The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, an arena they share with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).Founded in 1926 by Tex Rickard, the Rangers are one of the Original Six teams that competed in the NHL before its 1967 expansion, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.The Rangers subsequently embraced a rebuild for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, which eventually paid dividends in 1994, where the team, led by Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, and Mike Richter, captured their fourth Stanley Cup.Several former members of the Rangers have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, four of whom – Buddy O'Connor, Chuck Rayner, Andy Bathgate, and Messier – have won the Hart Memorial Trophy while playing for the team.[6] Future Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe was hired to assemble the team, however he had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-coach on the eve of the first season – he was paid a then-hefty $2,500 to leave.When the Rangers' starting goaltender, Lorne Chabot, left a game with an eye injury, Maroons head coach Eddie Gerard vetoed Patrick's original choice for an emergency replacement, Alex Connell of the Ottawa Senators, who was in attendance.The strength of players such as Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert (the last three constructing the famed "GAG line", standing for "goal-a-game") carried them through the playoffs.In the 1972 playoffs, with Ratelle sidelined with a broken ankle and Gilbert hampered by injuries, Walt Tkaczuk played a key role as the Rangers defeated the defending champion Canadiens and the previous year's finalists, the Black Hawks, to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.During the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, the Rangers won their first-round series with the Quebec Nordiques, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers in four games with succeeding head coach Colin Campbell.General manager Neil Smith orchestrated a deal that sent Sergei Zubov and center Petr Nedved to Pittsburgh in exchange for defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and left-winger Luc Robitaille in the summer of 1995.Mark Messier, a former Oiler teammate of Gretzky's, left in the summer of 1997 and the team failed in a bid to replace him with Colorado Avalanche superstar Joe Sakic.[29] It was also the rookie season of goalie Dan Blackburn, who made the NHL All-Rookie Team even as the Rangers fell back to last place in the Conference,[30] and finished out of the playoffs.[31] Towards the end of the 2003–04 season, general manager Glen Sather finally gave in to a rebuilding process by trading away Brian Leetch, Alexei Kovalev, and eight others for numerous prospects and draft picks.With the retirements of Pavel Bure and Mark Messier, as well as Eric Lindros signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the post-lockout Rangers, under new head coach Tom Renney, moved away from high-priced veterans towards a group of talented young players, such as Petr Prucha, Dominic Moore and Blair Betts.[33] Less than two weeks later, on April 8, Jagr scored his 53rd goal of the season against the Boston Bruins, breaking the club record previously held by Adam Graves.Realizing that the team had trouble scoring goals in the 2005–06 campaign, the Rangers signed Triple Gold Club winner and 12-time 30-goal scorer Brendan Shanahan to a one-year contract.[37] Despite the departure of Michael Nylander, the 2007 free agency season started with a bang for the Rangers, with the signing of two high-profile centerman; Scott Gomez on a seven-year contract, as well as Chris Drury on a five-year deal.A successful start to the season, however, was tempered with by the news of the sudden death of 2007 first-round pick Alexei Cherepanov, which occurred during a KHL game in Russia on October 13.After the Rangers went 2–7–3 in 12 games, coach Tom Renney was fired, with 2004 Stanley Cup and Jack Adams Award winner John Tortorella named as his replacement.On June 30, 2009, the Rangers traded Scott Gomez, Tom Pyatt, and Michael Busto to the Montreal Canadiens for Ryan McDonagh, Chris Higgins, Pavel Valentenko, and Doug Janik.[48] On June 20, 2014, a week after their season ended, the Rangers bought-out the remaining six years of Brad Richards' contract in order to free up salary cap space.[49] On October 6, defenseman Ryan McDonagh was named the Rangers' 27th captain in team history, with Derek Stepan, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Martin St. Louis serving as alternates.By February 8, 2018, the team had a 25–24–5 record, leading the front office to issue a letter to fans announcing the Rangers would be committing to a rebuild and may "lose some familiar faces" in the process.The following day, the Rangers traded captain Ryan McDonagh and J. T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vladislav Namestnikov, prospects Brett Howden and Libor Hajek, and multiple draft picks.[75] Davidson and Gorton addressed the team's defensive woes by acquiring top prospect Adam Fox from Carolina for a pair of picks,[76] as well as veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba.[79] The 2019–20 season was a step forward for the rebuilding Rangers; Panarin lived up expectations and earned a Hart Trophy nomination,[80] rookie goaltender Igor Shesterkin proved to be a worthy successor to aging superstar Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Kreider signed a seven-year contract extension,[81] and Mika Zibanejad emerged as an elite forward, recording a 5-goal-game against Washington on March 5 and ending up with 41 goals in 57 games played.[87] The Rangers organization released a statement expressing disappointment in this decision, calling head of player safety George Parros "unfit to continue in his current role".[92] Despite a tumultuous season, a major bright spot was the play of Adam Fox; he led NHL defensemen with 42 assists, finished second in points with 47, and won the James Norris Memorial Trophy.[102] During the tenure of general manager John Ferguson Sr., he sought to modernize the Rangers sweater by featuring rounded numbers, a darker shade of blue and the shield logo, which was unveiled in the 1976–77 season.[113] This same design was again used for their 2022–23 "Reverse Retro" uniform, but the lighter Broadway Blue served as the base color while the lower sleeves were recolored red with white and navy stripes.