New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are a professional hockey team playing in the National Hockey League's (NHL's) Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. Based in Manhattan, New York, the team was founded by Tex Rickard in 1926 and has played out of the historic Madison Square Gardens since its founding. The team has won the Stanley Cup four times (1928, 1933, 1940, and 1994) and is one of the franchises included in the NHL's "Original Six."

Born George Lewis Rickard, "Tex" Rickard moved to New York City in the 1920s where he eventually founded the Madison Square Garden Corporation and purchased a barn block between 49th and 50th Streets on Eight Avenue, where he built the third incarnated Madison Square Garden that would officially open on November 28, 1925. The first hockey team to play out of the rink were the New York Americans, but heading into the 1926 season, Tex Rickard received permission from the NHL to found a franchise. During the recruiting of the nascent team, New York media began calling the team "Tex's Rangers" as a play on the infamous Texas Rangers. The team would take the name Rangers.

Program featuring an early, light blue, iteration of the Rangers jersey.

The Rangers team played their first season wearing a crest of a horse sketched in blue that carried a cowboy with a hockey stick. It would later be changed to the familiar diagonal RANGERS print, with the diagonal line chosen to differentiate the team from the New York Americans, which had a horizontal word crest. The team went through several jersey designs throughout history, beginning with a light blue jersey before choosing the "Broadway Blue" that the jersey has remained for most of the team's history. Starting with the 1929–1930 season, the team wore red pants, which they have worn since.

New York Rangers iconic jersey with dropshadow on names and numbers.

Other small changes to the jersey have included minor changes to the striping, changes to the dropshadow, the logo, numbers, and, eventually, name bars. The Rangers would become one of the first teams to voluntarily put player names on the back of jerseys. From 1976 to 1978, the New York Rangers general manager John Ferguson changed the jersey design, moving away from the normal striping and wordmark, in favor of a crest and shield. In 1978, the team returned to their traditional jersey design. From that time until 1987, the wordmark on the road jerseys read "NEW YORK" instead of "RANGERS" but was eventually returned to the RANGERS wordmark on both jerseys.

The popular "Lady Liberty" alternate jersey.

The New York Rangers, similar to other Original Six teams, did not change jerseys often or have many "third" or "alternate" jerseys. However, one of those alternates, known as the Lady Liberty jersey, included a likeness of the Statue of Liberty with NYR underneath it. This was a well-received jersey after its 1996-97 debut that would be used variously through different seasons and be returned to twice in the "Reverse Retro" program by the NHL and jersey partner Adidas in 2021 and 2022–2023.

New York Rangers of the 1926-27 season.

Tex Rickard debuted his team, known as the New York Rangers, in the 1926–1927 season. The players had been assembled by Conn Smythe, who traveled to find the best players not already playing in a professional league. Before the season started, Conn Smythe left due to a disagreement, and Lester Patrick, cofounder of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, took Smythe's place as the team's coach and manager. The young team was filled with future stars, including Frank Boucher, Murray Murdoch, and the Cook Brothers (Bun and Bill), and the team found early success.

1928 Stanley Cup-winning Rangers team.

The next season, 1927–1928, the New York Rangers finished first in their division and went on to play in their first Stanley Cup championship against the Montreal Maroons. During Game 2, the Rangers' goaltender Lorne Chabot suffered an injury to his eye. Coach Lester Patrick suggested Alex Connell of the Ottawa Senators play in Chabot's place, as he was in attendance watching the game, but the Maroons coach Eddie Regard vetoed the idea. Instead, Patrick suited up as a goaltender himself. The Rangers won Game 2 and went on to win the series and the club's first Stanley Cup. The win established a record with the Rangers being the first and only NHL team to win the Stanley Cup in their first two years of existence.

New York Rangers forward Frank Boucher.

The New York Rangers, led by the play of Frank Boucher, would win the city over with their reputation for hard and clean play and became known as "the classiest team in hockey," for a while. Boucher epitomized the club's play, winning the Lady Byng Trophy—awarded for gentlemanly play in the league—so often the league allowed Boucher to keep the original trophy and made a new trophy.

Bill Cook generated a bulk of the Rangers' offense. He still holds the Rangers' career record of eleven hat tricks and went on to win his second scoring title in 1932–1933. That same season, the Rangers returned to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the franchise's second Stanley Cup.

Through the remainder of the 1930s, the Rangers were successful in that they would not end up as Stanley Cup champions; however, they only failed to reach the playoffs once. During the period, the team made several trades, such as one to acquire Davey Kerr from the Montreal Canadiens and defenseman Art Coulter from Chicago. By 1939, Frank Boucher succeeded Patrick as coach.

