Dave Maloney hired as Rangers analyst for MSG Networks

It has been an offseason of big changes in and around the Rangers, but at least in one area the change will be as seamless possible.

On Wednesday, MSG Networks announced Dave Maloney will serve as its Rangers analyst, maintaining his longtime partnership with play-by-play man Kenny Albert.

Albert and Maloney worked together on radio for 20 years, and now they will make the transition to television together.

MSG announced in April that Albert would succeed Sam Rosen, who retired after 40 years. Maloney will replace Joe Micheletti, who announced his retirement after the season.

“Sometimes the stars or the moons line up, and it just seems like time,” Maloney said on a conference call with reporters. “For me, it just seems like a great time.”

Maloney, who turns 69 later this month, was drafted by the Rangers as a 17-year-old in 1974, made his NHL debut at 18 and was named captain at 22 – still the youngest captain in franchise history.

In the first of his two seasons as captain, 1978-79, the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Final.

He appeared in 657 regular-season games as an NHL defenseman, totaling 71 goals, 246 assists and 1,154 penalty minutes.

Maloney dabbled in broadcasting as far back as 1981, when he was injured during the playoffs and was a guest analyst in the radio booth with Marv Albert and Sal Messina. He recalled Kenny as a very young statistician working with his father.

“I couldn't be more thrilled,” Maloney said. “In all honesty, if someone had presented this type of opportunity at this stage of my life and my career, I wouldn't have believed that it would have happened.”

Maloney said he was happy doing radio and did not expect the TV opening. There had been no public inkling during the season that Micheletti would join Rosen in departing.

“When it was available, I wanted to make sure my hat was in the ring,” he said. “And sure enough, here we are. It’s just something that I never thought would be probable or possible.”

Maloney acknowledged a “deep” passion for the franchise but said he has learned how to navigate that while being a professional in the booth. Most of all, he tries to remind himself how difficult the job is on the ice no matter how far removed he is from it 40 years after retiring.

“There aren’t many people that know as much about the Rangers and the game of hockey as Dave Maloney,” Andrea Greenberg, president and CEO of MSG Networks, said in a news release.

Alex Faust will succeed Albert on lead radio play-by-play. A successor to Maloney has not been announced.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.