Suvarna Garge (Editor)

1926–27 New York Rangers season

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Division
  
1st American

Goals for
  
95

General Manager
  
Lester Patrick

1926–27 record
  
25–13–6

Goals against
  
72

Coach
  
Lester Patrick

The 1926–27 New York Rangers season was the hockey team's first. The team placed first in the new American Division and qualified for the playoffs, losing to the Boston Bruins

Contents

Off-season

The Rangers team was organized by Conn Smythe who used his extensive knowledge of available amateur players along with sound selection of players available from the dispersal of the Western Hockey League (WHL):

  • The brothers Bill and Bun Cook were part of the dispersed players of the WHL, having played for the Saskatoon Sheiks;
  • Frank Boucher was from the Vancouver Maroons of the WHL;
  • Leo Bourgeault was also from Saskatoon of the WHL;
  • Murray Murdoch had been a member of the 1923 Memorial Cup-winning University of Manitoba;
  • Paul Thompson was a member of the junior Calgary Canadians, Memorial Cup winners in 1926;
  • Taffy Abel had been a member of the silver-medal-winning United States team in the 1924 Olympics;
  • Stan Brown had been a member of the Allan Cup-winning Toronto Dentals team.

    • Smythe signed several players from the amateur Minneapolis Millers, including Taffy Abel, Billy Boyd and Ching Johnson. The 1925–26 Millers also provided other players to the NHL in the future, including Cooney Weiland and Tiny Thompson, Paul Thompson's brother.

    Training camp was held in Toronto at the Ravina Gardens arena near Smythe's home. However, before the season started, Smythe was fired by the club and Lester Patrick took over from Smythe. Patrick received the job as part of the dispersal agreement of the WHL. His brother Frank received a job at the Boston Bruins. Smythe would eventually receive a $10,000 severance, a large amount in those days.

    Regular season

    Unlike the arenas where the players played before, the Madison Square Garden was kept heated. The temperature was warm due to the insistence of Tex Rickard, who insisted that "the public was everything and the performers nothing". The players complained about the conditions publicly and to Lester Patrick.

    Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against
    Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

    Playoffs

    The Rangers earned a bye in the first round and met the Boston Bruins in the semi-final. The Rangers were limited to one goal in the two games, losing the series three goals to one.

    Key:      Win      Loss

    Player statistics

    Skaters
    Goaltenders
    Goaltenders

    †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
    ‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

    Note:

    Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
    Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

    References

    1926–27 New York Rangers season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA