You may have noticed that neither Mark Messier nor Brad Park wore a Rangers jersey when introduced as members of the NHL’s Greatest 100 before last Sunday’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles.

Instead, Messier wore the Oilers’ blue-and-orange while Park was bedecked in the black-and-gold of the Bruins. What was up with that?

Messier told Slap Shots via a series of text messages that he recused himself from the decision, leaving it up to the league, as apparently did several of the 100 who might have been identified with more than one franchise.

“It killed me not to wear the Rangers uniform, but it would have been tough not to wear the Oilers jersey,” said No. 11, who did win five of his six Stanley Cups in Edmonton. “It was a tough spot, really a tough spot. I knew it was an issue so I [recused] myself.

“I didn’t have to make a choice for the Hall of Fame, so why would I for this? There wasn’t much I could do. So I allowed the league to make the call.”

Wayne Gretzky wore a Kings uniform (repeat: the game was in L.A.), so the NHL decision-makers presumably felt that at least one of the Oilers’ legends belonged in the Edmonton uniform. Players inducted into the HHOF are not pictured in uniform on their plaques as baseball players are depicted wearing a team hat in Cooperstown.

Park, however … well, he did decide to wear the B’s uniform last Sunday. Does the Nov. 7, 1975, day the music died for a certain generation of Rangers fans ring a bell?

“It was a very difficult choice and I even asked if they could split it half-and-half, but when all was said and done, the Bruins never traded me,” No. 2 (not 22) told Slap Shots, alluding of course to the deal in which he and Jean Ratelle (and Joe Zanussi) were sent to Boston in exchange for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. “All these years later, it still hurts that I got traded. Yeah, it does.

“It’s something I cried over.”

Park played 465 games as Ranger and 501 as a Bruin. He went to the Stanley Cup final once as a Ranger and twice as a Bruin. He recorded 378 points (95-283) wearing the Blueshirt and 417 points (100-317) wearing the spoked B. He was a first-team All-Star three times and a second-team All-Star twice in New York and a first-team All-Star twice in Boston. He was Norris runner-up four times as a Ranger to Bobby Orr and twice as a Bruin to Denis Potvin.

“I stayed in New England after my career was over, played in charity games with the Bruins’ alumni team and was involved with a lot of other events with them,” Park said. “I certainly didn’t mean any disrespect to the Rangers or Ranger fans.

“I loved my time in New York; the people and playing at Madison Square Garden. From Day 1 when I got there, every time I walked into the building, I’d say, ‘We’re going to have a hootenanny tonight.’ ”

While Park wore Boston colors, Ratelle slipped into his Blueshirt No. 19. It was a sight for sore eyes. And a decision endorsed by his teammate both here and there.

“When I saw him with it on, Jean said, ‘I spent 14 years there. It’s the right thing to do,’ ” Park said of the center, who made his Rangers debut at the age of 20. “And he’s right. It was. It was great to see him, I don’t get to spend time with him all that often, he’s a very private person who stays out of the limelight. We’ve all gone in different directions.

“But I did go to a Rangers reunion in June at Walter Tkaczuk’s place. Teddy Irvine, Dale Rolfe, Rod Seiling, Bob Nevin and Billy Fairbairn came in and we had a lot laughs. It was a good time.

“And I was at the Garden last week for the game against Columbus and went up to the suite and visited with Rod [Gilbert],” he said. “You know, if I’d stayed a Ranger my whole career, I’d be running around New York like he does.”

The NHL apparently anticipates the cap to remain flat next season, with little if any increase projected over this year’s $73 million ceiling. That would mean an increase of a paltry 3.998 percent of the players’ pot since 2012-13, the year before the 50/50 formula went into effect.

So the major-market franchises that drive NHL revenue and successful clubs that habitually are cap teams get hammered again in attempting to maintain — or improve — their personnel while the small market clubs go along for the ride.

Best Non-Dynasty players in Islanders history: 1. Pat LaFontaine; 2. John Tavares; 3. Pierre Turgeon.

But if Turgeon hadn’t been taken out from behind by Dale Hunter in 1993 after scoring the series-clinching Round 1 goal against the Capitals in as cowardly and dastardly an act as ever has been perpetrated in the playoffs, No. 77 might be on top of that list, so dominant was he in his short time on the Island … and his team might well have won the Cup.

We report: Tony Esposito, 886 games, 418-302-147, 2.93 goals-against-average, 2.57 adjusted GAA (thanks Hockey-Reference.com), 74 shutouts; no Stanley Cup after having allowed perhaps the worst goal in NHL playoff history, the Game 7 90-footer to Jacques Lemaire that tilted the 1971 final on its head; Ed Belfour, 963 games, 484-320-125, 2.50 GAA, 2.60 adjusted GAA, one Cup.

You decide: Whether Tony O, rather than Belfour should have been a Greatest 100.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.