Birth of the Rangers
It might seem hard to believe, but the New York Rangers were once an NHL expansion team.
The year was 1926, and hockey was already a popular sport at Madison Square Garden – only the team of choice was not yet the Blueshirts. Back then, another NHL squad, the old New York Americans, were drawing big crowds in their first season at The Garden.
The Americans, who wore stars-and-stripes jerseys patterned after the American flag, proved that MSG was a perfect venue for hockey. Garden President George Lewis “Tex” Rickard came to realize that the time was ripe for a second New York hockey team – one owned and operated by The Garden itself. Working with the league, Rickard managed to secure a team for the 1926-27 season.
Rickard knew he had to put a strong team on the ice to compete with the Americans and win over the loyalty of New Yorkers just discovering hockey. To assemble this team, he convinced one of the brightest minds in hockey, Conn Smythe, to leave his post at the University of Toronto. Rickard encouraged Smythe to travel throughout North America in search of the most talented “undiscovered” players he could find.
Smythe ended up laying the groundwork for a team that was instantly a Stanley Cup contender. In the course of one summer, he found future Hall of Fame forwards Frank Boucher, Bill Cook, and Bun Cook, Hall of Fame defenseman Ivan ‘Ching’ Johnson, and winger Murray Murdoch, who would become hockey’s first ‘Iron Man’ by playing 508 consecutive games.
As Smythe was out signing players, sportswriters back in New York began referring to the team as ‘Tex’s Rangers’. The name stuck, and Rickard formally adopted it – stripping the word “Rangers” diagonally across the front of a blue jersey to make his team stand out from the Americans, whose name was displayed horizontally on the players’ jerseys.
Before the start of the 1926-27 season, Smythe left the team he had built as a result of disagreements with Garden management. Rickard looked west to British Columbia, where he found one of hockey’s great pioneers in Lester Patrick. Although Smythe had put the majority of the roster together, it was Patrick who would mold it into a championship team.
Patrick, who would become nicknamed “The Silver Fox”, was the face of the Rangers for the franchise’s first two decades of existence. Serving as the team’s Head Coach and General Manager (as well as a player during the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals), Patrick not only guided the Rangers to an extended period of success, he introduced the game of ice hockey to New Yorkers. Through his relationship with prominent sportswriters, Patrick’s chats and lessons on the game helped readers become accustomed to the new game, and the Rangers would soon be the favorite hockey team among New Yorkers.
With Patrick leading a group of future Hall of Fame players, the Rangers immediately established themselves as a formidable hockey team in New York, and as a result, they quickly surpassed the Americans in both the NHL standings and popularity. They finished their first season with the best record in the American Division, and team captain Bill Cook led the league with 33 goals and 37 points.
The following year, they won the first of the franchise’s four Stanley Cup championships, defeating the Montreal Maroons, three-games-to-two. The series’ defining moment came in Game 2. After the Rangers lost Game 1, goaltender Lorne Chabot suffered an injury that forced him to leave the contest. When the Maroons refused to let Patrick use their emergency goaltender to finish the game, the 44-year-old Head Coach put on the goalie gear and inserted himself into the net. Patrick only allowed one goal for the rest of the game, helping the Rangers win the game in overtime and eventually the Stanley Cup.
Since the Rangers pulled off their remarkable feat in 1928, no other NHL team has ever won the Cup in its first two years of existence.
The Rangers earned the adoration of New Yorkers with a reputation for hard, clean play. Combined with Patrick’s innovative tactics, the Rangers became known as ‘the classiest team in hockey,’ advancing to the Finals four times in their first seven years and winning two Stanley Cups.
The core of these early Rangers teams was the team’s top offensive trio, center Frank Boucher, right wing Bill Cook, and left wing Fred “Bun” Cook. The three players were nicknamed the “A Line” for the subway line that ran underneath Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue. Each player was an innovator in his own way and made his own mark on franchise history.
Boucher epitomized the club’s style and grace, winning the Lady Byng Trophy so frequently (seven times in an eight-year span) that the league allowed him to keep the original silverware and struck a new award. Brothers Bill and Bun flanked Boucher and provided the bulk of the scoring for over a decade. Bill Cook, who was the Rangers captain for his entire 11-year career with the Blueshirts, still holds the franchise’s all-time record for hat tricks with nine, and he led the NHL in goals in three different seasons. Bun Cook was a perfect complement to his brother and Boucher. Bun, who, received his nickname for his penchant of hopping like a bunny while skating, is credited with being the first player in hockey to use a slap shot, a maneuver that is still used regularly in the NHL.
After advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1931-32, the Rangers returned the following season. Bill Cook led the NHL with 28 goals and 50 points in 1932-33, and scored the Cup-clinching goal in overtime in Game 4 of the 1933 Stanley Cup Finals to give the Rangers their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.
“The Best Team I’d Ever Seen”
By the late 1930s, as the Cook brothers and Boucher ended their playing careers, New York had a new group of stars. The team acquired goalie Davey Kerr from the Montreal Maroons in 1934 and defenseman Art Coulter from Chicago in 1936, and the duo formed the backbone of the next great Rangers team. Coulter succeeded Bill Cook as Rangers captain in 1937-38, and during that same year, Kerr became the first hockey player to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, adding to the Rangers’ growing popularity.
Prior to the 1939-40 season, Boucher succeeded Patrick as Head Coach, with Patrick remaining as the team’s General Manager. Boucher needed almost no time at all to bring the Cup back to New York. Led by Hall of Famers Neil Colville and Bryan Hextall, the Rangers won their third Stanley Cup title in 1940. The 1939-40 squad established franchise records with a 10-game winning streak and a 19-game unbeaten streak, and Boucher referred to them as the best team he’d ever seen.
Two years later in 1941-42, the Rangers were Regular Season Champions, thanks largely to the “Powerhouse Line”, the trio of Hextall, Lynn Patrick (Lester’s son), and Phil Watson, who finished first, second, and fourth, respectively, in league scoring.
Over their first 16 seasons, the Rangers missed the playoffs only once, and only twice did they fall lower than third place. By the early 1940s, the Blueshirts’ popularity contributed to the decline of the Americans, who eventually folded in 1942. During the 16-year span in which they were one of two New York hockey teams, the Rangers won one regular season championship, two American Division championships, and finished second in the league three times. In the process, Rangers games at The Garden became popular, attracting a ‘dinnerjacket’ crowd that often included sports figures, Broadway entertainers, New York’s society elite, and City Hall politicians.
The Original Six Era
In 1942, the Rangers became the only hockey team in the New York metropolitan area – a distinction they would hold for the next 30 years. The folding of the Americans had left just six NHL teams to compete for the Stanley Cup from the 1942-43 season all the way through the 1966-67 season – the final year before the modern NHL expansion began. The six teams that played during these golden years would forever be known as the Original Six, even though several of them, including the Rangers, were not part of the NHL when the league began operating in 1917.
Unfortunately, the Original Six Era wasn’t good to New York. The club struggled throughout the 1940s, as several members of the Rangers’ all-star lineup served in their country’s armed forces during World War II. Between 1943 and 1955, the Rangers made the playoffs only twice, although the second trip in 1950 took the Blueshirts all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. New York pushed Detroit to the second overtime of Game 7 despite having to play home games in Toronto because the circus was at MSG. The 1950 Rangers’ team was the ultimate Cinderella squad; they finished with a losing record in the regular season, yet stunned Montreal in the opening round before giving the regular-season champion Red Wings a major scare by taking a three-games-to-two lead after five games
While the 1940s and most of the 1950s were lean years for the organization, each Rangers team featured outstanding individual talents: Buddy O’Connor became the first Ranger to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1947-48, and goaltender Chuck Rayner won it again in 1949-50 en route to his dramatic effort in the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals. Rayner, a Hall of Fame goaltender who played eight seasons with the Blueshirts, was so impressive in goal that the Rangers were sometimes dubbed the “Rayngers” due to his importance to the team’s success.
A fertile farm system and deft trades would eventually improve the team’s fortunes. Hall of Famers Andy Bathgate, Dean Prentice, Harry Howell, Bill Gadsby, and Gump Worsley boosted the team into the playoffs for three consecutive years from 1955-56 to 1957-58. Bathgate became the club’s captain and all-time leading scorer, and he won the Hart Trophy in 1958-59. Howell was a steady presence on the blue line and became recognized as one of the best defensemen in the NHL, receiving the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top blueliner in 1966-67. Worsley was the team’s backbone, as he led the NHL in saves three times in a four-year span.
