As a guy in my late 30s I was 7 (almost 8) when they won the cup. My dad reminds me that when Zelepukin scored to tie game 7 against the Devils I was like "what kind of name is Zelepukin?". Still a valid question. But I have no memory of it. My first hockey memory was the 96 final when my dad told me that it was two new teams (I guess with Colorado it was only half true). Since the Rangers aren't exactly the most successful franchise ever I see games sometimes and hear about Messier's guarantee and Leetch's and Richter's heroics all the time. Frankly too much, hoping we get to talk about 2024 like that soon.
That said how good were they? I didn't want to ask this on the Rangers board as they're biased. Every year we have a good team I'm conditioned to think that they're still not as good as the 94 Rangers. That team started 7-0 (only two teams have done so since them, one of them are the 2024 Rangers) and finished the first two series 8-1. Not only that they did so in dominating fashion. However, today I learned that they didn't play a team that got 90 points or more other than the Devils. And they struggled to beat the Devils and the Cinderella Canucks in 7 by 1 goal ultimately. There's a lot of mythology around that team but how good were they for that era?
That said how good were they? I didn't want to ask this on the Rangers board as they're biased. Every year we have a good team I'm conditioned to think that they're still not as good as the 94 Rangers. That team started 7-0 (only two teams have done so since them, one of them are the 2024 Rangers) and finished the first two series 8-1. Not only that they did so in dominating fashion. However, today I learned that they didn't play a team that got 90 points or more other than the Devils. And they struggled to beat the Devils and the Cinderella Canucks in 7 by 1 goal ultimately. There's a lot of mythology around that team but how good were they for that era?