New York Rangers

Lore & Background

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. In 1928, they became 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.

Reader's Guide

Following this initial grace period, the franchise struggled between the 1940s and 1960s, where playoff appearances and successes were infrequent. The team enjoyed a mini-renaissance in the 1970s, making the Stanley Cup Final 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, 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, enduring a franchise-record seven-year postseason drought from 1998 to 2005. After the arrival of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in 2006, the Rangers thrived, missing the playoffs just once between 2006 and 2017. The Rangers returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, falling to the Los Angeles Kings in five games. Between 2012 and 2024, they reached the Eastern Conference finals five times.