Record: 33-43-5-1 (72 points)

Finish: Fourth place Atlantic Division, tenth place in the Eastern Conference. Missed the playoffs

Coach: Ron Low

Leading Scorers: Brian Leetch (21 goals, 58 assists), Petr Nedved (32 goals and 46 assists), Theo Fluery (30 goals, 44 assists)

Players You May Not Remember: Sandy McCarthy, Michael Grosek, Eric Lacroix, Colin Forbes, Alexei Gusarov, Jeff Ulmer, Jeff Toms, Peter Smrek, more.

Goalie: Mike Richter (20-21-3), Guy Hebert (5-7-1) Kirk McLean (8-10-1) Vitali Yeremeyev (0-4-0)

Notes: Mark Messier returned and scored 24 goals and 43 assists. Adam Graves was traded following the season. Mike Richter was injured against Chicago on February 19th, tearing his ACL for the second straight season. Theo Fleury entered rehab and squashed a rumored deal that would have landed the Rangers Nikolai Khabibulin and Keith Tkachuk. Rick Carpiniello of the Journal News wrote an excellent book on the season titled, “Nightmare on 33rd Street”. I own two copies.

This was also the Rangers 75th year in the NHL

Thoughts: This is a season that stands out vividly in my mind as all the following seasons do. Richter’s injury was scarring to me as it happened on the first day of February break and I was headed to the doctor. Messier’s return was great and Leetch returned to superstardom. Fleury was on fire for part of the season before his issues took over. Yeremeyov was without a doubt, the worst goalie I have ever seen. This was Glen Sather’s first season as GM and he went into the summer trying to get Jaromir Jagr, but ended up with Eric Lindros. Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark were both still considered to be top-notch prospects for the team.

The team photo is after the jump