New York Rangers

New York Rangers
2023–24 New York Rangers season
Conference	Eastern
Division	Metropolitan
Founded	1926
History	New York Rangers 1926–present
Home arena	Madison Square Garden
City	New York, New York
Team colors	Royal blue, red, white[1][2]
Media	MSG Network MSG Sportsnet ESPN (98.7 FM) ESPN Deportes (1050 AM)
Owner(s)	Madison Square Garden Sports (James Dolan, chairman)
General manager	Chris Drury
Head coach	Peter Laviolette
Captain	Jacob Trouba
Minor league affiliates	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) Bloomington Bison (ECHL)
Stanley Cups	4 (1927–28, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1993–94)
Conference championships	2 (1993–94, 2013–14)
Presidents' Trophy	4 (1991–92, 1993–94, 2014–15, 2023–24)
Division championships	8 (1926–27, 1931–32, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2023–24)
Official website	nhl.com/rangers

The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, an arena they share with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They are one of three NHL franchises located in the New York metropolitan area; the others being the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.

Founded in 1926 by Tex Rickard, the Rangers are one of the Original Six teams that competed in the NHL before its 1967 expansion, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The team attained success early on under the guidance of Lester Patrick, who coached a team containing Frank Boucher, Murray Murdoch, and Bun and Bill Cook to win the Stanley Cup in only their second season.^[3] They were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the trophy, and are still the fastest true expansion team in NHL history to do so. The team won two more Stanley Cups in 1933 and 1940.

Following this initial grace period, the franchise struggled between the 1940s and 1960s, wherein playoff appearances and successes were infrequent. The team enjoyed a mini-renaissance in the 1970s, where they made the Stanley Cup finals twice, losing to the Bruins in 1972 and the Canadiens in 1979. The Rangers subsequently embraced a rebuild for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, which eventually paid dividends in 1994, where the team, led by Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, and Mike Richter, captured their fourth Stanley Cup.

The team was unable to duplicate that success in the years that followed, and entered into another period of mediocrity. They endured a franchise-record seven-year postseason drought from 1998 to 2005 and languished for the majority of the 2000s before enjoying another period of prosperity after the 2004–05 NHL Lockout. After the arrival of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers thrived, missing the playoffs just once between 2006 and 2017. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014, falling to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.

Several former members of the Rangers have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, four of whom—Buddy O'Connor, Chuck Rayner, Andy Bathgate, and Messier—have won the Hart Memorial Trophy while playing for the team.

History[edit]

Early years (1926–1967)[edit]

George Lewis "Tex" Rickard, president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded an NHL franchise for the 1926–27 season to compete with the New York Americans, who had begun play at the Garden the previous season. The Americans' early success in their inaugural season exceeded expectations, leading Rickard to pursue a second team for the Garden despite promising the Amerks that they were going to be the only hockey team to play there.^[4] The new team was quickly nicknamed "Tex's Rangers".

Rickard's franchise began play in the 1926–27 season. The first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar "RANGERS" in diagonal.^[5] Future Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe was hired to assemble the team, however he had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-coach on the eve of the first season—he was paid a then-hefty $2,500 to leave. Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick.^[6] The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner. The Rangers won the American Division title their first year but lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs.^[7][8]

The team's early success led to players becoming minor celebrities and fixtures in New York City's Roaring Twenties nightlife. It was during this time, playing at the Garden on 49th Street, blocks away from Times Square, that the Rangers obtained their nickname "The Broadway Blueshirts". On December 13, 1929, the Rangers became the first team in the NHL to travel by plane when they hired the Curtiss-Wright Corporation to fly them to Toronto for a game against the Maple Leafs, which they lost 7–6.^[9]

