Building a Champion: The 1994 Rangers

The 1994 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers team took nearly nine years to build, from the first piece of the puzzle -- Mike Richter in June 1985 -- to the final pieces -- Glenn Anderson, Craig MacTavish, Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan at the NHL trade deadline in March 1994.

Players came to the 1994 Rangers in many different ways, as the chart below illustrates. Only five of the 25 players whose names made it onto the Cup were actually drafted by the Rangers, but the Rangers could not have won the Cup without them.

Two of the team's five Rangers draftees -- Richter and Brian Leetch -- now have their numbers retired, and two others -- Sergei Zubov and Alexei Kovalev -- have combined for six All-Star Game appearances in their NHL careers.

A complete look at how the 1994 Stanley Cup champs were put together:

EVOLUTION OF A CHAMPION -- 1985 to 1994
DATE	ACQUIRED PLAYER		NOTES
June 15 1985		Mike Richter 1985 NHL Entry Draft	Drafted in the second round, Pick No. 28 overall
June 21 1986		Brian Leetch 1986 NHL Entry Draft	Drafted in the first round, Pick No. 9 overall
June 17 1989		Neil Smith Hired	Named Rangers Vice-President and General Manager
June 16 1990		Sergei Zubov 1990 NHL Entry Draft	Drafted in the fifth round, pick No. 85 overall. The pick was obtained as compensation for Quebec's signing of unrestricted free agent Guy Lafleur on July 14, 1989.
		Sergei Nemchinov 1990 NHL Entry Draft	Drafted in the 12th round, Pick No. 244 overall
March 5 1991		Joe Kocur Trade with Detroit	Detroit sends Kocur and Per Djoos to Rangers in exchange for Kevin Miller, Dennis Vial and Jim Cummins.
June 9 1991		Alexei Kovalev 1991 NHL Entry Draft	Drafted in the first round, Pick No. 15 overall
Sept. 3 1991		Adam Graves Free Agency	Graves was considered a restricted free agent. Troy Mallette was sent to Edmonton as compensation on Sept. 12, 1991.
Oct. 4 1991		Mark Messier Trade with Edmonton	Edmonton sends Messier and future considerations (Jeff Beukeboom for David Shaw) to Rangers in exchange for Bernie Nicholls, Steven Rice and Louie DeBrusk.
Nov. 12 1991		Jeff Beukeboom Trade with Edmonton	Completion of Oct. 4, 1991, trade listed above, with Beukeboom sent to Rangers in exchange for David Shaw as future considerations portion of deal involving Messier.
March 9 1992		Jay Wells Trade with Buffalo	Buffalo sends Wells to Rangers in exchange for Randy Moller.
Dec. 11 1992		Kevin Lowe Trade with Edmonton	Edmonton sends Lowe to Rangers for Roman Oksiuta and a 1993 third-round pick (Alexander Kerch)
Dec. 28 1992		Ed Olczyk Trade with Winnipeg	Winnipeg sends Olczyk to Rangers for Tie Domi and Kris King
March 17 1993		Esa Tikkanen Trade with Edmonton	Edmonton sends Tikkanen to Rangers for Doug Weight.
March 22 1993		Mike Hartman Trade with Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay sends Hartman to Rangers for Randy Gilhen.
April 17 1993		Mike Keenan Hired	Named Rangers Head Coach
June 25 1993		Doug Lidster Trade with Vancouver	Vancouver sends Lidster to Rangers for John Vanbiesbrouck.
		Glenn Healy Trade with Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay sends Healy to Rangers for return of 1993 third-round pick, which was compensation for Tampa Bay's signing of restricted free agent Rob Zamuner on July 13,1992.
July 29 1993		Greg Gilbert Free Agency	Gilbert met conditions required for Group III unrestricted free agency.
Sept. 9 1993		Alexander Karpovtsev Trade with Quebec	Quebec sends Karpovtsev to Rangers in exchange for Mike Hurlbut.
Oct. 3 1993		Mike Hudson NHL Waiver Draft	Claimed from Edmonton.
Nov. 2 1993		Steve Larmer Trade with Hartford	Hartford sends Larmer, Nick Kypreos, Barry Richter and 1994 sixth-round pick (Yuri Litvinov) to Rangers for James Patrick and Darren Turcotte.
		Nick Kypreos Trade with Hartford	Hartford sends Kypreos, Steve Larmer, Barry Richter and 1994 sixth-round pick (Yuri Litvinov) to Rangers for James Patrick and Darren Turcotte.
March 21 1994		Stephane Matteau Trade with Chicago	Chicago sends Matteau and Brian Noonan to Rangers for Tony Amonte and Matt Oates.
		Brian Noonan Trade with Chicago	Chicago sends Noonan and Stephane Matteau to Rangers for Tony Amonte and Matt Oates.
		Glenn Anderson Trade with Toronto	Toronto sends Anderson, Scott Malone and 1994 fourth-round pick (Alexander Korobolin) to Rangers in exchange for Mike Gartner.
		Craig MacTavish Trade with Edmonton	Edmonton sends MacTavish to Rangers for Todd Marchant.