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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.

Off season

On April 17, 1993, the New York Rangers named Mike Keenan as the 26th Head Coach in franchise history.

Pre-season

The 1993 Pre-season, the New York Rangers had a record of 7-2-0.

Key:   Win   Loss

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. 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.

On February 21, 1994, Tony Amonte scored just 8 seconds into the overtime period to win the game to give the Rangers a 4–3 home win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It would prove to be the fastest overtime goal scored during the 1993–94 NHL regular season.

Season standings

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

Key:   Win   Loss   Tie

Playoffs

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

In the opening round, the Rangers faced their crosstown rivals the New York Islanders, this series would turn out to be an extremely one sided affair as the Rangers outscored their rivals 22 to 3 in a four game sweep.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Next, the Rangers faced the Washington Capitals who were coming off a shocking six game win over the second seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, 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.

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. 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.

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. CBC commentator Bob Cole said that 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.

Key:   Win   Loss

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.

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;

Media

Television

Some New York Rangers TV games carried on MSG II because of broadcast conflict with the New York Knicks (NBA).

Radio

Some New York Rangers radio games carried on WEVD because of broadcast conflict with the New York Knicks (NBA) and the New York Jets (NFL).

Minor league affiliates

Top affiliate

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.
  • Craig MacTavish traded from Edmonton to NY Rangers for Todd Marchant.

Roster

#	Nationality	Player	Position	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
33	United States	Tony Amonte	Right Wing	Left	23	1988	Hingham, MA, USA
36	Canada	Glenn Anderson	Right Wing	Left	33	1994	Vancouver, BC, CAN
5	Sweden	Peter Andersson	Defence	Left	28	1983	Örebro, SWE
23	Canada	Jeff Beukeboom	Defence	Right	28	1992	Ajax, ON, CAN
29	United States	Phil Bourque	Left Wing	Left	31	1993	Chelmsford, MA, USA
22	Canada	Mike Gartner	Right Wing	Right	34	1990	Ottawa, ON, CAN
17	Canada	Greg Gilbert	Left Wing	Left	32	1994	Mississauga, ON, CAN
9	Canada	Adam Graves (Alternate)	Left Wing	Left	25	1992	Toronto, ON, CAN
18	United States	Mike Hartman	Left Wing	Left	26	1993	Detroit, MI, USA
30	Canada	Glenn Healy	Goaltender	Left	31	1994	Pickering, ON, CAN
16	Canada	Jim Hiller	Right Wing	Right	24	1994	Port Alberni, BC, CAN
15	Canada	Mike Hudson	Centre	Left	26	1994	Guelph, ON, CAN
25	Russia	Alexander Karpovtsev	Defence	Right	23	1994	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union USSR
26	Canada	Joey Kocur	Right Wing	Right	29	1991	Kelvington, SK, CAN
27	Russia	Alexei Kovalev	Right Wing	Left	21	1991	Togliatti, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union USSR
19	Canada	Nick Kypreos	Left Wing	Left	27	1994	Toronto, ON, CAN
32	Canada	Daniel Lacroix	Left Wing	Left	24	1987	Montreal, QC, CAN
28	Canada	Steve Larmer (Alternate)	Right Wing	Left	32	1994	Peterborough, ON, CAN
2	United States	Brian Leetch (Alternate)	Defence	Left	25	1986	Corpus Christi, TX, USA
6	Canada	Doug Lidster	Defence	Right	33	1994	Kamloops, BC, CAN
4	Canada	Kevin Lowe (Alternate)	Defence	Left	34	1993	Lachute, QC, CAN
14	Canada	Craig MacTavish	Centre	Left	35	1994	London, ON, CAN
39	United States	Todd Marchant	Centre	Left	20	1993	Buffalo, NY, USA
32	Canada	Stephane Matteau	Left Wing	Left	24	1994	Rouyn-Noranda, QC, CAN
8	Canada	Joby Messier	Defence	Right	23	1989	Regina, SK, CAN
11	Canada	Mark Messier (Captain)	Centre	Left	33	1992	Edmonton, AB, CAN
13	Russia	Sergei Nemchinov	Centre	Left	30	1990	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union USSR
16	United States	Brian Noonan	Right Wing	Right	28	1994	Boston, MA, USA
5	Sweden	Mattias Norstrom	Defence	Left	22	1992	Stockholm, SWE
12	United States	Ed Olczyk	Centre	Left	27	1993	Chicago, IL, USA
3	Canada	James Patrick	Defence	Right	30	1981	Winnipeg, MB, CAN
35	United States	Mike Richter	Goaltender	Left	27	1985	Abington, PA, USA
10	Finland	Esa Tikkanen	Left Wing	Left	29	1993	Helsinki, FIN
8	United States	Darren Turcotte	Centre	Left	25	1986	Boston, MA, USA
24	Canada	Jay Wells	Defence	Left	34	1992	Paris, ON, CAN
21	Russia	Sergei Zubov	Defence	Right	23	1990	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union USSR