In only the Rangers' second season, they won the 1928 Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Maroons three games to two.^[10] One of the most memorable stories that emerged from the finals involved Patrick playing in goal at the age of 44. At the time, teams were not required to dress a backup goaltender. When the Rangers' starting goaltender, Lorne Chabot, left a game with an eye injury, Maroons head coach Eddie Gerard vetoed Patrick's original choice for an emergency replacement, Alex Connell of the Ottawa Senators, who was in attendance. An angry Patrick lined up between the pipes for two periods in Game 2 of the finals, allowing one goal to Maroons center Nels Stewart. Frank Boucher scored the game-winning goal in overtime for New York.^[11]

After a loss to the Bruins in the 1929 Stanley Cup Finals^[3] and an early struggle in the early 1930s, the Rangers, led by brothers Bill and Bun Cook on the right and left wings, respectively, and Frank Boucher at center, defeated the Maple Leafs in the 1933 best-of-five finals three games to one to win their second Stanley Cup. The Rangers spent the rest of the 1930s playing close to 0.500 hockey until their next Cup win. Lester Patrick stepped down as head coach and was replaced by Frank Boucher.^[12]

In their 1939–40 season, the Rangers finished the regular season in second place behind Boston. The two teams then met in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins gained a two-games-to-one series lead from New York, but the Rangers recovered to win three-straight games, defeating the first-place Bruins four games to two. The Rangers' first-round victory gave them a bye until the finals. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Americans in their first-round best-of-three series two games to one, and the Toronto Maple Leafs ousted the Chicago Black Hawks two games to none. The Maple Leafs then swept Detroit a best-of-three series to advance to the finals. The 1940 Cup Finals commenced in Madison Square Garden. In Game 1, the Rangers needed overtime to gain a 1–0 series lead, but they won game two more easily with a 6–2 victory. The series then shifted to Toronto, where the Maple Leafs won the next two games, tying the series at two games apiece. In Games 5 and 6, the Rangers won in overtime, taking the series four games to two to earn their third Stanley Cup.

However, the Rangers collapsed by the mid-1940s, losing games by scores as lopsided as 15–0. In 1943–44, goaltender Ken McAuley led the league with 39 losses and 310 goals allowed in 50 games played; his 6.24 goals-against average that year remains the worst in NHL history by a goaltender playing at least 25 games in a season.^[13] They missed the playoffs for five consecutive seasons before earning the fourth and final playoff spot in 1947–48. They lost in the first round and missed the playoffs again in 1948–49. In the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers were forced to play all of their games, including "home" games, in Toronto, while the circus was held at the Garden. They lost to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime in the seventh game of the finals.

During this time, Red Wings owner James E. Norris became the largest stockholder in the Garden. However, he did not buy controlling interest in the arena, which would have violated the NHL's rule against one person owning more than one team. Nonetheless, he had enough support on the board to exercise de facto control. The Rangers remained a mark of futility in the NHL for most of the remainder of the Original Six era, missing the playoffs in 12 of the next 16 years. However, the team was rejuvenated in the late 1960s, symbolized by moving into the fourth version of Madison Square Garden in 1968. A year earlier, they made the playoffs for the first time in five years on the strength of rookie goaltender Eddie Giacomin and 37-year-old former 1950s Montreal Canadiens star right wing Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, signed out of retirement in 1966.

Post-Original Six era (1967–1993)[edit]

The Rangers made the finals twice in the 1970s, but lost both times to two '70s powerhouses; in six games to the Boston Bruins in 1972, who were led by such stars as Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Johnny Bucyk and Wayne Cashman; and in five games to the Canadiens in 1979, who had Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard.

The Rangers reached the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals despite losing high-scoring center Jean Ratelle (who had been on pace over Bruin Phil Esposito to become the first Ranger since Bryan Hextall in 1942 to lead the NHL in scoring) to injury during the stretch drive of the regular season. The strength of players such as Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert (the last three constructing the famed "GAG line", standing for "goal-a-game") carried them through the playoffs. They defeated the defending-champion Canadiens in the first round and the Chicago Black Hawks in the second, but lost to the Bruins in the finals.

