Tex
Rickard was awarded an NHL franchise in 1926 to compete with
the now-long-forgotten New York Americans. The team was immediately
dubbed "Tex's Rangers", and the nickname stuck.
Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs
coach Conn Smythe to assemble the team (including coach Lester
Patrick), and it turned out to be a winner. In their first
season, the Rangers finished atop the American Division, but
would lose to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs.
1994 was a magical year for Rangers fans. Two years previous,
they picked up center Mark Messier, an integral part of the
Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams in the 1980s. Adam Graves
also defected from the Oilers to the Rangers. Brian Leetch
and rookie Sergei Zubov were solid on defense. The Rangers
defeated the New Jersey Devils in seven games to go to their
first Cup final in 15 years, and went the full seven games
with the Vancouver Canucks. Finally, when they hung on to
avoid a late Canuck charge in the third period of game 7,
the curse was over.
The Rangers
continued to be Cup favorites in the mid-to-late 1990s, even
landing an aging Wayne Gretzky, but they would fizzle out.
Their 1994 stars were aging and many retired or dropped off
in performance, and by 1998 they missed the playoffs.
By
2001, the Rangers had landed a lot of star power. Theoren
Fleury joined the Rangers after spending most of his career
with the Calgary Flames. Eric Lindros reluctantly joined the
Rangers from the Philadelphia Flyers. They got Pavel Bure
late in the 2001-2002 season from the Florida Panthers. However,
the Rangers still finished out of the playoffs despite having
the league's highest payroll. Later years saw other stars
such as Alexei Kovalev and Anson Carter and Bobby Holik added,
but in 2002-03 and 2003-04, the team again missed the playoffs.
Ranger fans are now beginning to think they might have to
wait 54 years for another Stanley Cup.
Founded:
1926-1927 (awarded May 15, 1926)
Arena: Madison Square Garden (capacity 18,200)
Uniform colors: blue, red, white
Logo design: a shield with "NEW YORK"
across the top and "RANGERS" diagonally across the
middle
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