History of the New York Rangers
The history of the New York Rangers began in 1926 when the National Hockey League granted a franchise to Tex Rickard, the founder of the team. The Rangers experienced early success, winning the Stanley Cup in only their second season of existence, and would go on to win two more in the next 12 years.
After their Stanley Cup win in 1940, the Rangers then suffered through one of the longest championship droughts in NHL history, which became known as the Curse of 1940. The 54-year drought ended with a Stanley Cup win in 1994 by a team led by captain Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter, all of whose numbers have since been retired by the team.
Early years and the Original Six era (1926–1967)
In 1925–26, the New York Americans joined the NHL, playing in Madison Square Garden. The "Amerks" proved to be a greater success than expected, leading Garden president Tex Rickard to seek his own franchise for the Garden, despite promising the Amerks they would be the only hockey team to play there.File:Tex Rickard.jpg|upright|left|thumb|Tex Rickard, president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded the Rangers in 1926.
Tex Rickard was granted a franchise, which was originally incorporated under the name "New York Giants Professional Hockey Club" during a league meeting with NHL president Frank Calder on April 17, 1926, but during the meeting the name was then changed to "New York Rangers Hockey Club." The origin of the "Rangers" name is attributed to George Haley, the sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune, as he coined the new team as "Tex's Rangers" because of Rickard's decision to bring a new NHL team to New York.
At the time, there was no expansion draft in the NHL to help new teams ice competitive rosters, which in any other year would have made assembling a playoff contender extremely difficult. However, 1926 also happened to be the year the NHL's last major rival of its early era went out of business, so there was an abundance of top-caliber hockey talent searching for new clubs. The owners of the Rangers' expansion cousins opted to purchase entire WHL rosters to stock their teams. Smythe eschewed this approach, opting instead to sign who he felt were the best players from the remaining four WHL teams as well as a few NHL castaways he felt the other teams had misjudged.
Smythe had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-head coach on the eve of the first season; he was paid a then-hefty $10,000 to leave. Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick, who kept all of the players Smythe had assembled. Smythe's approach to building the team paid quick dividends, as Rangers 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. The team's early success led to players becoming minor celebrities and fixtures in New York City's "Roaring Twenties" nightlife. It was also during this time, playing at the Garden on 48th Street, blocks away from Times Square, the Rangers obtained their now-famous nickname "The Broadway Blueshirts".
In only their second season, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Maroons three games to two. One of the most memorable stories that emerged from the finals involved Patrick playing in goal at age 44. At the time, teams were not required to dress a backup goaltender, so when the Rangers' starting goaltender Lorne Chabot left a game with an eye injury, Maroons head coach Eddie Gerard vetoed his original choice for a replacement. An angry Patrick lined up between the pipes for two periods in game two of the Stanley Cup Finals, allowing one goal to Maroons center Nels Stewart. Frank Boucher would score the game-winning goal in overtime for New York. An expansion team would not come this far this fast in North American professional sports until the Philadelphia Atoms won the North American Soccer League title in their first year of existence.
1930s
After a loss to the Boston Bruins in the 1929 Stanley Cup Finals and a few mediocre seasons in the early 1930s, the Rangers, led by the brothers Bill and Bun Cook on the right and left wings, respectively, and Frank Boucher at center, would defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1932–33 best-of-five finals, three games to one, to win their second Stanley Cup, exacting revenge against the Leafs' "Kid line" of Busher Jackson, Joe Primeau and Charlie Conacher. The Rangers would spend the rest of the 1930s playing close to.500 hockey until their next Stanley Cup win. Lester Patrick stepped down as head coach and was replaced by Frank Boucher.In 1939–40, the Rangers finished the regular season in second place behind the Boston Bruins. The two teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins gained a two-games-to-one series lead from the Rangers until they 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 disposed of 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 and Red Wings would play a best-of-three series to determine who would go on to play the Rangers in the Cup Finals. The Maple Leafs swept the Red Wings and the finals match-up was determined. The 1940 Stanley Cup Finals started in Madison Square Garden in New York. The first two games went to the Rangers. In Game 1, the Rangers needed overtime to gain a 1–0 series lead, but they won Game 2 more easily with a 6–2 victory. The series then headed to Toronto where the Maple Leafs won the next two games, tying the series 2–2. In Games 5 and 6, the Rangers won in overtime. They took the series four games to two to earn their third Stanley Cup.
