The 1993–94

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

season was the 68th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

for the franchise. The highlight of the season was winning the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

and hosting the

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

. The Rangers clinched their second Presidents' Trophy and sixth division title by finishing with the best record in the NHL at 52–24–8, setting a then-franchise record with 112 points. This marked the last season in which the Rangers were under the control of Paramount Communications. Toward the end of the season, Paramount was taken over by Viacom. Shortly thereafter, Viacom divested itself of all of Paramount's interests in Madison Square Garden, including the Rangers, and sold them to

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three business ...

and

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

. A couple of years later, ITT would sell their share to Cablevision, who owned the Rangers until 2010, when the MSG properties became their own company.

Off season

On April 17, 1993, the

named Mike Keenan as their head coach. Keenan was hired to replace Ron Smith, who the team decided not to retain after he coached the second half of the season in place of the fired Roger Neilson. Keenan had taken the 1992–93 season off after spending four years as the head coach of the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

, where he led the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in his last year.

Pre-season

During the 1993 pre-season, the Rangers had a record of 7–2–0.

Regular season

The 1993–94 season was a magical one for Rangers fans, as head coach Mike Keenan led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years. Two years prior, they acquired center

Mark Messier Mark John Douglas Messier (; born January 18, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League (NHL). His playing career in the NHL lasted 25 years ( 1979–2004) with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Range ...

, who was an integral part of the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

' Cup-winning teams.

Adam Graves Adam Scott Graves (born April 12, 1968) is a Canadian former professional hockey player. He served 10 seasons with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also played for the Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sh ...

, who also defected from the Oilers, joined the Rangers as well. Other ex-Oilers on the Blueshirts included trade deadline acquisitions Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson. Brian Leetch and Sergei Zubov were a solid "1–2 punch" on defense. In fact, Zubov led the team in scoring that season with 89 points, and continued to be an All-Star defenseman throughout his career. Graves would set a team record with 52 goals, breaking the old record of 50 held by Vic Hadfield. This record would later be broken by Jaromir Jagr on April 8, 2006, against the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

. New York was not shut-out in any of their 84 regular-season games. The Rangers led the NHL in wins (52), points (112) and power-play goals (96, tied with the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

) and power play percentage (23.02%). They also allowed the fewest shorthanded goals (5) of all 26 teams. On February 21, 1994, Tony Amonte scored just eight seconds into the overtime period to win the game to give the Rangers a 4–3 home win over the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

. It would prove to be the fastest overtime goal scored during the 1993–94 regular season.

All-Star Game

The 1994 National Hockey League All-Star Game took place on January 22, 1994, at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The final score was East 9, West 8.

Season standings

Playoffs

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

In the opening round, the Rangers faced their crosstown rivals the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

, this series would turn out to be an extremely one sided affair as the Rangers outscored their rivals 22–3 in a four-game sweep.

Eastern Conference Semi-finals

Next, the Rangers faced the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

who were coming off a shocking six game win over the second seeded

. The Rangers appeared to have the series in hand after they won the first three games, although the Capitals avoided the sweep with a Game 4 win, the Rangers got back in control and won the series in five games.

Eastern Conference Finals

After going down in the Eastern Conference Finals 3–2 to the New Jersey Devils, Rangers' captain Mark Messier made one of the most famous guarantees in sports history, saying the Rangers would win Game 6 in New Jersey to tie the series 3–3. Not only did the Rangers back up Messier's guarantee, Messier scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

in the Rangers' 4–2 win, sending the game back to New York for Game 7. In Game 7, the Rangers held a 1–0 lead after a second period goal by Brian Leetch. The lead would hold up until 7.7 seconds remaining, when Valeri Zelepukin was able to beat

Mike Richter Michael Thomas Richter (born September 22, 1966) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his entire career with the New York Rangers organization, and led the team to the Stanley Cup in 1994. He also represented the Un ...

to send the game to overtime. In double overtime, Stephane Matteau scored his second overtime goal of the series to send the Rangers to the Finals. The series-winning goal prompted the famous call of "Matteau, Matteau, Matteau!" by Rangers radio announcer Howie Rose.

Stanley Cup Finals

The Rangers won their first

in 54 years, dating back to , beating the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

in seven games. The Rangers winning this Stanley Cup drew 4.957 million viewers to ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'', making it the highest-rated single

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-langu ...

program in history until the 10.6 million viewers for the men's ice hockey gold medal game between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...

, when Canada won its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal since the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 19 ...

