New York Rangers New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. The club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group
History of the New York Rangers franchise was granted in April 1926, the name "New York Rangers Professional Hockey Club" was the official name. The origin of the name Rangers, as in "Tex's Rangers", is variously attributed to Rickard himself or the New York press. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. At the time, there was no expansion draft in the NHL to help new teams ice competitive rosters, which in any other year would have made assembling a playoff contender extremely difficult. However, 1926 also happened to be the year the NHL's last major rival