When Mark Messier arrived in New York, Rangers fans were justifiably excited. He was one year removed from a Stanley Cup championship with the Edmonton Oilers. His five Cups with the Oilers were something that brought hope to long-suffering fans in New York.
In the 1991-92 season, Messier delivered on the promise to turn the team around. The Rangers won a division title and made it to the second round in the 1992 playoffs.
The following season, however, the Rangers sank. They missed the postseason, ushering in one of the most dedicated missions in NHL history. By the spring of 1994, a guaranteed win and a gutsy showing allowed Messier and the Rangers to end one of the longest droughts in NHL history.
That was the last time a Rangers captain hoisted the Cup. The next three seasons, the Blueshirts made it to the conference semi-finals each season and the Eastern Conference Final in 1997, but ultimately fell to Eric Lindros and the Philadelphia Flyers,
It was also the only season Messier played with longtime teammate Wayne Gretzky in New York.
With Messier’s contract up that summer, the Rangers wanted to move on from Messier. Then-GM Neil Smith dropped a lowball, one-year, $4 million offer.
Messier passed.
But the real intention behind Smith’s overtures was the failed pursuit of Joe Sakic. While the Rangers went after Sakic, Messier sought greener pastures in Vancouver.
Needless to say, that didn’t go well out west. The debacle that was Messier with the Canucks is well-documented. It was one of the biggest blunders by the Canucks’ organization.
For the Rangers, it meant a death spiral for the organization. The Blueshirts failed to make the postseason from the 1997-98 season until the 2005-06 campaign.
That eight-year span, including the 2004-05 lockout season, was wasted years. Had Messier stayed in New York and played with Gretzky during his final two seasons, the Rangers could have been a dynasty.
The dynasty that could have been for the Rangers
Yes, it has been three seasons since their Stanley Cup win when Messier left New York. But in that last campaign, the Rangers had come so close to making it back to the Cup Final. They had gone all the way to the Conference Final.
The team still had a talented roster. Gretzky was still prime time, notching 90 points in 1997-98. Had Messier been on the club, the Rangers would not only have made the playoffs, but they could have made another strong run.
Unfortunately, Messier’s departure signaled that it was time to unwind from the veteran core. Gretzky was done after posting career lows in 1998-99. The Rangers just weren’t the same club. And, well, the writing was on the wall.
Messier returned in 2000. By then, the core that had won the 1994 Cup was long gone. While he remained a solid player, the outstanding production he once had was nowhere to be found.
The Rangers’ window of contention had closed on that era. Perhaps if the Rangers had signed Messier in 1997 and gotten Sakic, the Rangers would have been a powerhouse for the next few seasons.
Of course, all of that remains in what-if territory. Messier and the Rangers wasted an opportunity to win one or two more Cups before Messier, Gretzky, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, Mike Richter, among others, called it quits.
Perhaps that all happened in an alternate timeline. But as far as this one is concerned, that was never the case.
Add us as a preferred source on Google