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Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Claude Earl (Chuck) Rayner
Claude Earl (Chuck) Rayner
Claude Earl, Chuck, Rayner was born on the 11th of August 1920 in Sutherland, Saskatchewan, Canada. He played 10 National Hockey League seasons from 1940 to 1953. He died on the 5th of October 2002. He was inducted into NHL Hall of Fame in 1973.
Claude, Chuck, Rayner played his early hockey in his hometown before moving, in his mid-teens, to play for the Saskatoon Wesleys of the Northern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. In 1937, the Wesleys made it to the best-of-three western final but lost the Abbott Cup to the Winnipeg Monarchs. He moved on to the Kenora Thistles for the next three seasons and in 1940 the Thistles, led by Rayner and defenceman Bill Juzda, reached the Memorial Cup finals against the Oshawa Generals. The Thistles had defeated the Port Arthur juniors and the Edmonton Athletic Club to win the west, but could not wrestle the Memorial Cup title away from the defending champion Generals.
Rayner's professional career began with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League in 1940-41 where he earned an AHL Second Team All-Star selection. The New York Americans called him up for a 12-game tryout before the end of the season. The following year, he played just one game with Springfield before he was called up to the NHL and appeared in 36 games for the newly-christened Brooklyn Americans. Rayner interrupted his hockey career to return as a member of the New York Rangers in the 1945-46 season.
He was an NHL Second Team All-Star and appeared in the All Star game in 1949, 1950, and 1951. He is one of only five goalies to be awarded the Hart Trophy as most valuable player, in 1950. He was one of the first wandering goalies. On more than one occasion he made a save and skated up ice with the puck before hustling back into goal. Twice in particular he came right in on the opposition goalie in an NHL game and almost scored.
In 1953, Rayner was signed as a free agent by the Saskatoon Quakers of the WHL and after a handful of games spread over two seasons with the Nelson Maple Leafs he called it a career as an active player. He went on to coach senior hockey in Nelson, B.C., minor pro in Edmonton, and intermediate and junior hockey in Kenora, Ontario.
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