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New York Rangers
File:NewYorkRangers.PNG
Conference	Eastern
Division	Atlantic
Founded	1926
History	New York Rangers 1926 - present
Home Arena	Madison Square Garden
City	New York City, New York
Colors	Blue, Red and White
Media	MSG MSG Plus WEPN (1050AM) WABC (770AM)
Owner(s)	Madison Square Garden, L.P. ( James Dolan, chairman)
General Manager	Glen Sather
Head Coach	Tom Renney
Captain	Chris Drury
Minor League Affiliates	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) Charlotte Checkers (ECHL) Mississippi RiverKings (CHL)
Stanley Cups	1927–28, 1932–33, 1939–40, 1993–94
Conference Championships	1993–94
Division Championships	1926–27, 1931–32, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94

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The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City, New York, and playing in the National Hockey League. They were founded in 1926, have been one of the Original Six teams and won 4 times the Stanley Cup, in 1928, 1933, 1940 and 1994.

History

The beginning

In 1925, the New York Americans joined the National Hockey League. They proved to be a much bigger success than expected, which led Tex Rickard, the leading president of the Madison Square Garden, to consider having a second team in New York City. He was granted a new franchise in 1926. Needing a home for his team, he naturally decided to have them play in the Garden, even though he had promised the Amerks there would be no other hockey team playing in the Garden.

Rickard's new franchise was poised to enter the league in 1926-27. Initially, he intended to name it the New York Giants (just like the football team, created one year earlier in the NFL by Tim Mara). The name was however never officially adopted. The New York press soon began nicknaming the team "Tex's Rangers" and this nickname, more original than the "Giants", was adopted, while the latter fell into oblivion.

Tex Rickard put his team in good hands straight from the beginning. He managed to get Conn Smythe, the future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner, to build the team from scratch. His association with the Rangers didn't last however, as he had a falling out with John S. Hammond, Rickard's hockey man. Smythe was fired, altough with class, as he was given $2,500 to leave, a hefty sum at the time. His replacement was no less stellar: it was Lester Patrick, the co-founder of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. With such competent people taking care of the team, it could not do otherwide than be a winning one. In their very first season, the Rangers won the American Division title; their playoffs run was however short, as the Boston Bruins defeated them. With the team's successes, the players became minor celebrities in the city and became fixtures in the Roaring 20's nightlife. Their famous nickname, the "Broadway Blueshirts", was acquired at that time; the Garden is indeed located only a few blocks away from Time Square.

A first Stanley Cup

The Rangers needed only two seasons before claiming hockey's Holy Grail, the Stanley Cup, for the first time after defeating the Montreal Maroons three games to two in the 1927-28 playoffs. These playoffs are remembered for the presence of Lester Patrick in the nets during one of the game, at the age of 44. Back then, it was not required to dress a backup goaltender, and teams usually indeed did without the second goalie. But when Rangers' starter Lorne Chabot found himself injured to his eye during the game, the Rangers were in a bad position. Patrick choose Alex Connell, a skilled NHL goaltender of the original Ottawa Senators, to replace Chabot (Connell indeed happened to be in the attendance on that night). But Maroons' head coach Eddie Gerard vetoed this choice. Unhappy with this decision that handicaped his team, Patrick decided he would go replace Chabot. And so he did, and brilliantly on top of that - in two periods of play, he only allowed one goal, to Maroons' star center Nels Stewart. Frank Boucher scored the winning goal in overtime for New York. The Rangers' first title in his only second season was a record in professional leagues in North America for the fastest title for an expansion team; it's only in 1973 that this record was broken, by a North American Soccer League team, the Philadelphia Atoms, who won the championship on their very first season.

The 1932–33 New York Rangers team picture autographed by Lester Patrick

Current roster

As of February 3rd, 2009. [1]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
30		Henrik Lundqvist	L	2000	Åre, Sweden
40		Stephen Valiquette	L	2003	Etobicoke, Ontario

<center>Defensemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
3		Michal Rozsival	R	2005	Vlašim, Czechoslovakia
4		Erik Reitz	R	2009	Detroit, Michigan
5		Daniel Girardi	R	2006	Welland, Ontario
6		Wade Redden	R	2008	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
18		Marc Staal	L	2005	Thunder Bay, Ontario
27		Paul Mara	L	2007	Ridgewood, New Jersey
45		Dmitri Kalinin	L	2008	Chelyabinsk, Russia

<center>Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
10		Nigel Dawes	LW	L	2003	Winnipeg, Manitoba
13		Nikolai Zherdev	RW	R	2008	Kiev, Ukraine
15		Blair Betts	C	L	2004	Edmonton, Alberta
17		Brandon Dubinsky	C	L	2004	Anchorage, Alaska
19		Scott Gomez	C	L	2007	Anchorage, Alaska
20		Fredrik Sjöström	W	L	2008	Färgelanda, Sweden
23		Chris Drury	C	R	2007	Trumbull, Connecticut
24		Ryan Callahan	RW	R	2004	Rochester, New York
25		Petr Prucha	LW/C	R	2002	Chrudim, Czechoslovakia
28		Colton Orr	RW/LW	R	2005	Winnipeg, Manitoba
29		Lauri Korpikoski	LW	L	2004	Turku, Finland
34		Aaron Voros	LW	L	2008	Vancouver, British Columbia
91		Markus Näslund	LW	L	2008	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden

Retired numbers

• 1 Ed Giacomin, G, 1965-75: Number retired on March 15, 1989
• 7 Rod Gilbert, RW, 1961-78: Number retired on October 14, 1979
• 9 Adam Graves, LW, 1987-2003: Number retired on February 3, 2009
• 11 Mark Messier, LW/C, 1991-97 & 2000-05: Number retired on January 12, 2006
• 35 Mike Richter, G, 1989-2003: Number retired on February 4, 2004
• 99 Wayne Gretzky, C, 1996-99: Number retired league-wide by NHL on April 18, 1999;

Hall-of-Famers

Players

Builders