Though there’s rampant optimism with the Sullivan hire, it’s worth taking a look at the highs and lows, successes and misses with Rangers coaches over the years.

As the Rangers approach their centennial season, we take a look back on their 99 years of coaching history, including some of the best and worst numbers, most successful and least successful coaches, and the coaches who’ve helped the Rangers win the four Stanley Cup championships in franchise history.

Here’s a look at the history of Blueshirts bench bosses.

Related: Mike Sullivan hire by Rangers a ‘home run’: Brian Boyle

Longest-tenured Rangers coaches

1. Emile Francis – 654 games
2. Lester Patrick – 604 games
3. Frank Boucher – 527 games
4. Alain Vigneault – 410 games
5. Tom Renney – 327 games

No surprise here that the longest-tenured coaches go way back, leading the way with Emile Francis and Lester Patrick each coaching more than 600 games. More recently, however, Alain Vigneault earned a spot in the top five by coaching 410 games from 2014-18. Tom Renney also cracks the top five, coaching from 2005-09.

Most wins as Rangers coach

1. Emile Francis – 342
2. Lester Patrick – 281
3. Alain Vigneault – 226
4. Frank Boucher – 181
5. John Tortorella – 171

Coaching the longest goes hand in hand with earning the most wins, which is why this list and the next, most losses, will look pretty similar. Again, Francis, Patrick, Vigneault, and Boucher all find themselves in the top five. But cracking the list is John Tortorella, who earned 171 wins with the Rangers from 2009-13.

Related: Only 1 other coach topped Peter Laviolette in 1st season with Rangers

Most losses as Rangers coach

1. Frank Boucher – 263
2. Lester Patrick – 216
3. Emile Francis – 209
4. Alain Vigneault – 147
5. Phil Watson – 124

Best Rangers coaching records by points percentage

1. Mike Keenan – .667 (52-24-8)
2. Gerard Gallant – .662 (99-46-19)
3. Peter Laviolette – .607 (94-59-11)
4. Emile Francis – .602 (342-209, 103 ties)
5. Alain Vigneault – .596 (226-147-37)

Worst Rangers coaching records by points percentage

1. Alf Pike – .378 (36-66-21)
2. Red Sullivan – .385 (58-103-35)
3. Tom Webster – .389 (5-9-4)
4. Bill Cook – .393 (34-59-24)
5. Muzz Patrick – .415 (43-66-27)

Most Rangers games coached in postseason

1. Emile Francis – 75
2. Lester Patrick – 65
3. Alain Vigneault – 61
4. John Tortorella – 44
5. Colin Campbell – 36
6. Roger Neilson – 29
7. Frank Boucher – 27 *Won Stanley Cup 1940
8. Gerard Gallant – 27
9. Fred Shero – 27
10. Tom Renney/Herb Brooks – 24

Best Rangers playoff record by coach (points percentage)

1. Mike Keenan – .696 (16-7) *Won Stanley Cup 1994
2. Peter Laviolette – .625 (10-6)
3. Lynn Patrick – .583 (7-5)
4. Fred Shero – .556 (15-12)
5. Lester Patrick – .546 (32-26-7) *Won Stanley Cup 1928, 1933

Worst Rangers playoff record by coach (points percentage)

1. David Quinn – .000 (0-3)
2. Phil Esposito – .200 (2-8)
3. Phil Watson – .250 (4-12)
4. Doug Harvey – .333 (2-4)
5. Jean-Guy Talbot – .333 (1-2)

Related: Dave Maloney explains why former Rangers coach Jean-Guy Talbot was ‘colorful character’

New York Rangers Stanley Cup Winners

Lester Patrick: 1927-28, 1932-33

Lester Patrick guided the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup championship in 1927-28, their second season in the NHL. The Rangers played 44 regular-season games, and were 19-16-9, followed by nine playoff games. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, splitting the series 1-1 but winning 6-4 on aggregate goals. They were 1-0-1 against the Boston Bruins, but again won on aggregate goals, 5-2. That earned them a trip to the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Final, where they rallied from a 2-1 series deficit to defeat the Montreal Maroons 3-2 despite playing all five games at the Montreal Forum.

Patrick led the Rangers to their second championship in 1932-33 after a 48-game regular season in when they finished 23-17-8. The Rangers were 1-0-1 against the Montreal Canadiens, winning 8-5 on aggregate goals, and defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 in a best-of-3 Semifinal series. The Final was again a best-of-5, and the Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1. Andy Aitkenhead shut out the Maple Leafs 1-0 in the clincher, when Bill Cook scored the only goal.