“We Did it All Except Win it All”
A Rangers Renaissance took hold in the 1960s under the leadership of Head Coach and General Manager Emile Francis. Beginning in the last season of the Original Six Era of 1966-67, the team made the playoffs nine consecutive seasons and was the only NHL team of the period to do so. Led by Rod Gilbert, who eclipsed Bathgate’s all-time franchise records for goals and points, and linemates Jean Ratelle and Vic Hadfield, the Rangers became a perennial NHL powerhouse for the first time since World War II. In addition to their offensive firepower, the Rangers were boosted by a pair of future Hall of Famers who became the backbone of the defense: goaltender Ed Giacomin and defenseman Brad Park.
The apex of that dominating stretch came in 1971-72. The Rangers finished the season with a 48-17-13 record, good enough for the second-best record in the NHL. Hadfield, Ratelle, and Gilbert, nicknamed the “G-A-G Line” (or Goal-A-Game Line), became the first linemates in NHL history to all score at least 40 goals in the same season. Hadfield became the first Rangers player to record 50 goals in a season and Ratelle established a franchise record by tallying 109 points in just 63 games. The Blueshirts defeated Montreal and Chicago to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they ultimately lost to Boston in six games.
At the end of the season, the Rangers learned they would not be New York’s only hockey team any longer, as the NHL announced the formation of the New York Islanders, who would quickly emerge as the Blueshirts’ most bitter local rival.
The Francis Era yielded four consecutive trips to the Semifinals from 1970-71 to 1973-74, which included the team’s appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1971-72. For all of the team’s accomplishments during this stretch, bringing the Cup back to The Garden eluded their grasp. After losing the Islanders in the 1975 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Giacomin, Ratelle, and Park exited the organization early in the 1975-76 season, and Francis’ departure soon followed. In looking back on his time with the Rangers, Francis said, “We did it all except win it all.”
Return to the Finals
Following a two-year absence from post-season play in the mid-1970s, a new core of Rangers led the team to another Stanley Cup Finals run. After hiring Fred Shero as Head Coach and General Manager in 1978, the Rangers quickly signed Swedish superstars Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg, who had dominated the World Hockey Association. Hedberg and Nilsson were joined by future Hall of Famer Phil Esposito and a cast of young, homegrown talent that included Ron Greschner, Steve Vickers, brothers Dave and Don Maloney, Don Murdoch, and Ron Duguay. Esposito, who was acquired from the Boston Bruins in the trade that sent Ratelle and Park to Boston in 1975, was named captain after he arrived in New York and became the team’s inspirational leader following Gilbert’s retirement during the 1977-78 season.
This group of Rangers, anchored by goaltender John Davidson, led the team to series victories over Los Angeles and Philadelphia in the first two rounds of the 1979 Playoffs. In the Semifinals, the Blueshirts upset the top-seeded Islanders in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, thanks in large part to the goaltending of “JD”. The Rangers’ remarkable run ended in the Finals, however, as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Blueshirts in five games.
The trip to the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals was the second of 10 straight playoff appearances for the Rangers, stretching from 1977-78 to 1986- 87. During this time, the team added many colorful characters and fan favorites, including defensemen Barry Beck and Reijo Ruotsalainen, forwards Mike Rogers, Mark Pavelich, Pierre Larouche and Jan Erixon, and goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck.
The Waiting is Over
In the mid-1980s, the Rangers drafted two players who would be instrumental in the team’s success for the next two decades. First, the Rangers selected goaltender Mike Richter in the second round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. Then, in 1986, the Rangers used the ninth overall selection to draft a defenseman from Connecticut named Brian Leetch.
It was not, however, until 1991 that the Rangers truly took their first step down the road to a long-awaited Stanley Cup Championship. In September of that year, the team signed free agent forward Adam Graves, and one month later, acquired future Hall of Famer Mark Messier from the Edmonton Oilers. Messier, who was named captain prior to his first home game as a Ranger at MSG, led the Blueshirts to the Presidents’ Trophy and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1991-92. Despite the team’s success during the regular season, the Rangers were eliminated by Pittsburgh in six games in the Patrick Division Finals.