New York Rangers with their third Stanley Cup win.

With Frank Boucher behind the bench, the Rangers promptly returned to the post-season and won their third Stanley Cup in 1940. Two years later, they were the top team in the regular season, thanks to players such as Phil Watson and Lynn Patrick, who dominated league scoring. The team showed promise, which was dashed with the American involvement in World War II that saw the team break up.

Through the period, the team saw an increase in popularity in the city, which eventually contributed to the decline of the New York Americans, who left for Brooklyn, before folding in 1942. The Rangers' nights at The Garden became a popular attraction, which brought in a "dinner jacket" crowd, which included various sports figures, Broadway entertainers, New York's society elite, and politicians from City Hall. The folding of the New York Americans in 1942, along with other NHL franchises, led to the beginning of the Original Six era.

Unlike many of their Original Six peers, clubs that would win several Stanley Cups during the twenty-five years of only six NHL clubs, New York Rangers were unable to take advantage and win any further cups. The era was not kind to the New York Rangers, and the club struggled for much of it. From 1943 to 1955, the Rangers made the playoffs twice. However, the second trip, in 1950, saw the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup finals, where they went to seven games with the Detroit Red Wings. That 1950 team had to play their home games in Toronto because The Gardens was hosting the circus. The Detroit Red Wings won the series and the Stanley Cup Championship.

New York Rangers forward Bobby O'Connor with his trophies for personal achievements.

Despite these lean years, the Rangers teams continued to have outstanding individual talents, such as Bobby O'Connor, who became the first New York Ranger player to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP in the 1947–1948 season. And goalie Chuck Rayner won the trophy again in 1949–1950 for his efforts to get New York to the Cup finals. By 1956, the team was boosted from their farm team with future Hall of Famers Andy Bathgate, Dean Prentice, Harry Howell, Bill Gadsby, and Gump Worsley. The talent drove them into the playoffs in 1956, and Bathgate became a franchise leader in scoring, winning the Hart Trophy in 1958–1959, while Howell won the Norris Trophy in recognition of his defensive talent in 1966–1967.

The farm system that had brought stars through the late 1950s and 1960s continued to deliver, and a Rangers Renaissance would occur during the 1960s. Beginning in the last Original Six era season of 1966–1967, the Rangers made nine consecutive playoffs, one of the best records of the period. The teams during this period were led by Rod Gilbert, who eclipsed the scoring records set by Andy Bathgate, and linemates Jean Ratelle and Vic Hadfield, who became known as the GAG (goal-a-game) line. The Rangers became a perennial powerhouse team.

The New York Rangers GAG line.

The apex of this dominating stretch came in the 1971–1972 season when the Rangers finished with a record of 48 wins, 17 losses, and 13 ties. Vic Hadfield became the first Rangers player during the season to reach 50 goals. The team pushed their way to the Stanley Cup finals, where they met Bobby Orr and his Boston Bruins, who defeated the Rangers in six games. This would also be the last season of the Rangers' being the only New York team, as the NHL announced the formation of the New York Islanders.

Phil Esposito playing for the New York Rangers.

By 1978, the Rangers hired Fred Shero as head coach and general manager, who went on to sign Swedish superstars Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. These two were joined by future Hall of Famer Phil Esposito along with young players Ron Greschner, Dave and Don Maloney, Don Murdoch, Ron Duguay, and Mike McEwan. The group rode the goaltending performance of John Davidson to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979, where they defeated heavily-favored inter-state rival New York Islanders only to fall to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals.

A play during the 1978-79 season.

The 1979 season would be the second in a nine-season run, lasting until 1987, in which the Rangers made consecutive playoff appearances along with a cast of popular players, including Barry Beck, Reijo Ruostalainen, Mike Rogers, Mark Pavelich, Pierre Larouche, and Jan Erixon. But the team remained unable to win another Stanley Cup. They changed that during this period, drafting defenseman Brian Leetch in 1986 before signing free agents Adam Graves and future Hall of Famer Mark Messier. Messier almost immediately sent the Rangers to the top of the league and won a Hart Trophy in 1991–1992 for his efforts. But again, their playoff aspirations would be cut short.

Mark Messier lifting the Rangers' fourth Stanley Cup.