Frank Boucher: 1939-40

Frank Boucher, who was named coach after the 1938-39 season when Patrick opted to focus solely on being general manager, led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup in his first season. The Rangers played 48 regular-season games, finishing 27-11-10 and coming in second to the Boston Bruins in the seven-team NHL. By now, all playoff series were best-of-7, and the Rangers defeated the Bruins in six games in the Semifinals. Despite playing only two home games (the circus had first call on dates at Madison Square Garden in those days), they again defeated the Maple Leafs in six games to win the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history. Bryan Hextall scored 2:07 into overtime to give New York a 3-2 victory in Game 6 and its third championship in 14 seasons since joining the NHL in 1926.

Mike Keenan: 1993-94

It took 54 years before Mike Keenan helped deliver the fourth Stanley Cup in team history in 1993-94. New York won the Presidents’ Trophy as the regular-season champion with a 52-24-8 record in an 84-game season. They swept the New York Islanders in the opening round and blitzed the Washington Capitals in five games in Round 2. The New Jersey Devils were a tough out, but the Rangers came back from down 3-2 in the series to win in seven, taking the deciding game 2-1 in double overtime on a goal by Stephane Matteau. They raced to a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks, lost the next two games, then won 3-2 in Game 7 for a championship that, in the words of Sam Rosen, “would last a lifetime.”

But on a recent episode of the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Keenan revealed that he came close to a second tour as Rangers coach eight years after winning the Cup.

According to Keenan, the Rangers reached out to him not long after he became coach of the Florida Panthers on Dec. 3, 2001. With the Panthers looking to trade star forward Pavel Bure, Keenan had trade discussions with the Rangers about Bure. And it’s during that time, Keenan said the Rangers tried to lure their championship-winning coach back to New York.

“Things got tight (in Florida), they weren’t drawing much (attendance) so [Panthers owner Alan Cohen] said ‘I gotta trade Pavel (Bure)’. Pavel at that time was making 10 million,” Keenan explained. “But anyway, my owner Alan Cohen would always come and sit in my office. So, I pick up the phone, it’s the New York Rangers. ‘Will you come and coach us’. He’s looking at me, he can probably hear. I hang up and he says ‘you’re not going anywhere’. I said ‘Alan, the team here, you just cut the budget by half, or more than half’. He says, ‘No. You’re not going.'”

And that was that. The Rangers didn’t land Keenan, but they did get Bure on March 18, 2002. Ron Low remained Rangers coach and they finished out of the playoffs with 80 points, 11th in the Eastern Conference.

Keenan and the Panthers didn’t fare much better and also missed the playoffs — not surprising considering the slashing of payroll and trading one of the great players in the sport. Keenan eventually became Panthers general manager and lasted until 2006 with the organization.

The Rangers went out and hired Bryan Trottier as coach for 2002-03. But that disastrous decision blew up by January when Trottier was fired after only 54 games. It was part of several dark years for the Rangers, when they missed the playoffs seven consecutive seasons.

Who knows if things would’ve been different if Keenan jumped from the Panthers to the Rangers. After his poor relationship with GM Neil Smith in 1993-94, Keenan would’ve worked for Glen Sather had he joined the Rangers in 2002.

It’s probably best for Keenan’s legacy with the Rangers that he was one-and-done, but forever a champion with the Blueshirts.

Related: Dave Maloney says Jacob Trouba was Rangers’ ‘spiritual leader’ before trade to Ducks

Mike Keenan reveals Flyers owner ‘absolutely hated’ Rangers

Keenan is the 15th all-time winningest coach in NHL history with 672 victories. He coached the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins, Panthers and Calgary Flames. He won the Stanley Cup only once despite being considered one of the great coaches of his era.

He had already achieved much success and acclaim before he joined the Rangers. In fact, Flyers owner Ed Snider tried to rectify having fired Keenan several years earlier when he tried to lure Keenan back in 1993.

“Mr. Snider invites me for breakfast, we’re having breakfast. ‘I want to talk to you about the team’ and so on.” Keenan, now 75, recounted on Spittin Chiclets. “He’s got a sports jacket on and he pulls out a five year deal in charge of player personnel and head coach. I said ‘Mr. Snider I can’t sign that right now.'”

Snider probably was stunned by that response. What happened shortly thereafter, though, infuriated him.

“So then I go and I end up now getting pursued by the New York Rangers and I sign a deal, the first to make a million and he never talked to me the rest of his life because he hated the New York Rangers. Absolutely hated the New York Rangers,” Keenan said.

The rest is history. Keenan took a talented team that collapsed and failed to make the playoffs in 1992-93, forced Smith to bring in players loyal to him and who could add bite to the Rangers roster, and helped the Rangers win their first Stanley Cup championship since 1940.

It became known that during the Cup run, Keenan was negotiating to become coach and GM of the Blues. It was a wild and crazy ride that ended in divorce not long after the ticker tape was cleaned up in New York City.

But at least there was good reason for that parade. “This one will last a lifetime.” Indeed.

Olczyk and Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla are replacing Mike Gartner and David Branch. Gartner, a teammate of Olczyk’s with the Rangers in the early 1990s, will transition to Chair of the Board in June 2025. 