. CBC commentator Bob Cole said Game 7 was one of his most memorable TV games. MSG Network broadcaster Al Trautwig said that this Stanley Cup win by the Rangers was seen as the coming of age of the NHL's influence in Europe. It marked the first time that the Russians got their names on the Stanley Cup and there were four who got that honor – Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov and Sergei Zubov—giving a huge European television audience, including those watching on the brand-new television screens across the former Soviet Union, a Stanley Cup story to remember.

Schedule and results

Pre-season

Regular season

;Detailed records

Playoffs

All times are EASTERN time

Player statistics

;Skaters ;Goaltenders ^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

Media

Ranger games were carried on the

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable prov ...

, with some games broadcast on MSG II due to conflicts with

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

games. The broadcast crew included Sam Rosen, Bruce Beck, John Davidson, and Al Trautwig. The games were also broadcast on radio station WFAN-AM; the broadcast team included Marv Albert, Howie Rose,

Sal Messina Salvatore "Red Light" Messina (born March 19, 1939) is an American sportscaster who was a color commentator for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2005 and is a member of the media s ...

, and

Steve Somers Steve Somers (born April 17, 1947), nicknamed the Schmoozer, is an American talk radio host best known for his work on the New York City sports radio station WFAN (660 AM). He has been with the station since its inception in 1987. Personal life S ...

. Some games were broadcast on WEVD-AM due to conflicts with

games and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

games.

Transactions

* June 25, 1993: Doug Lidster was traded by the

to the

in exchange for

John Vanbiesbrouck John Vanbiesbrouck (born September 4, 1963), nicknamed "the Beezer" and "JVB", is an American professional ice hockey executive and former player. As a goaltender, he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. Vanbiesbrouc ...

. * November 2, 1993:

Nick Kypreos Nikos "Nick" Kypreos (born June 4, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hartford Whalers, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leaf ...

traded from

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

with Barry Richter,

Steve Larmer Steven Donald Larmer (born June 16, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He is the brother of Jeff Larmer. Career As a youth, Larmer played in the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hocke ...

and round 6 pick in the

1994 NHL Entry Draft The 1994 NHL Entry Draft was the 32nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Hartford Civic Center on June 28–29, 1994. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Patrik Elias and Eric Boulton, who both played their last NH ...

(Yuri Litvinov) to New York Rangers for

Darren Turcotte Darren Turcotte (born March 2, 1968) is an American former professional Ice hockey player. Early life Turcotte's family moved to North Bay, Ontario where he spent most of his childhood. After his family returned to northern Ontario, he began pla ...

and James Patrick. * March 21, 1994: **

Phil Bourque Phillipe Richard Bourque (born June 8, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He was never selected in the NHL Entry Draft; instead, he was signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 4, 1982. He is a dista ...

traded from NY Rangers to Ottawa for future considerations. ** Tony Amonte and the rights to

Matt Oates Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

traded from NY Rangers to Chicago for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan. ** Peter Andersson traded from NY Rangers to Florida for future considerations. ** Mike Gartner traded from NY Rangers to Toronto for Glenn Anderson, the rights to Scott Malone and Toronto's 4th round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 , Habs Inside/Out
** Craig MacTavish traded from Edmonton to NY Rangers for

Todd Marchant Todd Michael Marchant (born August 12, 1973) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played nine seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and almost six seasons with the Anaheim D ...

Awards and records

* Brian Leetch, Conn Smythe Trophy * Most wins by goaltender, season – Mike Richter (1993–94) – 42 * Mike Richter, MVP of 45th NHL All-Star Game

45th NHL All-Star Game

NHL All-Star representatives at the 45th NHL All-Star Game in New York City, New York at

. Players Goaltenders Trainers

Draft picks

New York's picks at the

1993 NHL Entry Draft The 1993 NHL Entry Draft was the 31st NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City, Quebec. First overall pick Alexandre Daigle is widely regarded today as one of the all-time greatest draft bust ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, Quebec, Canada, at the Colisée de Québec.

Expansion Draft

New York's losses at the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

Supplemental Draft

New York's picks at the

1993 NHL Supplemental Draft The 1993 NHL Supplemental Draft was the eighth NHL Supplemental Draft. It was held on June 25, 1993. It was limited to the eight teams that missed the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs and the expansion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Florida Panthers. Sele ...

References

;Bibliography *

External links

Rangers on Hockey Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:1993-94 New York Rangers season New York Rangers seasons

1990s in Manhattan

Eastern Conference (NHL) championship seasons Madison Square Garden National Hockey League All-Star Game hosts Presidents' Trophy seasons Stanley Cup championship seasons