The Beginning of the Curse
In 1943, the Rangers started to have some instability with their leadership. Cook had taken the role for 10 years and Coulter for five more, so the Rangers had some consistency with the voice leading the room. Two captains over 15 years show success, but that changed with Coulter's replacement, Erhardt "Ott" Heller. The first Rangers captain was not to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but that doesn't detract from the player.
Heller played his entire NHL career with the Rangers, joining the franchise for the 1932 Stanley Cup until he relinquished the captaincy in 1945. He played for the Rangers in the 1945-46 season before exploring the other hockey leagues, but he never returned to the NHL. He couldn't add to his predecessors' achievements despite a great career. He was replaced for the 1945-46 season by Neil Colville, who was a little more stable.
Colville took the captaincy for the remainder of the decade, as he left the NHL at the conclusion of the 1948-49 season, but the Rangers still hadn't had a captain lead them to the cup since Art Coulter. While everything was changing in the organization, the Rangers struggled to return to the cup. Colville was replaced for the 1949-50 season by Buddy O'Connor, but that only lasted one year before the Rangers named a new captain.
Frank Eddolls took over from then, but that was only for a season and a half. Allan Stanley replaced him for two and a half years but then was replaced by Don Raleigh for 18 months. It wasn't until 1955-56 that we got to Harry Howell, who only served as captain for two years but is the most recognizable name of this era of Rangers history. He never captured the cup but was one of the best Rangers at the time.