The Rangers acquired Olczyk from the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 28, 1992, in return for forwards Tie Domi and Kris King. He had 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 103 games for New York before being traded back to the Jets on April 7, 1995, for a fifth-round pick in the 1995 NHL Draft. The Chicago native played 1,031 NHL games for six teams, finishing his career with 794 points (342 goals, 452 assists) – and one Stanley Cup ring.

Olczyk had the fourth of his six NHL hat tricks with the Rangers, scoring three goals in a 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 24, 1993. But coach Mike Keenan didn’t like him, and Olczyk spent much of the 1993-94 regular season watching from the press box. The same was true during the run to the Cup; he dressed only once — in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils, a night better known for Mark Messier’s victory guarantee and third-period hat trick in a 4-2 victory at the Meadowlands.

In “The Wait Is Over,” published in 2014, Olczyk remembered his one playoff appearance in the Cup year.

“That day was pretty surreal,” he said. “I hadn’t played since the trade deadline in March; it had been 2 1/2 months or so. In typical Keenan fashion — we’d had some injuries, guys had been taped up for a period of time in the playoffs. I was standing by the stick rack at the old Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands and Keenan comes up to me and kind of looks at me and says, ‘What was your best year in the NHL scoring goals?’

“I looked at him and I was thinking, ‘Really? You’re asking me that question, like you don’t know that or you don’t have access to a media guide?’ I told him I had scored 42 goals one year in Toronto (in 1987-88) and had five straight 30-goal seasons. I pretty much thought it was an interview or an audition, like I was going in for a job interview.

“He said, ‘You scored 42 goals one year?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I scored 42 goals with Toronto.’ He looks at me, he looks at my sticks, and says, ‘You’re playing tonight. You’re going to play. We need you. The guys trust you, the guys love you. I trust you.’ — he wouldn’t say he loved me, but that was OK. He said, ‘You’re playing tonight.’”

Related: John Vanbiesbrouck believes he could’ve led Rangers to Stanley Cup like Mike Richter

Ed Olczyk recalls his one appearance in 1994 Rangers’ run to Stanley Cup championship

The Rangers entered the night trailing 3-2 in the series, and Olczyk said the pregame atmosphere in the locker room before the game was “pretty tight and tense.”

“That’s the one thing I remember — it was very quiet. We had our guys who would talk — me and ‘Heals’ (goalie Glenn Healy). We had the yappers, the guys who would keep everybody loose, and then Esa Tikkanen would say a few things but no one could understand him because he was speaking seven languages—you really couldn’t understand him. I don’t want to say ‘tight,’ but we were tense. We really were.

“I just remember it was really quiet, no one had said anything for a period of time — I don’t know if it was three minutes or five minutes—and Kevin Lowe just saying, ‘Well Mess, I guess we’ve got to win this one.’ Everybody just kind of broke up into a giggle and ‘Mess’ had that smirk on his face that he likes to have every once in a while. It was one of those situations where this is it, Mess said what he said. We had plenty of confidence.”

Messier backed up his victory guarantee, but the unsung hero that night, according to Olczyk, was goaltender Mike Richter, who kept the Rangers within two goals before the offense woke up late in the second period

“Probably the greatest goaltending performance I’ve ever seen in a playoff game ever was Mike Richter in that game,” Olczyk says. “Mike Richter was incredible in that game. If not for ‘Ricky,’ we don’t win at all. He was absolutely incredible. He gave us a chance to win.

“He made a couple of big saves when it was 2–0. [Alexei] Kovalev scored late in the second to make it 2–1, and then the rest is history.”

Even though he didn’t play much of a role in winning the Cup, the member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2012 remembered 20 years later that Rangers fans hadn’t forgotten him and some of the other lesser lights on the team.

“People appreciated the skill and the way that we played,” he said. “We also could play that hard-nosed [style] where the role play­ers were important; guys like Greg Gilbert, Mike Hudson, Joey Kocur, Brian Noonan, Stephane Matteau, all those guys. People appreciated it, and we could play pretty much any way that you wanted. “I think people were proud of the way we han­dled ourselves both on and off the ice. We had a lot of fun. People knew the pressure we were under, and it still is much appreciated, as it has been over the years.

“It’s really amazing—I’m honored and humbled. There are so many people, all walks of Rangers fans, from the Blueshirts to police officers to firemen to people that work in the Garden. It makes you feel really good. They’ll tell you stories line, ‘My dad never thought he’d see a Cup and he saw it in ’94. I’m glad he was able to be on this earth and have seen a Stanley Cup.’ It just makes you feel really good.”

The five episodes of “Game 7” available to Amazon Prime subscribers include: 2003 ALCS – New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox, 1987 Stanley Cup Final – Edmonton Oilers vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 2006 WCSF – Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs,  2016 World Series – Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Indians, 1994 Stanley Cup Final – New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks.