In 1993-94, the Rangers once again finished with the NHL’s top record and posted their best regular season record at the time with 52 wins and 112 points. After defeating the Islanders and Capitals in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Blueshirts fell behind three-games-to-two to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals. Facing elimination on the road in Game 6, Messier guaranteed that the Rangers would win the game, and then tallied a natural hat trick in the third period to lead the Rangers to a 4-2 victory. Two nights later, the Rangers advanced to the Finals with a 2-1 win in Game 7, as Stephane Matteau scored the game-winning goal in double-overtime.
After ousting New Jersey, the Rangers faced the Vancouver Canucks in the Finals. The series turned into another seven-game thriller for the Blueshirts, which ended with a 3-2 victory in Game 7 at MSG. The Rangers’ fourth Cup and the numerous franchise records set that season continued a long, distinguished history marked by outstanding team and individual performances. The emergence of superstars Leetch, Richter, and Graves, who broke Hadfield’s team record with 52 goals in 1993-94, provided the organization with the on-ice skill and off-ice leadership in order to consistently have a Stanley Cup-caliber roster.
Legendary Blueshirts
Just two years after winning the Cup, the Rangers made headlines again in 1996 by signing the greatest player in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky would play a big part in the team’s run to the 1997 Conference Finals during the first of his three seasons with the Blueshirts. “The Great One” played the final game of his NHL career with the Rangers on April 18, 1999. During the pre-game ceremony, the NHL announced that Gretzky’s No. 99 would never be worn by another player.
In the years that followed, the Rangers would also say goodbye to the legends that graced The Garden ice in the 1990s. The first departure was the premature retirement of Richter, who was forced to hang up his skates due to injuries. For 14 seasons, he had provided Rangers fans with some of the team’s most historic moments, including his performance in the 1994 Stanley Cup run. Richter’s accomplishments were celebrated by the team when his No. 35 was raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden on February 4, 2004, becoming just the third player after Gilbert and Giacomin to have such an honor bestowed on him.
The 2003-04 season featured another great moment as Messier passed Gordie Howe for second on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, trailing only his friend and former teammate Gretzky. It was one of the final great accomplishments of Messier’s career, because following the lockout season of 2004-05, the man known as “The Captain” announced his retirement. Messier had played 10 of his 25 NHL seasons in New York, and was recognized as the difference-maker on the 1994 Cup team. On January 12, 2006, the Rangers honored Messier’s legacy by retiring his No. 11 in a special on-ice ceremony prior to the Rangers – Edmonton Oilers game.
Two years after Messier’s number went to the MSG rafters, the Rangers retired Leetch’s No. 2. Perhaps the greatest defenseman in Rangers history, Leetch rewrote every scoring record by a blueliner in his sparkling 17-year career in New York, netting 240 goals, 741 assists and 981 points. During his Rangers tenure, Leetch became the only NHL player other than Bobby Orr to win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, and the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman, which he did twice in his career.
In 2008-09, Graves was the fourth and final member of the 1994 Championship team to have his number raised to The Garden rafters. Graves spent 10 years with the Rangers, and finished his career third on the Blueshirts’ all-time goals list (280). The two-time Rangers’ MVP (1992-93, 1993-94) will always be best known for his achievements and contributions to the Rangers magical 1994 Stanley Cup team, helping break a 54-year old championship drought.
That same year, the organization retired Howell’s No. 3, and Bathgate’s No. 9. Two of the classiest men to play for the Rangers, Howell and Bathgate were the premier Blueshirts during the 1950s and 1960s. Howell holds the team record for career games played (1,160), while Bathgate ranks fourth in team history in goals (272), assists (457), and points (729).
A decade later, the Rangers bestowed the highest honor a player can receive to two-thirds of the G-A-G Line. First Ratelle’s No. 19 jersey was raised to The Garden rafters during the 2017-18 season. One of the best centers of his generation, Ratelle ranks second in franchise history in goals (336) and third on the Rangers’ all-time list in assists (481) and points (817). Hadfield became the 10th player to have his jersey retired by the organization, as his No. 11 was immortalized in 2018-19.
Return to Excellence
Following the lockout that cancelled the 2004-05 season, the Rangers built a team around a combination of young, homegrown players and skilled veterans. The mix produced instant results, as the 2005-06 Blueshirts won 44 games and posted the sixth 100-point campaign in team history to return to the playoffs.
