. While the teams often play each other and the games are heated, they haven’t met in the playoffs since this shift occurred.

At the end of the 2007 season, things were tight in the division. Montreal and Toronto were neck and neck, and a final game between the two teams would determine which team would have a shot at the playoffs. Toronto won the game, but a win by the Islanders knocked Toronto out from playoff contention.

I would like to add a funny story to this article as well, there is a huge rivalry going on between myself and in-laws. I’m the Habs fan and my father-in-law is a Leafs fan. About three years ago my daughter (who is 5 now) was out with the grandparents, in the van my mother-in-law kept saying to my daughter “Taylor say go Leafs go”. At that time my daughter and I had been watching Montreal games every night that season, she looked at her grandmother and said “No Nana, I like Montreal..Daddy says the Leafs are the bad team.” I trained her well, and if anyone is wondering on how I got a little girl to sit down with her father to watch hockey – chips and dip.

The New York Rangers acquired Blair Betts in the 2005-06 NHL Hockey season and he has been with them, centering on the defensive 4th line. He is one of the New York Rangers most consistent face-off men winning a more than losing them.

The New York Post wrote that Blair Betts and his teammate, Sjostrom, could be the best penalty kill tandem in Rangers history and they had a franchise high of 87.6 percent. He has also been declared one of the most underrated players in the league.

Betts played for the Calgary Flames from 1998 to 2005 before being drafted by the New York Rangers. His professional career began in 2001. Regardless of which team he plays on, the Edmonton native is well known as a strong defensive center.

Betts has come to the team at a tough time. The Rangers are experiencing their longest losing streak at the moment and the team is currently ranked bottom in the league. Blair Betts is a great performer on the ice, but unfortunately it hasn’t been enough to get the Rangers moving up through the ranks.

Blair Betts has been also plagued with injuries, suffering a broken orbital bone around his left eye in May, 2008, and recovering from an upper body injury in December, 2008. Prior to that injury, he had three goals and five points in 28 games this past season. In his fourth season with the New York Rangers, he has missed time with injuries to his knee, foot and face.

Of course, ice hockey in the NHL can be a rough and tumble game and many defensive players can get injured from rough play or fights on the rink. Blair Betts, at 28 years old, has been playing professionally since 2000, when he joined the AHL, Calgary Flames.

Betts started playing hockey even before this, of course. He got his start with the Western Hockey League’s Prince George Cougars, with whom he played from 1996 until being taken by the Calgary Flames in the 1998 NHL draft. Hockey can really take its toll on an athlete, with many wondering if Betts’ health is beginning to suffer as a result of his time in the sport.

In the 2005-06 NHL hockey season, he scored eight goals and two assists with the New York Rangers. Since that time, he has been used primarily on special teams and has done well in penalty killing and winning face-offs.

In his NHL career, Betts has racked up 27 goals and 18 assists, mostly while playing for the New York Rangers. The Rangers are going through tough times at the moment – and his being sidelined for injuries is probably not helping matters any. However, many believe that the Rangers have a great defensive line; but it is their offense which is not up to snuff.

Experts blame the Rangers last place position on a lack of confidence and a failure of the players to gel as a team. Whether Blair Betts can do much to help bring the Rangers out of the slump remains to be seen. Other players, and Rangers General Manager, Sather could shoulder much of the blame. Blair Betts has a lot of work cut out for him with this team, and could probably do better on one that would do him justice.