The New York Rangers post Stanley Cup, 1994-1998

[whcanuck]

The Rangers had one of the strongest teams of all time, with Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter leading a cast of veterans (many of them former Edmonton Oilers) to the long-awaited Stanley Cup in 1994.

After that championship run, I find the next 3-4 years in Rangers history to be quite interesting. They followed up the Cup win with a bit of a lackluster season in 1994-95. They beat the top-seeded Nordiques in the first round but lost to Philly in the second round. They had a pretty strong season in 1995-96, Messier in particular was a beast, but they once again bowed out in the second round, this time to the Penguins.

Then Wayne Gretzky arrived in 1996. The team had a decent regular season but totally caught fire in the playoffs, dispatching Florida and top-seeded New Jersey before being overwhelmed by Eric Lindros, the Legion of Doom and the rest of the Philadelphia Flyers. By 1997-98, Messier was gone and the team had a rough regular season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

It's just interesting how many ups and downs there were during this time period for Rangers. They had some big highs, some time in the middle and some big-time disappointments. What are your guys' thoughts (I'd especially like to hear what Ranger fans have to say) on this time period in Ranger history?

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[FerrisRox]

The Rangers had one of the strongest teams of all time, with Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter leading a cast of veterans (many of them former Edmonton Oilers) to the long-awaited Stanley Cup in 1994.

This team was nowhere close to being one of the strongest teams of all time. Not even in the conversation.

Funny that when you name check the stars on the team, you leave out the guy who led them in scoring.

 

[jghockey]

In my opinion, the team started to go down when Keenan left.

 

[sr edler]

Alex Kovalev was their most talented young player in the forward group, but he took forever to blossom out and when it finally happened it wasn’t in New York. And still when it happened and he was at his best, he still really wasn’t that elite but just a high tier star winger.

Steve Larmer was a nice depth player on offense on that team, but he was pretty old/spent and retired after 94–95.

Adam Graves was never a real core player (production wise) but his 50 goal season was a result of a highly efficient PP run mostly by Leetch, Zubov & Messier.

Rangers had also shipped out two young potential star/core players on offense in Weight and Amonte for Tikkanen, Matteau & Noonan.

So, the only thing that really worked offensively speaking in the following seasons was an old Messier. They even brought in Petr Nedved (from St. Louis) for the 94–95 season just to ship him out immediately (to Pittsburgh).

Then, instead of building on their own group of forwards, the team became an old boys club instead with older forward versions of Robitaille, Gretzky, etc..

Niklas Sundström came over in 95–96 and (for some reason) was dubbed "The Prince of New York", but I don’t think he shocked anyone back home in Sweden when he turned out to be quite mediocre offensively speaking on the NHL level, and maxed out at 52 points in his sophomore year.

So what could have been their future group on offense (Weight, Kovalev, Amonte, Sundström) didn’t happen. Partly because of veteran depth need for a (succesful) short term run (Weight and Amonte being shipped out) and partly because of talent not working out as expected (Kovalev, Sundström).

 

[The Panther]

Yes, ehhedler (above) summed it up well. Lots of money to spend around the core of Messier, Leetch, Richter. Spring 1994 worked for them, but those trades losing Weight and Amonte may have cost more than they gained. 1992, they were great. 1993 sucked. 1994 great. 1995 sucked. 1996 great. 1997 not bad. 1998 and thereafter sucked.

I understand why they got frustrated with Kovalev, but they still should have kept him.

 

[jghockey]

I understand why they got frustrated with Kovalev, but they still should have kept him.

They were right in trading him. The mistake was trading him for Nedved. They should have traded Kovalev for Pavel Bure when they had the chance.

Imagine Bure on a line with Gretzky.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

Ah man where to start with this. 94-95 was definitely lackluster but they were coming off of a cup and a lock out and had a new coach on top of that. After 95 Smith did what anyone else would, he tried to win it again, however they made so many mistakes in that summer of 95.

The trades they made that summer were what killed them. The Zubov and Nedved for Robitille and Samuelsson deal was initially to add some secondary scoring and bulk up the D which Philly had ravaged in the 95 playoffs. Other than the result of this trade another major fact was that Teemu Selanne could have been had instead of the previously mentioned players. Selanne had just flipped a car in Finland and was considered a dangerous asset, however in hindsight would have been a much better option. Another trade that wasn't done was Kovalev and Matteau for Shanhahan. This wasn't done due to ownership not waiting to give Smith the go ahead and Messier being in Neil Smith's ear not to trade Kovalev. That team in 95-96 with that roster and adding Gretzky in 96-97 would have at least won 1 more cup. That's my biggest qualm with those 90s teams. Should have had 2-3 cups instead of the 1 but after 94 everything was done Messier's way and Neil Smith was afraid to piss him off. mY biggest what if with these guys is 92. If the strike never happens and Ron Francis's shot never goes in they win a cup 2 years earlier with that young core mentioned above. With that confidence I could see them winning the 2-3 I mentioned.

 

[tony d]

The team was just there following the Cup win of 1994, made the playoffs every year except 1998. A team with Messier and Leetch perhaps should have been more than just there during that time IMO.

 

[jghockey]

The team was just there following the Cup win of 1994, made the playoffs every year except 1998. A team with Messier and Leetch perhaps should have been more than just there during that time IMO.

A big problem that the Rangers did not address was that they did not get a great finisher to complement Gretzky's passing skills. Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, Alex Mogilny, Ziggy Palffy, and Pavel Bure were all available. Even Gretzky said that had the Rangers gotten Pavel Bure, he would have stayed with the Rangers for another 2-3 seasons.