Two years later, powered by Mark Messier and Brian Leetch, the Rangers finished at the top of the NHL during the 1993—1994 regular season and reached the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the Vancouver Canucks. The series went to seven games, and the Rangers proved victorious, winning the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in franchise history. In 1996, the Rangers tried to replicate what they had done with signing Mark Messier by signing Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky would be a big part of the team's run to the 1997 Conference Finals, before Gretzky eventually retired in April 1999.

Following Gretzky's retirement, the Rangers struggled to make the post-season from 1998 to 2004. This period saw various highlights and the retirements of several players, including Mike Richter whose number 35 would be retired, and Mark Messier, who returned to the Rangers in 2003–2004 season before retiring the year after during the NHL Lockout. Messier's number 11 was retired in 2006. Brian Leetch, star defenseman of this era, also retired during this period, along with his number 2.

Following the 2004–2005 NHL lockout, which established the new salary cap that held all teams to a ceiling and floor on their roster spending, the New York Rangers ended the Salary Cap Era by retiring players and their numbers from the 1993–1994 Stanley Cup win while trying to build a team that could compete for the Stanley Cup. Their efforts for much of this era began in the 2005–2006 season, when rookie goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stormed into the league, leading the team, along with Jaromir Jagr, to the playoffs. Jagr broke the team record for points in a regular season, and the Rangers made the Eastern Conference final in the 2005–2006 season only to lose to the New Jersey Devils.

New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Henrik Lundqvist would backstop the New York Rangers from 2005 until 2020. During that period, he won a Vezina Trophy in 2012 with remarkable consistency in goaltending—a notoriously inconsistent position. That consistency saw Lundqvist become the only goaltender in NHL history to record eleven thirty-win seasons in his first twelve seasons. For his efforts, the New York Media and Rangers' fans dubbed Lundqvist "King Henrik."

Despite this dominance and the consistency of their goaltending, the Rangers were not able to win their fifth Stanley Cup during Lundqvist's time backstopping the team. The team reworked its roster often to try and find the combination that would take them to the promised land, including trading for star-quality players such as Chris Drury and Scott Gomez for the 2007–2008 season, with Chris Drury taking over as team captain in 2008 and after the departure of Jaromir Jagr.

New York Rangers playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague.

Opening the 2008–2009 season, the New York Rangers were among four NHL teams that defeated the European Victoria Cup Champions and followed that playing two NHL regular-season games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague on October 4th and 5th. This brought the Rangers season start to a total of five games won without a loss for the first time since the 1983–1984 season. But the hope the start brought would not be met, and the disappointing season led to the team's coach, Tom Renney, being replaced by John Tortorella. The season also saw the Rangers trade for NHL superstar Marian Gaborik.

Rangers player during physical playoff series.

At the beginning of the 2011–2012 season, after more disappointing seasons, Ryan Callahan was named captain for the team, and Chris Drury having been bought out after several players, such as Brad Richards, were brought in to help score goals. The season saw the Rangers top the Eastern Conference and reach the playoffs, where they survived a physical seven-game series against the Ottawa Senators, another highly physical second-round series against the Washington Capitals, before the Rangers met the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Devils won in six games.

Still trying to find the right lineup, the Rangers started the 2012–2013 season with a series of trades that saw the team eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Boston Bruins. Tortorella was fired as coach and replaced by Alain Vigneault, who guided the 2013–2014 Rangers to a Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings. However, they fell short to the Kings and returned to the next season working to regroup.

Rangers named Ryan McDonagh captain in 2014.

This began with defenseman Ryan McDonagh being named team captain going into the 2014–2015 season, a season in which the team would win the franchise's third President's Trophy for the best team in the regular season. The team would make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost in game seven against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team entered the 2015–2016 season with general manager Glen Sather being replaced by Jeff Gorton. The Rangers reached the playoffs but were defeated in the first round. In 2016–2017, the Rangers reached the second round of the playoffs only to be ousted in six games by the Ottawa Senators.

Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin.

The 2017–2018 season saw the team begin to struggle and miss the playoffs for the first time in a while. The team committed, by the end of the season, to a rebuild, which saw Alain Vigneault replaced by David Quinn and saw them trade players out for draft picks before picking up star forward Artemi Panarin in free agency to help kickstart the rebuild alongside budding stars Mika Zibanejad, goaltender Igor Shesterkin, and defenseman Adam Fox. By 2019–2020, the rebuilding Rangers were able to take a step forward, with Panarin earning Hart Trophy nominations and Shesterkin proving a worthy successor to Lundqvist. Although they failed to move past the initial play-in round of the 2020 COVID-19 bubble playoffs format, the next season saw the Rangers return to the playoffs and with expectations of being a Stanley Cup contender return to the team.