There’s your Rangers connection.

As described by the press release- “GAME 7 brings the two greatest words in sports to life in a new five-part anthology series. With first-hand accounts from both the winning and losing athletes who participated in these high-stakes showdowns, each episode goes behind the scenes to revisit the most iconic moments of the most memorable games in history. From the Chicago Cubs’ drought-shattering 2016 World Series victory to the New York Ranger’s win in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, the series will explore how this quintessential test of maximum pressure and extreme intensity weighs on the hearts and minds of the legendary stars at the center of them.”

Although Rangers fans have enjoyed “No Easy Victories” on E60, “Road To Victory” by MSG Network, and “June 17th, 1994” by ESPN 30 For 30, this piece brings new perspectives and a different narrative arch about the historical subject matter of that incredible 1994 postseason.

Related: Former Rangers goalie believes he could’ve led them to Stanley Cup in 1994 like Mike Richter

Breaking down New York Rangers episode in new Amazon Prime series

The structure

The Rangers episode is nonlinear. Mark Messier’s life is briefly overviewed from his childhood onward with ample photos and videos to supplement the years before he became a hockey icon. It also touches upon the lead-up from the 1991-92 season.

But the heart of the documentary begins five hours before the puck drop in Game 7, highlighting Rangers fans with newsreels, TV shows, and radio clips talking about the Stanley Cup.

This episode summarizes the 1993-94 New York Rangers regular season and playoffs in quick fashion. The 53-minute program focuses mainly on Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final as its centerpiece.

New, clean footage

A score of never-before-seen footage will entertain die-hards and new fans alike. The film has really clear images and videos of on-ice action, not just broadcast video, including practice footage of the Canucks and Rangers before Game 7.

Audio, visual, and narration cuts are dramatic. Each word has a coordinated visual to pack the punch. There are also brief mic ’d-up shots from the game of Ranger players and coach Mike Keenan.

Both Gary Thorne and Sam Rosen broadcast audio is used to provide lyrics to the piece. A rotating sky cam, on-ice cameras, and sharp shots of cameras trained on specific players complement the broadcast footage.

Brief but sharp footage of the 1940 championship win is a nice addition. The 1994 game-play visuals are smooth, and very clean without blur or pixelation. It’s an impressive display of tape captured from 31 years ago.

Messier is an executive producer of this docuseries, along with well-known actor Danny Devito.

Candid bond between Mark Messier and Brian Leetch on display

Keenan, Rosen, John McEnroe, Trevor Linden and Adam Graves add their perspectives. Keenan is subdued and gives a lot of credit to Messier.

Brian Leetch is also an interview subject, featured with Messier walking through Madison Square Garden recently They speak with one another rather than the director Daniel Amigan, reminiscing and shedding light on their relationship, the team, and bits of fun facts not discussed previously.

This is a highlight for any Rangers fan, being brought inside that 1994 championship by Messier and Leetch.

If you think you’ve seen or heard it all when it some to the 1994 New York Rangers, this documentary proves otherwise. And who can resist another peek back to 1994, the only Stanley Cup championship in 84 years for the Rangers?

GAME 7 is produced by Words + Pictures and directed by Daniel Amigone. GAME 7 is executive produced by Connor Schell (co-creator of 30 for 30, executive producer of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and The Last Dance), Aaron Cohen, and Anneka Jones of Words + Pictures; six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier, Mat Vlasic, and Isaac Chera of GAME 7; and Danny DeVito, Jake DeVito, and Lucy DeVito of Jersey Films 2^nd Avenue.

Campbell was elected in the builders category, mainly for his work at the executive level in the NHL league office, where he’s currently an executive vice-president for the NHL and its director of hockey operations.

The former NHL defenseman was an associate coach with the Rangers under Roger Neilson for two seasons beginning in 1991-92. He then held the same position in 1993-94 under Mike Keenan when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup.

After Keenan left the Rangers, Campbell replaced him as coach for three-plus seasons, before joining the League’s front office.

Welcome to the Hockey Hall of Fame, ​Colin Campbell.#HHOF2024 | #HHOF pic.twitter.com/1wgmUa2llI

— Hockey Hall of Fame (@HockeyHallFame) June 25, 2024

Campbell is the 65th person with Rangers ties in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He joins Henrik Lundqvist, enshrined in 2023, and Kevin Lowe, in 2020, as the most recent Blueshirt inductees.

In all, 55 players and 10 builders with a connection to the Rangers are in the HHOF.

Unless there’s a shift in thinking regarding Mike Richter, or even John Vanbiesbrouck, it could be a while before another Blueshirt gains entry into the Hall.

Related: Rangers showing ‘serious interest’ in Ducks forward: report

Rangers next options to join Hockey Hall of Fame

On the current roster, it’s a bit too early anoint Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox or even Artemi Panarin a sure-fire future Hall of Famer. Shesterkin’s Vezina Trophy in 2022, Fox’s Norris Trophy the season before and Panarin’s sustained regular-season brilliance at least raise hopes each will one day reach the greatest of heights in the sport. Of course, some more hardware — the Stanley Cup (cough, cough) — would enhance each resume.

