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Rangers top all of New York’s major sports teams by win percentage since 2010
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- Rangers top all of New York’s major sports teams by win percentage since 2010
Danny Wild-Imagn Images Danny Wild-Imagn Images
You might assume the winningest team in the state of New York is the Yankees, or maybe even the Buffalo Bills with their recent success. But since 2010, it's the New York Rangers , who lead the pack in win percentage , according to numbers compiled by BetMGM. And yet, few seem to notice. For all the Knicks hype, Yankees pedigree and football fanatics, the Rangers have quietly been the steadiest regular-season winners in New York.
True, the Rangers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1994. However, they've managed to stay competitive for most of the past 15 years. They reached the Cup Final in 2014, got as far as the Eastern Conference Final four other times and have had seven seasons with at least 100 points. The only thing they've failed to do is bring home Lord Stanley's Cup.
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While the New York football teams teams in particular have gone through numerous builds and rebuilds, the Rangers managed to return to Stanley Cup contention just four seasons after announcing a rebuild of their own.
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One reason the Rangers have flown under the radar is the lack of mainstream media coverage. They're not a daily fixture on ESPN , Bleacher Report , SportsCenter or the other big-name media like the Yankees, Knicks or the two NFL teams. Instead, much of their news circulates through hockey-specific outlets like Canada's Sportsnet or TSN , platforms that the average New York sports fan doesn't regularly follow. Ranger
Related: Celebrating legendary Rangers goalie Ed Giacomin on his 86th birthday
How the Rangers Became New York's Most Consistent Sports Team
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Since the start of 2010-11, the Rangers have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs 11 times in 15 seasons. Their .592 winning percentage edges out every other major franchise in New York state — including the Yankees, Mets, Jets, Giants, Bills, Islanders , Buffalo Sabres , Red Bull, NYCFC, Liberty, Knicks and Nets. The Yankees are second at .569, the Knicks are at .450, the Giants at .404, and the Jets are last at .381.
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The Rangers have eight seasons with 45 or more wins — including two Presidents' Trophy-winning seasons (2014-15 and 2023-24) since 2010-11. They finished with 52 wins in 2021-22 and reached the Eastern Conference Final, won 47 games the following season, then set team records with 55 wins and 114 points in 2023-24, when they again got to the conference final.
Even during low years, the rarely bottomed out, finishing below the NHL's version of .500 just three times in the last 15 years.
One constant in this era has been strong goaltending — beginning with Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist and now with Igor Shesterkin , the Rangers have had elite stability in net. Add in some draft lottery luck and trades like acquiring Mika Zibanejad from the Ottawa Senators for Derick Brassard , and free-agent signings like Artemi Panarin and the Rangers have never fully hit reset — they heavily retooled around key pieces.
Year-by-year breakdown
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The Rangers have remained playoff regulars for almost a decade and a half. In 2010-11, they clinched a postseason birth on the last day of the season before the Washington Capitals got the best of them in five games. The following year, they won the Eastern Conference regular-season title with 51 wins and made it to the conference final, losing to the New Jersey Devils in six games.
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A lockout shortened the 2012-13 season to 48 games; the Rangers made the playoffs but lost to the Boston Bruins . In 2013-14, they reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all in 1994, but lost to the Los Angeles Kings in five games — three of the losses came in overtime. They bounced back in 2014-15 and won the Presidents' Trophy with with 113 points, but lost the conference final to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games, dropping a 2-0 decision at Madison Square Garden in Game 7.
A pair of short playoff appearances came in 2015-16 and 2016-17, where they made it to the second round once. With the team struggling in 2017-18, the front office opted for a rebuild, sending fans a letter concerning the team's plans. The Rangers missed the playoffs in 2018 and 2019, were swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2020 Qualifiers and barely missed the playoffs in the 56-game 2020-21 season.
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But by then, glimpses of what to come were starting to show. The Rangers made the Eastern Conference Final in 2021-22, but lost to the two-time defending Cup champion Lightning in six games. The 2022-23 Rangers finished with 107 points and won Games 1 and 2 in their first-round series against New Jersey before falling apart and losing in seven games.
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Under new coach Peter Laviolette, they bounced back in 2023-24 with the best regular season in franchise history, winning the Presidents' Trophy for the second time in three seasons. However, they again failed to get past the conference final, this time losing to the Florida Panthers in six games
The 2024-25 season, however, marked a setback for the Rangers. The team went 39-36-7, finishing with 85 points and becoming the fourth team to go from Presidents' Trophy winner one season to playoff outsiders the next. The pressure will be on GM Chris Drury and new coach Mike Sullivan to get the Rangers back to the level their fans have come to expect.
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