Nearly 50 years ago, Dave Maloney and Ron Duguay were not only young stars on the ice for the New York Rangers, they were celebrities off of it, filming a classic commercial for Sasson designer jeans and recording the campy yet popular “Hockey Sock Rock” song with several of their teammates.
They had the long hair and good looks to go along with their legit hockey skill sets. They also were flying high in disco-era New York after helping the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1979, albeit losing in five games to the Montreal Canadiens.
Just a couple of kids from Ontario who were playing in Manhattan for a rabid fan base and Original Six franchise. So, it’s understandable all these years later why Maloney needed time to pull himself together before speaking with Forever Blueshirts about Duguay’s passing at the age of 69 on Thursday.
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“I do consider time spent with ‘Doog’ to be very special,” Maloney told Forever Blueshirts from Toronto, where he worked the Rangers’ 5-4 loss to the Maple Leafs in his role as color analyst for MSG Networks.
“That team in 1979, there were a lot of real good personalities — we did the Sasson jeans thing, we did the ‘Hockey Sock Rock’ thing. But my life went in a totally different direction than his because I got married shortly thereafter. But I do treasure those years with him, they resonate fondly. Those formative years where you’re young, innocent and kind of on a wild mystery tour are pretty impactful.”
Yes, those were special times. The “Ooh La-La” Rangers, so coined from the jingle from that Sasson ad with Maloney, Duguay, Phil Esposito and Anders Hedberg, were the toast of the town — especially after knocking off the heavily-favored rival Islanders in the 1979 Semifinals to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
Maloney was 22 and already the youngest captain in Rangers history at that point, a first-round pick (No. 14 overall) in the 1974 NHL Draft. Duguay was one-year younger, also a first-rounder (1977, No. 13 overall), playing in his second season.
Maloney was a rugged defenseman, serious and mature. Duguay was a highly skilled player who scored 27 goals that season, tallied 28 the following season and 40 in 1981-82. He was also more of a free spirit.
Duguay embraced being a star, a celebrity in New York. You’d often find him at Studio 54 in the wee hours of the morning in those days. That wasn’t Maloney’s thing. Yet, a forever bond remains.
“I used to think I never wanted to be on Page Six of the [New York] Post, and he didn’t seem to mind it, and thought that was really rather neat. But that’s just who Doog was,” Maloney recalled.
Former Rangers captain recalls Ron Duguay ‘wasn’t the kind of guy that had airs’ about his celebrity
Duguay’s celebrity and nightlife escapades didn’t seem to bother his teammates. Sure, he had the model good looks, rockstar long curly locks and was a clear fan favorite. But he played hard and largely produced, scoring at least 20 goals in four of his first six seasons with the Rangers.
“He really did not shy from the limelight,” Maloney explained. “But he wasn’t the kind of guy that had airs about the fact that he was hanging around with Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol. Doog never felt like he was better than the other guys. Not at all.”
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY SportsCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
His first Rangers coach, Fred Shero, didn’t take issue with Duguay’s lifestyle and celebrity. Not surprisingly, Herb Brooks — the brilliant and stern mastermind of the 1980 Miracle On Ice — wasn’t thrilled with Duguay, nor some of the other younger Rangers stars when he became Blueshirts coach in 1982.
“Herbie railed a bunch of us out of town. He railed me out of town (traded eventually to the Buffalo Sabres) — I was the clubhouse lawyer — and Ron’s nightlife prohibited him from being the player [Brooks] thought he was going to be,” Maloney said.
Duguay dropped from 40 goals to 19 playing for Brooks, and the Rangers traded the popular forward to the Detroit Red Wings before the 1983-84 season.
So, was Brooks correct in blaming Duguay’s off-ice endeavors for, perhaps, interfering with reaching his star potential?
“I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about that,” Maloney said. “He had a great career. Is it an easy observation to make? Yes. But at the end of the day, does it really matter? I have a different perspective now at 70 years old that I might not have had when I was younger. He was a good player, and I liked him. We traveled in different styles, but he never jammed it down anyone’s throat. I never got the impression that he thought he was any better than us. That’s just who he was. He scored 40 [goals] one year. Could he have 40 more [times]? I don’t know.”
Duguay had plenty of success with the Red Wings, a second tour with the Rangers, and also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings. He finished his career with 620 points (274 goals, 346 assists) in 864 NHL games.
Later, he worked as a Rangers analyst at MSG Networks — and was bitterly disappointed when let go less than a decade ago. But he never stopped loving the Rangers, nor their fans. Generations of Blueshirts Faithful loved him right back.
“Those were the formative years of his career, and especially spending an extended time with the team that drafted him and he established himself in the League as a New York Ranger,” Maloney explained. “The notoriety that really put him on the map as a personality here in the greatest city in the world, why wouldn’t he love [the Rangers]? That makes sense.”
The New York Rangers organization mourns the loss of Ron Duguay, one of the most popular players in franchise history. Ron’s signature skating style – with his hair flowing as he moved down the ice – captivated The Garden Faithful, and his skill, tenacity, and charisma earned him… pic.twitter.com/q1FzskSdN5
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 22, 2026
In recent years, Duguay went public with his colon cancer battle, bravely documenting his ups and downs on social media. For a person so steeped in the glamorous side of life, Duguay was willing to put that aside to share this fight publicly, and the photos and videos often were not pretty.
Yet, as Maloney told us several times, that was Doog. Wishing to live in the public eye. Right up until the end, with the sad news that he finally succumbed to cancer
“He let his story live during the trying times. … He was fighting the good fight, and his family was very important to him.
Credit: Ron Duguay X account
“Those three or four years there (in the late 70s, early 80s), there’s still a tie there, an emotional one. There is a connection. That time of our lives, we were young, it was pretty carefree. We were young, single, playing hockey in New York.
“Wow!”
Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of … More about Jim Cerny
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