So, removing those three from the equation for now, let’s examine some options about who could be the next person with Rangers ties enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Jonathan Quick

Jonathan Quick is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and the winningest United States-born goalie in NHL history (393 wins). He has the second-most wins among active goalies (Sergei Bobrovsky, 396) and only 14 goalies are ahead of him on the all-time NHL wins list.

In short, he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame one day.

But for now, the 38-year-old is the No. 2 goalie for the Rangers behind Shesterkin, and had a renaissance season in 2023-24. So, there’s retirement talk just yet. But when he does hang ’em up, Quick will be immortalized in Toronto.

Patrick Kane

Patrick Kane played only 26 games with the Rangers (19 regular season, seven playoffs) after they acquired him ahead of the 2023 trade deadline. Playing through a hip injury that required significant surgery following that season, Kane totaled 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) with the Blueshirts and eventually signed with the Detroit Red Wings last season.

Like Quick, though, Kane is a no-doubt Hall of Famer. He’s also a three-time Stanley Cup champion, one with a Hart Trophy, Calder Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and Art Ross Trophy on his lengthy resume. With 1,284 career points, Kane trails only Mike Modano for most by a United States-born skater in the NHL.

An unrestricted free agent July 1, there’s been some talk about a Rangers reunion with Kane next season.

Doug Weight

Speaking of great United States-born players in NHL history, consider Doug Weight. Though not nearly as dynamic as Kane, Weight had 1,033 points in 1,238 games, eighth most by a U.S.-born skater in NHL history, five more than his former Rangers teammate Brian Leetch. The Rangers selected Wight in the second round of the 1990 NHL Draft and he played two seasons in New York before being shipped to the Edmonton Oilers for Esa Tikkanen, who helped the Blueshirts win the Stanley Cup in 1994.

Weight helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in 2006 and won the King Clancy Trophy in 2011. Some consider him a compiler of stats since he only had one 100-point season and topped 80 points only three times. But he’s in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and has an outside shot at landing in Toronto.

Peter Laviolette

Peter Laviolette just led the Rangers to the most wins (55) and points (114) in franchise history. Not a bad start to his tenure on Broadway. But he’s been all about winning in his career. Laviolette is the winningest U.S.-born coach in NHL history, and seventh all-time, with 807 victories. He needs just 43 wins to pass Ken Hitchcock for sixth place all-time.

Laviolette led the Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup championship in 2006.

John Tortorella

If we’re considering Laviolette, than John Tortorella must be included on this list too. The former Rangers coach, who now is behind the Philadelphia Flyers bench, is the second-winningest U.S.-born coach in NHL history, and ninth all-time, with 742 victories. He needs just 41 wins to pass Al Arbour for eighth place.

Tortorella guided the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2004.

Mike Keenan

Mike Keenan is a more controversial, and debatable, Hall of Fame candidate. He famously led the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup championship and won 672 games as coach with eight teams, 15th most in League history. He’s the only NHL coach to take three different teams to the STanley Cup Final, though he only won with New York.

On the International stage, Keenan coached Canada to a Canada Cup championship in 1987 and won the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg in the KHL in 2014. He’s the only coach to win championships in both the NHL and KHL.

“Not once did you feel any jealousy in that room,” Stephane Matteau said recently. “There was no pointing fingers when times got tough. … It was a special group of players.”

At the heart was Mark Messier’s inclusive leadership style, and lead-by-example accountability. And it sure helped that his messages were supported and shared by respected veterans Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, Esa Tikkanen and others.

It simply was a special group of players Neil Smith, and Mike Keenan, brought together to ultimately win the first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.

“Everyone was important,” Mike Richter explained. “Sure, you had ‘Mess’ and ‘Leetchie’ (Brian Leetch), guys like that. Great players. But you’d go to practice, and there’d be ‘Eddie O’ leading the stretch every day and at the end leading the ‘Heave Ho!’ chant. Glenn Healy joking with everybody. Mike Hartman. Everybody played an important role, whether they were in the lineup or not.

“It was so much fun to go to work every day. The laughs. Everyone was a target, but in a fun way. Everyone was included.”

Related: Inside the meeting that saved Rangers 1994 Cup season

Rangers players stuck together to win 1994 Stanley Cup championship

Things weren’t nearly as copasetic with Smith and Keenan though. The Rangers general manager and his hand-picked coach were at odds throughout their one-year tenure together.

“When people ask me when did things turn bad between them, I always say ‘as soon as they got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii,'” former Madison Square Garden president Bob Gutkowski told Forever Blueshirts.

“They hated each other.”

