Former Ranger Tom Laidlaw is a cast member on the 39th season of Survivor
The only law in the jungle is survival
Tom Laidlaw, who played 510 career regular season games with the New York Rangers between the 1980-81 and 1986-87 seasons, will be a cast member on the 39th season of Survivor. He is the first former NHLer to appear on the reality show.
Former NHL defensemen, Tom Laidlaw will be on the 39th season of Survivor this fall.https://t.co/Bnrz9yUISm
— CapFriendly Depth Charts (@CF_DepthCharts) September 9, 2019
Laidlaw, 60, was the Rangers’ 93rd overall pick of the 1978 NHL Draft. He scored 20 goals and notched 99 assists from the blue line during his tenure with the Rangers before he and Bobby Carpenter were dealt to the Los Angeles Kings on Mar. 10, 1987 in exchange for Marcel Dionne, Jeff Grossman, and a third round pick in the 1989 Draft (later traded).
Laidlaw, who wore #2 before Brian Leetch’s tenure with the Rangers, scored six goals and earned 23 assists in his rookie season. He scored 14 points in 48 career playoff games with the Blueshirts. Laidlaw was honored as the 87th greatest Ranger in the book 100 Ranger Greats and became an agent after his playing career. He also has his own podcast, “True Grit Life”, and does public speaking engagements.
The Canadian defenseman will likely demonstrate the trademark toughness of hockey players on the iconic reality show, but its hard to say just how well those on-ice skills will translate to the wild. If things get hairy, Laidlaw can always fashion a stick out of some driftwood and take matters into his own hands during a challenge. After all, he earned at least 100 penalty minutes in three of the 10 seasons he played in the NHL.
“I know how to build an alliance and win challenges and then do whatever it takes to win.”
The 39th season of Survivor premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 25 on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.