Staff

New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup champions

Players

  Centres

  Wingers

• 9 Adam Graves
• 28 Steve Larmer
• 36 Glenn Anderson
• 17 Greg Gilbert
• 26 Joey Kocur
• 27 Alexei Kovalev
• 19 Nick Kypreos
• 32 Stephane Matteau
• 16 Brian Noonan
• 10 Esa Tikkanen
• 18 Mike Hartman

  Defencemen

• 2 Brian Leetch
• 4 Kevin Lowe
• 23 Jeff Beukeboom
• 25 Alexander Karpovtsev
• 6 Doug Lidster
• 24 Jay Wells
• 21 Sergei Zubov

  Goaltenders

• 35 Mike Richter
• 30 Glenn Healy

Coaching and administrative staff

• Neil Smith (president/general manager/governor)
• Robert Gutkowski, Stanley Jaffe, Kenneth Munoz (alternate governors)
• Larry Pleau (ass’t general manager)
• Mike Keenan (head coach)
• Colin Campbell (associate coach)
• Dick Todd (ass’t coach)
• Matthew Louhgren (manager-team operations)
• Barry Watkins (director of communications)
• Christer Rockstrom, Tony Feltrin, Martin Madden, Herb Hammond, Darrwin Bennett (scouts)
• Dave Smith (medical trainer)
• Joe Murphy (equipment trainer)
• Mike Folga (equipment manager)
• Bruce Lifrieri (massage therapist)

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 allow players who do not officially qualify on the Stanley Cup (40 regular season games, 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 played 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 45th NHL All-Star Game

45th NHL All-Star Game

New York Rangers NHL All-Star representatives at the 45th NHL All-Star Game in New York City, New York at Madison Square Garden.

• Adam Graves, LW, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), 2 assists, 2 points
• Brian Leetch, D, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), Starter
• Mark Messier, C, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), Captain, Starter, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points
• Mike Richter, G, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), MVP of 45th NHL All-Star Game, 18 shots against, 16 shots saved
• Joe Murphy, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), Trainer
• Dave Smith, (Eastern Conference All-Stars), Trainer

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)

Expansion Draft

New York's losses at the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft in Quebec City, Quebec.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	Drafted by	Drafted from
1	12	Joe Cirella	Canada	Florida Panthers	New York Rangers
1	23	Steven King	United States	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	New York Rangers

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. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/22/sports/hockey-rangers-leave-penguins-one-short.html
4. http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1994_games.html
5. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
6. Greatest NHL Playoff Moments: Messier Guarantees Win
7. "Howie Rose". MSG.com. Madison Square Garden, LP. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
8. 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.
9. 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.'
10. ^ Kalinsky, George (2004). Garden of Dreams. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang. p. 171. ISBN 1-58479-343-0.
11. "1993-94 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-01. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
12. NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out

Bibliography

• Kalinsky, George (2004). Garden of Dreams. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang. ISBN 1-58479-343-0.

• Stanley Cup championship seasons
• Presidents' Trophy seasons
• New York Rangers seasons
• 1993 in ice hockey
• 1994 in ice hockey
• Eastern Conference (NHL) championship seasons
• National Hockey League All-Star Game hosts
• 1993–94 in American ice hockey by team