The Rangers were led by two players who represented the blend of experience and youth on the roster. Jaromir Jagr, who was acquired in the middle of the 2003-04 season, established Rangers single-season records with 54 goals and 123 points and won the Lester B. Pearson Award for the NHL’s Most Outstanding Player as chosen by fellow players. While Jagr led the team offensively, the Blueshirts were anchored in goal by a 24-year-old from Sweden named Henrik Lundqvist, who established a Rangers rookie record with 30 wins and was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.
The 2005-06 season was the start of a magical, 15-year run for Lundqvist with the Rangers. He captivated the hearts and minds of Rangers fans with his tremendous skill and unparalleled intensity on the ice. During his tenure in New York, he rewrote the Rangers’ record book and established numerous franchise records, including career appearances, wins, and shutouts by a goaltender. During this stretch, he was named Team MVP in seven consecutive seasons (2006-07 – 2012-13), setting franchise records for most consecutive Team MVPs and most overall Team MVPs. Not only did Lundqvist set franchise records, he became the only goaltender in NHL history who earned at least 30 wins in 11 of his first 12 seasons in the league.
Lundqvist’s arrival in New York also marked the start of an extended period of success for the Rangers. Beginning in 2005-06, the Rangers made the playoffs 11 different times over a 12-season span. While the Rangers were one of four teams that made the playoffs in 11 different seasons over that time period, they were the only NHL team that was not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in any game during the stretch.
This consistent run of success, which was highlighted by seven consecutive playoff appearances from 2010-11 - 2016-17 and three trips to the Eastern Conference Final in a four-year span, provided memorable experiences for Rangers fans and added to the franchise’s storied history. Led by Lundqvist, who won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Top Goaltender, the blue-collar Blueshirts posted a 51-24-7 record during the 2011-12 season to finish in first place in both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference for the first time since 1993-94.
That season featured several memorable games, including a come-from-behind, 3-2 win in the 2012 Winter Classic against the Flyers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 1997.
The next chapter of the Rangers’ successful run took place in 2013-14. After defeating Philadelphia in a seven-game series in the First Round of the playoffs, the Rangers rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Second Round to win the series in seven games. The Rangers followed up their come-from-behind series win by securing their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 20 years, defeating the Montreal Canadiens in six games in the Eastern Conference Final. The Rangers clinched the Eastern Conference Championship with a 1-0 win in Game 6 of the series at MSG. The Blueshirts’ inspiring run was derailed in the Final, where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.
The Rangers were the class of the NHL during the 2014-15 season. Following their appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 2013-14, the Blueshirts established single-season franchise records with 53 wins and 113 points and won the Presidents’ Trophy for having the top record in the NHL. Once again, the Rangers faced a three-games-to-one deficit in the Second Round of the playoffs, but the Blueshirts were able to rally against the Washington Capitals. Trailing by a goal with less than two minutes remaining in Game 5, the Rangers tied the contest and extended the series by winning the game in overtime. Following a win in Game 6 in Washington, the Rangers returned to New York and won a memorable Game 7 in overtime. This run, however, ended in another Game 7, as the Rangers were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Next Generation
Lundqvist’s tenure with the Rangers ended following the 2019-20 season, but as a new decade began, a new generation of stars began to emerge for the Blueshirts. Artemi Panarin was named a Hart Trophy finalist in his first season with the Rangers in 2019-20, Adam Fox won the Norris Trophy in 2020-21, becoming just the second defenseman in NHL history to accomplish the feat in one of his first two seasons in the league, and Igor Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy in his second full season in the league in 2021-22.
During the 2021-22 season, the stars aligned for a memorable season in New York. Boosted by Shesterkin’s goaltending and a 52-goal season from Chris Kreider, the “No Quit in New York” Rangers earned 52 wins during the regular season, including a single-season franchise record 27 comeback wins. The “No Quit in New York” mantra carried over into the playoffs, as the Rangers rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit in the First Round to defeat the Penguins in seven games, and then rallied from a three-games-to-two deficit in the Second Round against the Carolina Hurricanes to win the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
From one generation to the next, the Rangers continue to build on their storied legacy.