Worse, they barely communicated and actually had stopped speaking to each other for a long stretch heading into the 1994 NHL trade deadline. Gutkowski explained to Forever Blueshirts how he ordered his two prideful employees to a meeting two days before the deadline to break the ice after Keenan told the president at that the Rangers weren’t good enough to win the championship.

The rest, of course, is history. At Keenan’s behest, Smith swung several massive trades ahead of the deadline that made the Rangers a much harder team to play against, and eventually a Stanley Cup champion.

Gutkowski also explained how he had a sit down with Keenan after Messier told him that the coach was losing the team following his bizarre actions and “explanations” during and after the ugly Game 4 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Final.

Despite fractures with the GM and coach, and coach and players, Messier stepped forward to say something needed to be done, all the while helping hold the team together.

“You just can’t fully understand how much pressure Messier was under,” ESPN’s Jeremy Schapp recently told Forever Blueshirts.

But the players stuck together, always.

“No one was blaming anyone (in the difficult times). We just tried to help each other find answers,” Matteau explained.

That they did.

From Messier’s “Guarantee,” to Lowe’s powerful speech after the Devils tied Game 7 of the conference final that forced overtime, to Matteau’s double OT series winner that same night to Richter’s save on Pavel Bure’s penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final to Adam Graves screaming “1940!” after the final buzzer in Game 7 of the Final against the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite the chaos and simply wicked pressure that surrounded them, the players on the 1993-94 Rangers turned inward always to rely on each other and be there for one another.

Without that, we wouldn’t be wishing them a Happy 30th Anniversary today.

During that memorable season, the press reported that there were issues between Neil Smith and Mike Keenan. However, it wasn’t until Barry Meisel’s outstanding book, Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers, that everyone found out just how tumultuous things became between the general manager and the coach.

So, how did these two clashing egos find a way to work out their differences and get on the same page to bring Broadway its only championship since 1940? A gentleman that loved to wear a tuxedo and also happened to be president of Madison Square Garden called for a meeting days before the ’94 trade deadline that by all accounts saved the season.

Related: 1994 Trade Deadline biggest in history

Meeting that saved Rangers 1994 Season

In November of 2022, Bob Gutkowski reached out to me after reading stories I had written about the Blueshirts Cup-winning season. It was at that time, he informed me that he was in the process of writing a book about his incredible time running Madison Square Garden.

Through several email exchanges and phone calls, I learned of a meeting that took place prior to the biggest trade deadline for any team in NHL history. It was a revealing conversation filled with insights I had never heard before, but Bob asked me not to divulge this information until his book was released.

That time has now come.

On June 11, Gut Punch, by Bob Gutkowski and Wally Matthews was released by Palmetto Publishing and is on sale wherever books are sold. To promote his new book, and fulfill a promise to jump on the Forever Blueshirts Show, we go inside the meeting that saved the season.

“As we got into the first quarter of ’94, their relationship was really in trouble,” Gutkowski recollected. “It got to a point where they stopped talking to each other in February. There was no dialogue between general manager and coach. Here we are leading the League, and that was of great concern.

“About a day or two before the trading deadline in March, I get a call in my office from Rob Campbell, who was Mike’s agent. He says to me, ‘I am calling you on behalf of my client, and he wants me to represent to you that he believes the team is not good enough win, and he doesn’t want to be held accountable if they don’t win the Stanley Cup.”

Upset over receiving that call, Gutkowski realized that in order to salvage the Rangers’ chances, he would have to get involved. Immediately, he told Campbell to get Keenan to a meeting at his office, and then asked Neil Smith to attend.

Surprisingly, Smith did not want to go. Gutkowski then issued an ultimatum to his general manager to attend or be fired.

“You have to go. If you’re not there, you’re gone,” Gutkowski warned Smith. “This is the guy you wanted. Now you guys are not talking and I think we’ve got a real problem. We’re going to meet tomorrow in my office to work it out, and we did! It turned out to be this fascinating meeting which I believe really was ultimately the reason the Cup was won.”

Rangers get gritty

Of course, the meeting between Smith and Keenan needed a mediator to get the ball rolling. So, Gutkowski had them sit on separate sides of the table and put himself in the middle of the fire ready to let it rip.

“I got a real problem here,” he began. “I got a coach that thinks the team isn’t good enough. I’ve got a general manager that thinks the team is good enough. I don’t think the team is good enough, the Garden is being sold, and only one guy in this room is going to get screwed– That’s me. So, we’re going to sit here, and work it out until we figure out what we need to do to win the Cup.”

Gutkowski had Keenan kick things off, and what his coach said resonates with him till this day.

“Mike said, ‘I’m like a baker and I know we need more sugar in this icing, or you guys are going to get seduced like you did in ’92,’ and I never forgot that line,” Gutkowski relayed how Keenan bringing up that playoff failure was an important reminder.

The sugar that Keenan was talking about was grit. However, Gutkowski urged him to explain to Smith exactly what he needed, and no one could leave until it was done.

