For the majority of the 21st Century, the New York Rangers have experienced considerable success. Although they've not won the Stanley Cup this century, they've consistently made the playoffs.
Since the 2000-01 season, they've made the playoffs 15 times and have the most playoff wins without a Cup win during that time. It's an era of stability that few teams have been able to achieve, and many wish they could have it.
However, while the majority of this century has been successful, it did not start that way. In fact, the first few years of the new millennium saw the Rangers struggle to find regular-season success.
None were worse than the 2003-04 season, which is the worst season in franchise history. But what made this season so terrible?
Why 2003-04 is a season most Rangers fans wish they could forget
The 2003-04 season was a transition year for the franchise. Many of the players from the 1993-94 team that won the Stanley Cup were gone, including Mike Richter, who had retired just before the start of the season.
There were a few players left from that team, such as Mark Messier and Brian Leetch; however, they were nowhere near the caliber of players they were during the Cup run. They also had the highest payroll of any other NHL team going into the season.
The first few months of the season were not terrible for the Rangers. For the first three months of the season, the Blueshirts were an average hockey team, posting a record of 15-13-5-3. This was right in line with how the Rangers had been playing the few years before. It appeared that it would be another average, forgettable season.
However, once the calendar switched to 2004, things began to fall apart. Over the final three months of the season, they had a record of 12-27-2-5. This gave them a record of 27-40-7-8, good for 69 points. They finished fourth in the Atlantic Division and 13th overall in the Eastern Conference; only the Penguins and Capitals were worse in the East.
It was the lowest point total since the 1997-98 season. It also marked the seventh straight season they missed the playoffs.
It was not just the poor on-ice play that made this season the worst; it was also the moves made during the season. After Glen Sather stopped being head coach and focused solely on his general manager duties, a fire sale ensued.
At the trade deadline, they moved several key players, including Leetch. After spending 17 seasons on Broadway and with everything he accomplished, he was supposed to wear a Rangers jersey for life.
Instead, fans had to watch him put on another team's sweater. A worst nightmare come true. Things only got worse during the offseason when Messier announced his retirement, ending any connection to the '94 team.
While this season was awful for the Rangers, a couple of positives came out of it. For starters, trying to turn the season around after a cold stretch, they traded for Jaromir Jagr, who would go on to be a key piece of the Rangers' forward core during the mid-to-late 2000s. This year also saw the debut of Dominic Moore, a player who went on to be a key contributor of the 2014 Cup Run.
But these positives are not enough to overcome the struggles and heartbreaking goodbyes. While seasons like 1943-44 and 1997-98 saw the Rangers post lower point totals, they did not experience the off-ice heartbreak that this season did. That's why the 2003-04 is the worst in Rangers history.
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