Original Six era (1942–1967)
The Rangers would collapse by the mid-1940s, winning 41 games between 1942 and 1946. In the 1943–44 season, the team posted its worst ever record, when they finished 6–39–5. During the year, goaltender Ken McAuley posted a 6.24 goals against average in 50 games played, which included a 15–0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, which remains an NHL record for most consecutive goals by one team in one game. They would miss the playoffs for five consecutive seasons before squeaking into the fourth and final playoff spot in 1947–48. They lost in the first round and would miss the playoffs again in 1948–49. In the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers were forced to play all of their games on the road while the circus was at the Garden. They would end up losing to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime in the seventh game of the finals, despite a stellar first-round performance as underdogs to the Montreal Canadiens.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 of directors to exercise de facto control.
Expansion era (1967–1993)
The Rangers missed the playoffs in 12 of the next 16 seasons. However, the team was rejuvenated in the late 1960s, symbolized by moving into a newly rebuilt Madison Square Garden in 1968. A year earlier, they had made the playoffs for the first time in five years on the strength of rookie goaltender Eddie Giacomin and acquired 1950s Montreal Canadiens star right wing Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion.The Rangers made the finals twice in the 1970s, but lost both times to two 1970s 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. This time the Rangers had Esposito, but it didn't matter, as the Canadiens were dominant.
File:Jean Ratelle 1972.JPG|upright|left|thumb|Jean Ratelle played with the Rangers from 1960 to 1975, helping the Rangers reach the playoffs during the expansion era.
By 1971–72, the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Finals despite losing high-scoring center Jean Ratelle to injury during the stretch drive of the regular season. The strength of players like Brad Park, Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert would still carry them through the playoffs. They would defeat the defending-champion Canadiens in the first round and the Chicago Blackhawks in the second, but lost to the Bruins in the finals.
The Rangers played a legendary semi-final series against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1973–74 playoffs. This series was noted for a Game 7 fight between Dale Rolfe of the Rangers and Dave Schultz of the Flyers. Schultz pummeled Rolfe without anyone on the Rangers lifting a finger to protect him. This led to the belief the Rangers of that period were soft, especially when taking into account the bullying endured by the Rangers during the 1972 finals. One example is Gilbert's beating at the hands of Derek Sanderson of the Bruins.
Their new rivals, the New York Islanders, who entered the NHL in the 1972–73 season after paying a huge territorial fee — some $4 million — to the Rangers, were their first-round opponent in 1974–75. 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.
After some off years in the mid-to-late 1970s, they picked up Esposito and Carol Vadnais from the Bruins for Park, Ratelle, and Joe Zanussi in 1975–76. Swedish stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson jumped to the Rangers from the maverick World Hockey Association. In 1978–79, they defeated the surging Islanders in the semi-finals and would return to the finals again before bowing out to the Canadiens. However, the Islanders got their revenge, eliminating the Rangers in four consecutive playoff series starting in 1980–81 en route to their second of four consecutive Stanley Cup titles.
The Rangers stayed competitive through the 1980s and early 1990s, making the playoffs each year save for one, but never going very far. An exception was 1985–86, when the Rangers, behind 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 disposed of the Rangers in the Wales Conference Finals behind a rookie goaltender of their own, Patrick Roy. The Rangers then acquired superstar center Marcel Dionne after almost 12 years as a Los Angeles King the next year. In 1988, Dionne moved into third place in career goals scored. But Dionne's always-churning legs started to slow the next year, thereby ensuring that his goals came further and further apart. "Because you love the game so much, you think it will never end," said Dionne, who spent nine games in the minors before retiring in 1989. He would only play 49 playoff games in 17 seasons with the Rangers, Kings and Detroit Red Wings.
The many playoff failures convinced Rangers fans that this was a manifestation of the Curse of 1940, which is said to either have begun when the Rangers management burnt the mortgage to Madison Square Garden in the bowl of the Stanley Cup after the 1940 victory or by Red Dutton following the collapse of the New York Americans franchise. In the early 1980s, Islander fans began chanting "1940! 1940!" to taunt the Rangers. Fans in other cities soon picked up the chant.
Frustration was at its peak when the 1991–92 squad captured the Presidents' Trophy. They took a 2–1 series lead on the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins and then faltered in three straight. The following year, injuries and a 1–11 finish landed the Rangers in the cellar of the Patrick Division after being in a playoff position for much of the season. Head coach Roger Neilson did not finish the season. The off-season hiring of controversial head coach Mike Keenan was criticized by many who pointed out Keenan's 0–3 record in the finals.
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 in 1997, ITT sold its 50% ownership stake to Cablevision, which still owns the team today.