After the Biltmores won the Memorial Cup in 1952, Andy joined the New York Rangers and was called up and played 18 games where he managed only one assist. In the 1953-54 season he returned for another 20 games where he managed 2 goals and 2 assists. By the 1954-55 Andy was brought up for good and never looked back. In his first full year with the Rangers he tallied 20 goals and 20 assists in 70 games. For the next 8 seasons Andy led the Rangers in points.

Andy's game continued to improve and by the 1955-56 season he was fifth in scoring, fourth the following year and by the 1957-58 season he was third in the scoring race and earned a spot on the NHL Second All Star Team. The following season he earned a career high 88 points on 40 goals, and added the Hart Trophy to his collection.

Although it wasn't a career high, in the 1961-62 season he led the league with 84 points on 28 goals. Bobby Hull had the same number of points on 54 goals, and so Hull was awarded the Art Ross Trophy.

Andy was traded to Toronto on February 22, 1964. That same year he had 43 assists with the Rangers and 15 with the Maple Leafs to give a league leading 58 assists. Toronto also won the Stanley Cup that year giving Bathgate his only Stanley Cup ring. Andy spent the next season with the Leafs before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings. After spending 2 seasons with the Red Wings Andy was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1967 expansion draft.

Despite a 59 point season, Bathgate was loaned to the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL for two seasons where he won the MVP for the 1969-70 season with 108 points on 40 goals. Bathgate returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 1970-71 season. That was the last season for Bathgate in the NHL. He spent the following 3 seasons in Switzerland as a player coach for the Ambri-Piotta. He retuned to the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA for the 1974-75 season. In 1978 Andy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.