“You two guys, who are very good at what you do, are going to leave this room and figure out how to win the Cup,” Gutkowski stated.

After months of no communication, both Keenan and Smith had a productive dialogue to where Gutkowski left the room no longer feeling needed. On March 21, 1994, the League-leading Rangers went for it all by making four trades that included moving two top-six forwards in Mike Gartner and Tony Amonte.

In exchange, Smith added players that fit Keenan’s description in Stephane Matteau, Brian Noonan, Glenn Anderson, and Craig MacTavish. All would play key roles in the magical run to the Stanley Cup.

Although Smith doesn’t recall the meeting, Gutkowski states that Neil deferred to his former boss’ memory.

Winning the Stanley Cup is never easy. Along the way there are many moments that you can point back to as pivotal to the journey. Trading for Mark Messier at the start of the 1991-92 season is certainly the biggest one, as was the decision to keep Mike Richter over John Vanbiesbrouck.

There’s also Messier’s ‘Guarantee’ against the Devils in Game 6, followed by “Matteau, Matteau, Matteau” in double-overtime of Game 7. Richter stopping Pavel Bure on a penalty shot, and the nail-biting Game 7 against the Canucks that ended with one last face-off with 1.6 seconds on the clock.

Finally, we can add a meeting held in Bob Gutkowski’s office to the lore of the 1994 run.

Laviolette coached the Rangers to a franchise-record 55 wins and 114 points in the regular season, helping them earn their fourth Presidents’ Trophy. He also coached in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game and finished fourth in the voting for the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year Laviolette received five first-place votes, tied for third-most among all coaches.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Laviolette guided New York to a 10-6 record before the Rangers were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.

Those 65 combined wins moved Laviolette past Gerard Gallant (62 combined wins and a conference final appearance in 2021-22) as the second-most successful coach in his inaugural season with the Blueshirts.

The only other coach ahead of Laviolette on that list? That would be Mike Keenan, the last coach to guide the Rangers to a Stanley Cup championship.

Keenan won 52 games in in his only season with the Rangers in 1993-94, leading them to their second Presidents’ Trophy at the time. Then in the magical spring of 1994, he guided them to a 16-7 record and the fourth Stanley Cup championship in their history, first in 54 years.

Those 68 combined victories are most for a coach in his first season with the Rangers.

Frank Boucher is the only other coach to win the Stanley Cup in his first season behind the Rangers bench. He did so in 1939-40. Boucher totaled 34 wins that season, 26 in the regular season and eight in the playoffs, when there were only six teams and the schedule was shorter.

Related: Where Rangers stand after NHL: salary cap increases

Top 5 inaugural seasons by Rangers coach

Here are some honorable mentions first: Ted Sator won 49 games combined (41 regular season, eight playoffs) in his only season as Rangers coach in 1985-86. Roger Neilson won 41 games (36 regular season, five playoffs) in 1989-90 and John Tortorella won 38 regular-season games (did not make playoffs) in his first full season of 2009-10. He replaced Tom Renney the previous season.

Renney had 47 combined wins (44 regular season, three playoffs) in 2005-06, his first full season as coach. He had replaced Glen Sather during the previous season.

5. Fred Shero – 51 combined wins

Fred Shero led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season behind the bench in 1978-79, when they lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens. Shero won 40 regular-season games and 11 in the playoffs that season.

4. Alain Vigneault – 58 combined wins

Alain Vigneault also guided the Blueshirts to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season as Rangers coach in 2013-14, but they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings. Vigneault won 45 games in the regular season and 13 in the playoffs.

3. Gerard Gallant – 62 combined wins

Gerard Gallant got the Rangers to within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final in 2021-22. He had 52 regular-season victories and 10 more in the postseason.

2. Peter Laviolette – 65 combined wins

Like Gallant, just two wins from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. He had the same 10 postseason victories as Gallant, but three more in the regular season.

1. Mike Keenan – 68 combined wins

1940 No More! Mike Keenan is the coach who hung a photo of the Stanley Cup on the locker room wall and then helped end the 54-year curse. 1993-94 was the most memorable season in Rangers history, with 52 regular-season wins and those 16 more in the playoffs.

Sprinkled in between was a political hit-job on Panarin, a major incident with Tom Wilson that reset the franchise by firing its leadership group, and the hiring of head coach Gerard Gallant. The biggest highlight was seeing New York native defenseman Adam Fox win the Norris Trophy in only his second season.

Now let’s look back at some big statistical numbers for the Blueshirts.

New York Rangers key 2021 stats

The Rangers concluded their 88th game of the calendar year 2021 with a 4-3 shootout win over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Lightning. Their record is 47-31-10 record for 104 points.

More importantly, they became the just the fifth team to register 20 wins for the 2021-22 campaign. New York’s record of 20-8-4 and 44 points has them tied for third overall in the NHL’s standings.

