New York Rangers: A tribute to the Black Aces of 1994

The 1994 Black Aces are immortals…which 2020 New York Rangers could earn that distinction?

Every season, a handful of lucky players get called up for the Stanley Cup Playoffs when NHL teams are allowed to expand their rosters, regardless of the salary cap.  These players can practice with the team and can get into games if there are injuries.  For the 1994 New York Rangers, there were five players who earned the distinction.

The Rangers’ Black Aces were Ed Olczyk, Nick Kypreos, Doug Lidster,  Mike Hartman and Mike Hudson.   Back up goalie Glenn Healy is an honorary member, though he was with the team the entire season and playoffs as Mike Richter’s understudy.

In 1994, Lidster did play in nine playoff games, Kypreos got into three and Olczyk played in one playoff game.  Hartman and Hudson were present for every game, but never saw action.

Interestingly enough, all of the Black Aces have their names engraved on the Cup although they didn’t all meet the criteria.   The requirements are that you have to play over 40 games in the regular season or appear in at least one Finals game.

Lidster qualified because he played in all seven games of the Finals, replacing the injured Alexander Karpovtsev.   He had come to the Rangers when they traded John Vanbiesbrouck to Vancouver the previous June.

Kypreos qualified in both categories, having played in 46 regular season games and he also made his only appearance in the Finals in Game Seven.

Mike Hudson never saw any playoff action, but played in 48 regular season games.

The Rangers petitioned the NHL to include  Olczyk and Hartman on the Stanley Cup and their names were added before the next season.  Hartman didn’t play in the playoffs, but did see action in 35 regular season games.  Olczyk didn’t make the cut, appearing in 37 regular season games and in only one playoff game, the sixth game of the Conference Finals against the Devils also known as the “Mark Messier Guarantee Game.”   Because the number of regular season games was so close to the cutoff, the NHL allowed them to be added.

The 1994 Stanley Cup Playoff team was remarkably resilient.  21 skaters saw action in the playoffs , only three more than the minimum, with 12 of the skaters playing in all 23 games. Add in Jeff Beukeboom, Sergei Zubov, Brian Noonan and Kevin Lowe who missed only one game each and 16 Rangers  players were incredibly hardy in a war of attrition.

The 2020 Black Aces

This extended 2019-20 hockey season may feature more Black Aces than ever before.  The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in expanded rosters for the post-season with the report that teams will be able to carry a 28 man active roster.  How that differentiates from the traditional Stanley Cup Playoffs is a question as in prior years there was no limit on the number of players a team could carry during the postseason.   Since there are health concerns, the report is that teams will be limited to 50 team personnel, including players, to travel to the hub cities.

There are no limits being placed on the number of players a team can invite to their training camps, scheduled to begin no earlier than July 10.   When the season was halted in March, the Rangers had 19 skaters and three goaltenders with the team.

The 19 skaters included 13 forwards in Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil, Phil Di Giuseppe, Jesper Fast, Steven Fogarty, Julien Gauthier, Brett Howden, Kaapo Kakko, Brendan Lemieux, Greg McKegg, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad, The six defensemen were Tony DeAngelo, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, Marc Staal and Jacob Trouba.

Add in Chris Kreider, recovered from his broken foot and that’s a total of 20 out of the 25 skater slots on the 28 man roster.

That means five more skaters could be added for the qualifying round scheduled for this summer.  That could mean seven New York Ranger Black Aces when play resumes.  There’s no way of knowing who will make that list, but it promises to be quite a battle.