In the 1972 playoffs, with Ratelle sidelined with a broken ankle and Gilbert hampered by injuries, Walt Tkaczuk played a key role as the Rangers defeated the defending champion Canadiens and the previous year's finalists, the Black Hawks, to reach the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals. While the Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins in six games, Tkaczuk earned much respect for holding the Bruins' Phil Esposito without a goal in the series.

The Rangers played a legendary conference semi-final series against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1973–74 playoffs, losing in seven games and becoming the first Original Six club to lose a playoff series to a 1967 expansion team. This series was noted for a Game 7 fight between Dale Rolfe of the Rangers and Dave Schultz of the Flyers.^[14] The Rangers' new rivals, the New York Islanders, who entered the League in 1972 after paying a hefty territorial fee – some $4 million – to the Rangers, were their first-round opponents in the 1975 playoffs. After splitting the first two games, the Islanders defeated the more-established Rangers 11 seconds into overtime of the deciding Game 3, establishing a rivalry that continued to grow for years.

In a blockbuster trade with the Boston Bruins, the Rangers acquired Esposito and Carol Vadnais from the Bruins for Park, Ratelle and Joe Zanussi in 1975, while Swedish stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson jumped to the Rangers from the League's rival, the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1978. In the 1979 NHL playoffs, New York defeated the surging Islanders in the conference semi-finals and advanced to the 1979 Cup Finals, losing to the Canadiens. In the three consecutive 1982 through 1984 playoffs, the Rangers were eliminated by the rival Islanders, who went on to win the Stanley Cup each of those years.

The Rangers stayed competitive through the 1980s and early 1990s, making the playoffs each year. In the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers, behind the play of rookie goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, upended the Patrick Division-winning Flyers in five games followed by a six-game win over the Washington Capitals in the Patrick Division finals. Montreal, however, disposed of the Rangers in the Wales Conference finals behind a rookie goaltender of their own, Patrick Roy. For the 1986–87 season, the team acquired superstar center Marcel Dionne after almost 12 years with the Los Angeles Kings.^[15] In 1988, while a Ranger, Dionne moved into third place in NHL career goals scored. Dionne spent nine games in the minors before retiring during the 1988–89 season.

Frustration was at its peak when the 1991–92 Rangers captured the Presidents' Trophy. They took a 2–1 series lead on the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins and then faltered in three-straight (some observers note a Ron Francis slapshot from outside the blue line that eluded goaltender Mike Richter as the series' turning point).^[16][17] The following year, injuries and a 1–11 regular season finish landed the Rangers at the bottom of the Patrick Division after being in a playoff position for much of the season. Head coach Roger Neilson did not finish the season.

During this period, the Rangers were owned by Gulf+Western, which was renamed to Paramount Communications in 1989, and sold to Viacom in 1994. Viacom then sold the team to ITT Corporation and Cablevision, and a couple of years later, ITT sold their ownership stake to Cablevision, who owned the team until 2010, when they spun off the MSG properties as their own company.

Ending the curse (1993–94)[edit]

The 1993–94 New York Rangers season was their most successful in 54 years, as Mike Keenan coached the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup championship, winning their fourth Cup.^[18] By the 1993–94 season, the Rangers had acquired seven players who had been part of the Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams: Oilers captain (and new Rangers captain) Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Kevin Lowe, Jeff Beukeboom, Esa Tikkanen, Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson. Graves set a team record with 52 goals, breaking the prior record of 50 held by Vic Hadfield. The Rangers clinched the Presidents' Trophy by finishing with the best record in the NHL at 52–24–8, setting a franchise record with 112 points earned.^[19]

The Rangers successfully made it past the first two rounds of the playoffs, sweeping the New York Islanders, and then defeating the Washington Capitals in five games. However, in the conference finals against the third-seeded New Jersey Devils, the Rangers lost the series opener at home in double overtime, but won the next two games before the Devils defeated them 3–1 and 4–1. The series headed back to the Meadowlands for the sixth game, in which Messier, who had guaranteed a win to the press, scored three times in the final period to lead the Rangers to a 4–2 win and set up a seventh game back at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers won Game 7, 2–1, when Stephane Matteau scored a goal in double overtime, leading the team to the finals for the first time since 1979.