Artemi Panarin picked up an assist in yesterday’s victory to give him 94 points (27G-67A) in 73 games this calendar year, which is good for 5th overall in scoring in the NHL in that span. He also became the first Rangers player since Jaromir Jagr (2006) to register 90 points in a calendar year.

Other key stats:

Adam Fox claimed only the 5th Norris Trophy in franchise history. For the calendar year of 2021, his 78 points ranks second to only Tampa’s Victor Hedman (79).

Igor Shesterkin is 30-18-5 for the calendar year of 2021. His .922 SV% is tied for 7th overall and his 30 wins are tied for 9th during that timeframe.

Chris Kreider has recorded 22 power play goals in 2021 which ranks him second overall behind Leon Draisaitl’s 28. His 39 goals over the same time span ranks him tied for 8th in the NHL.

Neil Smith comments on Mike Keenan’s regrets about 1994

Mike Keenan was the last Rangers coach to win the Stanley Cup back in 1994. It wasn’t too long after the parade that he bolted for St. Louis.

“That is, and probably was, the biggest disappointment in my career,” Keenan said on an a recent appearance of the ‘Up In The Blue Seats’ podcast. “Because I felt that we had assembled a group that grew together, that really cared for each other, had the leadership, had all the talent-base that we needed to succeed again.”

While Keenan expressed regret, there’s quite a well documented history of what transpired during the Rangers Cup run. However, he seems to have a revisionist’s history about it.

“I’m not getting into all the details of how it transpired,” Keenan said. “It’s still a disappointment because I enjoyed that group, it took a lot of work to get to where we were and what we did, and then it was just heartbreaking to tell you the truth that I ended up leaving.”

Forever Blueshirts reached out to the architect of that Championship team for his comments.

As usual Mike has created his own narrative and It’s estranged from the truth,” Neil Smith told me via email. “Amazingly heartbroken (enough) to negotiate with Detroit during the Finals and ultimately end up with a big contract to be both GM and Coach of St.Louis. But he was looking forward to the next season with NYR satisfied to be just coach?”

Smith also provided the documented history for the record.

“On top of that, after a thorough league investigation Detroit was fined, St Louis was heavily fined and he was suspended,” he recalled. “The facts are clear, he was suspended by the NHL because he was negotiating a better contract with two teams while coaching NYR.”

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Soon after his trip down the Canyon of Heroes, Keenan cited a breach of contract and left the Rangers to become coach and GM of the St. Louis Blues. “Iron Mike” as he was known didn’t last long as the Blues fired him during his third season.

Keenan regrets leaving Rangers

“That is, and probably was, the biggest disappointment in my career,” Keenan said on an a recent appearance of the ‘Up In The Blue Seats’ podcast. “Because I felt that we had assembled a group that grew together, that really cared for each other, had the leadership, had all the talent-base that we needed to succeed again.”

The 72 year-old coach seems to have calmed down over the years and has taken part in numerous events honoring the 1994 team. Yet, there’s still some level of resentment from many ex-players and the former general manager, Neil Smith.

“Mike had decided he could cash in on the great series he had with the Rangers,” Smith said in an interview. “He wanted to be a manager and a coach, and maybe he thought he could get my job.” Smith also revealed that Keenan started negotiations with the Red Wings, but they backed out. “Right afterwards he already agreed to a deal with the Blues before the Rangers even finished winning the Cup in 1994.”

Keenan did not dive further into how it all fell apart with the Rangers, opting to focus on his disappointment.

“I’m not getting into all the details of how it transpired,” Keenan said. “It’s still a disappointment because I enjoyed that group, it took a lot of work to get to where we were and what we did, and then it was just heartbreaking to tell you the truth that I ended up leaving.”

Trading K’Andre Miller

The Rangers have a very well documented cap crunch coming. Coupled with several high draft picks that will see their ELC’s expire this summer and next, it can cause speculation to run wild.

The Athletic’s Arthur Staple continued his end-of-year mailbag and was asked about the Rangers future cap situation. In particular, if the team re-signs Kaapo Kakko and opts to keep Ryan Strome this summer what that means for the kids in 2023.

You probably have to focus on the young players who would draw the most interest in a trade and are in line for decent pay upgrades on their next contracts in 2023: Chytil, Lafrenière and Miller. If the Rangers can get away with moving only one of them to keep their core intact, that would be a huge win.

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Staple goes on to breakdown if they keep only one it would Alexis Lafreniére. His reason being that K’Andre Miller has legit replacements behind him in Zac Jones, Matthew Robertson, and possibly Braden Schneider if he switches sides.

The likelihood the Rangers would trade Miller, whom they drafted in the 2018 Draft in the first round 22nd overall, seems improbable. When his ELC expires in the summer of 2023, they could offer him a bridge deal for one year. That will allow them enough breathing room as both Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba’s full no-move clauses become modified.

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