1993–94 New York Rangers season

The 1993–94 New York Rangers season was the 68th season for the franchise. The highlight of the season was winning the Stanley Cup and hosting the NHL All-Star Game. The Rangers clinched the Presidents' Trophy by finishing with the best record in the NHL at 52–24–8, setting a franchise record with 112 points.

This marked the last season in which the Rangers (and all other MSG properties) were owned by Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), which was sold near the end of the season to Viacom, which in turn sold them to ITT Corporation and Cablevision. 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.

Regular season

The 1993–94 season was a magical one for Rangers fans, as Coach Mike Keenan led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years. Two years prior, they picked up center Mark Messier, who was an integral part of the Edmonton Oilers' Cup-winning teams. Adam Graves, 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 defence. In fact, Zubov led the team in scoring that season with 89 points, and continued to be an all-star defenceman 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. New York was not shut out in any of their 84 regular-season games.^[1] The Rangers led the league in wins (52), points (112) and power-play goals (96, tied with the Buffalo Sabres and power play percentage (23.02%). They also allowed the fewest shorthanded goals (5) of all 26 teams.^[2]

Season standings

^[3] Note: No. = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and Results

Playoffs

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, stating that 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, but Messier scored a hat trick in the Rangers 4-2 win, sending the game back to New York for game 7.^[4] In Game 7, the Rangers held a 1-0 lead after a 2nd period goal by Brian Leetch. The lead would hold up until 7.7 seconds remaining, when Valeri Zelepukin was able to beat Mike Richter to send the game to overtime. In double overtime, Stephane Matteau scored his second 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.^[5]

Stanley Cup Finals

The Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, dating back to 1940, beating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.

The Rangers winning this Stanley Cup drew 4.957 million viewers to the CBC, making it the highest-rated single CBC Sports program in history until the 10.6 million viewers for the men's ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2002 Winter Olympics, when Canada won its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal since the 1952 Winter Olympics.^[6] CBC commentator Bob Cole said that Game 7 was one of his most memorable TV games.^[7]

Key:      Win      Loss

Player stats

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.

^[8]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Transactions

• June 25, 1993 – Doug Lidster was traded by the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers in exchange for John Vanbiesbrouck.
• November 2, 1993: Nick Kypreos traded from Hartford Whalers with Barry Richter, Steve Larmer and round 6 pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (Yuri Litvinov) to New York Rangers for Darren Turcotte and James Patrick.
• March 21, 1994:
  • Phil Bourque traded from NY Rangers to Ottawa for future considerations.
  • Tony Amonte and the rights to Matt Oates 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.^[9]
  • Craig MacTavish traded from Edmonton to NY Rangers for Todd Marchant.

New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup champions

Roster

Stanley Cup engraving

• 1991, 1992 Pittsburgh, and 1993 Montreal included at least one player on the Stanley Cup who did not officially qualify. When the New York Rangers submitted their list of names for engraving, Ed Olczyk and Mike Hartman were included. Ed Olczyk played 37 regular-season games, and played 1 game in the conference finals. Mike Hartman played 35 regular-season games, but did not play in the playoffs. Both players spent the entire season with New York Rangers, and missed over 10 games due to injuries. When the Stanley Cup was engraved, Olczyk and Hartman's names were not included. The Rangers protested so the NHL added Olczyk and Hartman to the bottom of the cup. The NHL does not add missing names after the cup has been engraved, but made an exception in this case.

• NHL now agrees to allows players who do not officially qualify on the Stanley Cup (40 Regular season game, or played in the finals) on the Cup. However, some players who played in playoffs are still left off the Cup. While other players who play less than 10 regular season games and are not dressed in playoff are included.

• Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov, and Sergei Zubov became the first four Russian-trained players to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. Sergei Priakin played in the playoffs for the 1989 Stanley Cup champion Flames. Anatoli Semenov played in the playoffs for 1990 Stanley Cup champion Oilers. Oleg Petrov played in the playoffs for the 1993 Stanley Cup champion Canadiens. Neither of these 3 Russian-trained player played enough games to qualify for engraved on the Stanley Cup, but were given Stanley Cup Rings.

Awards and records

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

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1993 NHL Entry Draft in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada at the Colisee de Quebec.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	8	Niklas Sundstrom	LW	Sweden	MODO (SEL)
2	34	Lee Sorochan	D	Canada	Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
3	61	Maxim Galanov	D	Russia	HC Lada Togliatti (Russia)
4	86	Sergei Olympijev	LW	Belarus	HC Dynamo Minsk (Russia)
5	112	Gary Roach	D	Canada	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
6	138	Dave Trofimenkoff	G	Canada	Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
7	162	Sergei Kondrashkin	LW	Russia	Cherepovets Metallurg (Russia)
7	164	Todd Marchant	LW	United States	Clarkson University (NCAA)
8	190	Ed Campbell	D	United States	Omaha Lancers (USHL)
9	216	Ken Shepard	G	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
10	242	Andrei Kudinov	C	Russia	Chelyabinsk Traktor (Russia)
11	261	Pavel Komarov	D	Russia	Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo (Russia)
11	268	Maxim Smelnitsky	LW	Russia	Chelyabinsk Traktor (Russia)

Supplemental Draft

New York's picks at the 1993 NHL Supplemental Draft.

Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
Wayne Strachan	RW	Canada	Lake Superior State University (CCHA)

References

• Rangers on Hockey Database

1. ^ http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/NYR/1994.html
2. ^ http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1994.html
3. ^ Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy et al. ed. THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0. 
4. ^ Greatest NHL Playoff Moments: Messier Guarantees Win
5. ^ "Howie Rose". MSG.com. Madison Square Garden, LP. http://www.msg.com/tv/network-talent/howie-rose. Retrieved March 28, 2011. 
6. ^ Ohler, Shawn (February 26, 2002). "Lucky Loonie Stunt Pays Off". The Calgary Herald: p. A1. "A record-busting average of 8.7 million Canadians watched on television as the men's hockey team snatched gold from the United States in Salt Lake City...The audience actually peaked at 10.6 million, the CBC said Monday...CBC says that prior to Sunday, its highest-rated sports show was Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks, which attracted an average of 4.97 million viewers." 
7. ^ Houston, William (November 6, 1997). "Cole's Close Call". The Globe and Mail: p. S4. "Cole's three most memorable TV games: 1. Game 7 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals (Edmonton 3, Philadelphia 1). The Oilers at their peak. 2. Game 3 of 1996 World Cup of Hockey Final (United States 5, Canada 2). 'I was devastated.' 3. Game 7, 1994 Stanley Cup Finals (New York Rangers 3, Vancouver 2). 'A great series.'" 
8. ^ "1993-94 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000481994.html. Retrieved 2010-08-01. 
9. ^ NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out