Up against the Vancouver Canucks, the Rangers again lost the series opener at home in overtime. The Rangers bounced back and they won the next three games, allowing the Canucks just four goals. However, the Canucks won the next two 6–3 and 4–1 to set up a seventh game, for the second consecutive series, at home.^[20] In the seventh game, the Rangers took a 2–0 first period lead, with Messier scoring later to put the Rangers up 3–1, the eventual Cup winning goal as the home team won 3–2, becoming the first (and to this date, only) player to captain two teams to the Stanley Cup.^[21] Brian Leetch became the first American-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP,^[22] while Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov and Sergei Zubov became the first Russians to have their names engraved on the Cup.^[23]

Expensive acquisitions and postseason drought (1995–2005)[edit]

Despite having coached the Rangers to a regular season first-place finish and the Stanley Cup victory, head coach Mike Keenan left after a dispute with general manager Neil Smith. During the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, the Rangers won their first-round series with the Quebec Nordiques, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers in four games with succeeding head coach Colin Campbell. General manager Neil Smith orchestrated a deal that sent Sergei Zubov and center Petr Nedved to Pittsburgh in exchange for defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and left-winger Luc Robitaille in the summer of 1995. The 1995–96 Rangers defeated the Canadiens in six games in the playoffs, but lost their second-round series to the Penguins in five games.

The Rangers then acquired Wayne Gretzky in 1996. Gretzky's greatest accomplishment with the Rangers was leading them to the 1997 Eastern Conference finals, where they lost 4–1 to the Flyers, who were then led by Eric Lindros. Mark Messier, a former Oiler teammate of Gretzky's, left in the summer of 1997 and the team failed in a bid to replace him with Colorado Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic.^[24] The Rangers missed the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, finishing no higher than fourth in their division. Gretzky retired at the end of the 1998–99 season.

In March 2000, Smith was fired along with head coach John Muckler, and that summer, James Dolan hired Glen Sather to replace him.^[25] By the end of the 2000–01 season, the Rangers had landed a significant amount of star power. Messier had returned to New York, Theoren Fleury joined the Rangers after spending most of his career with the Calgary Flames^[26] and Eric Lindros was traded to the Rangers by the Flyers.^[27] The Rangers also acquired Pavel Bure late in 2001–02 from the Florida Panthers.^[28] It was also the rookie season of goalie Dan Blackburn, who made the NHL All-Rookie Team even as the Rangers fell back to last place in the Conference,^[29] and finished out of the playoffs. Later years saw other stars such as Alexei Kovalev, Jaromir Jagr, Martin Rucinsky and Bobby Holik added, but in 2002–03 and 2003–04, the team again missed the playoffs. Blackburn started strongly in 2002–03, but burned out after 17 games. He missed 2003–04 due to mononucleosis and a damaged nerve in his left shoulder. Blackburn could not rehabilitate the damaged nerve, and was forced to retire at the age of 22.^[30] Towards the end of the 2003–04 season, general manager Glen Sather finally gave in to a rebuilding process by trading away Brian Leetch, Alexei Kovalev, and eight others for numerous prospects and draft picks. With the retirements of Pavel Bure and Mark Messier, as well as Eric Lindros signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the post-lockout Rangers, under new head coach Tom Renney, moved away from high-priced veterans towards a group of talented young players, such as Petr Prucha, Dominic Moore and Blair Betts.

Henrik Lundqvist era (2005–2020)[edit]

Return to the playoffs (2005–2011)[edit]

The Rangers were expected to struggle during the 2005–06 season, but behind stellar performances by Swedish rookie goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers finished the season with a record of 44–26–12, their best record since 1993–94. Jagr broke the Rangers' single-season points record with a first-period assist in a 5–1 win against the New York Islanders on March 29, 2006.^{CategoriesSports}