Gilles Leger, who worked as a pro scout in the Rangers’ organization for 20 years, has died, the NHL announced in a statement Wednesday.
He was 83 years old.
“The hockey world mourns the passing of Gilles Leger, whose career in professional hockey spanned six decades as a coach, general manager, pro scout and other Hockey Operations positions for teams in the NHL, AHL and WHA,” the league wrote in its statement. “We send our heartfelt condolences to his family and the many friends he made in hockey across a lengthy career serving the game he loved.”
Gilles Leger worked as a scout in the Rangers organization for 20 years.
Gilles Leger stands on the bench during a World Hockey Association game.
A cause of death wasn’t revealed.
Leger worked as a scout for the Rangers from 2000-20, following a three-season stint as a scout for the Oilers organization, too.
Before that, Leger worked for the Quebec Nordiques — starting as director of player development in 1979 before shifting to assistant general manager in 1984 and serving in that role for the next 11 seasons.
“The #NYR family mourns the passing of longtime scout Gilles Léger,” the Rangers wrote in a post on X, while adding two heart emojis at the end. “Sending thoughts and condolences to the Léger family.”
Gilles Leger is pictured during his tenure with the Quebec Nordiques.
The Cornwall, Ontario native also coached St. Francis Xavier University’s hockey team — located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia — from 1967-72 and also worked with Ottawa (assistant), Toronto (assistant) and Birmingham (head coach, general manager) in the World Hockey Association.
Then, Leger made the jump to the NHL, where he remained until the end of his six-decade career.
In 2008, Leger estimated to the Hamilton Spectator that he scouted 150 games per year.
Gilles Leger’s career in hockey stretched across six decades.
“The job is basically evaluating talent,” Leger told the outlet. “I do most of it at the NHL level, although I will go in to evaluate our young players when they need me to. You send reports on all players … so if someone calls our GM for a trade, he has access to information on that player right away. Sometimes you go in and do a special breakdown on a player, to evaluate him against the player we may be trading for him.”
