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70 free New York Rangers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Rangers were born because Madison Square Garden's boss wanted a second hockey tenant, they won the Stanley Cup in their second season, and then went 54 years without another one. This New York Rangers trivia quiz covers all of it: Tex Rickard and Conn Smythe, Lester Patrick's turn in goal, the Bread Line, the plane ride to Toronto, the circus that evicted the 1950 Final, the Curse of 1940, the GAG line and the Esposito trade, and the Islanders' "1940!" chant. The 1994 run gets its own stretch of questions: the ex-Oilers, Messier's guarantee, Matteau in double overtime, Leetch's Conn Smythe and the game 7 win over Vancouver. Then it moves through Gretzky, the seven-year drought, King Henrik, Shesterkin, Adam Fox, the retired numbers hanging in the Garden and the roster moves of the 2020s. Easy questions come first in each era; the deep cuts get progressively harder. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the team, its history and its players, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Madison Square Garden president was awarded the NHL franchise that became the Rangers?
Tex Rickard
He had promised the New York Americans they would be the Garden's only hockey team, then went after a second one when the Americans drew well.
Q 02Which sports editor is credited with the nickname "Tex's Rangers" that gave the team its name?
George Haley
He wrote for the New York Herald Tribune; the first crest even showed a cowboy on a rearing horse waving a hockey stick.
Q 03What word filled the blank when the Rangers were incorporated as the 'New York ___ Professional Hockey Club' in 1926?
Giants
The switch happened during the same meeting with NHL president Frank Calder.
Q 04Which future Maple Leafs owner assembled the first Rangers roster but was fired before the opening season?
Conn Smythe
The team he built won the American Division in its first year anyway.
Q 05Which 44-year-old Rangers coach played two periods in goal in the Stanley Cup Final in place of Lorne Chabot?
Lester Patrick
The opposing coach had vetoed the use of Ottawa's Alex Connell, who was sitting in the stands, so the coach strapped on the pads himself and allowed one goal.
Q 06Whom did the Rangers beat in five games to win their first Stanley Cup?
Montreal Maroons
Nels Stewart scored the only goal against the coach-turned-goalie in game two, and the Rangers' centre won it in overtime.
Q 07Which Rangers centre won the Lady Byng seven times in eight years and was given the trophy to keep?
Frank Boucher
Lady Byng had to donate a second trophy to the league; he later coached the Rangers to the 1940 Cup.
Q 08The Cook brothers, Bill and Bun, and their centre made up which famous early Rangers trio?
The Bread Line
The line helped win two Cups in the club's first seven seasons and reached the 1932 Final as well.
Q 09In which year did the Rangers become the first US-based NHL franchise to win the Stanley Cup?
1928
They remain the fastest true expansion team ever to win it, doing so in their second season.
Q 10What did the Rangers become the first NHL team to do in December 1929?
Travel to a game by plane
They hired the Curtiss-Wright Corporation for the trip and lost the game 7–6.
Q 11Why did the Rangers play every game of the 1950 Stanley Cup Final, including "home" games, in Toronto?
The circus was at the Garden
They lost the seventh game in overtime to Detroit anyway.
Q 12What was Rangers goalie Ken McAuley's record-worst 1943-44 goals-against average?
6.24
He lost 39 games and allowed 310 goals in 50 appearances that season, including a 15–0 defeat.
Q 13How long was the Rangers' championship drought between their third and fourth Stanley Cups?
54 years
The gap became known as the Curse of 1940.
Q 21The 110-point season of 2005–06 broke whose long-standing Rangers single-season points record?
Jean Ratelle
The old mark had stood since the 1971–72 GAG line season.
Q 22Which right wing, known as "Mr. Ranger", was the first player to have his number retired by the team?
Rod Gilbert
His No. 7 went to the rafters in October 1979; he played his whole career in New York.
Q 23Whose No. 1 became the second number retired by the Rangers, in March 1989?
Eddie Giacomin
The goaltender's arrival in the mid-1960s helped end a five-year playoff absence.
Q 14Fans of which rival began chanting "1940! 1940!" at the Rangers in the early 1980s?
Islanders
Fans in other cities soon picked up the taunt, which lasted until 1994.
Q 15In one version of the Curse of 1940, what did Rangers management burn in the Stanley Cup?
The Garden's mortgage
The other version blames Red Dutton, whose New York Americans folded and were never revived.
Q 16What nickname did the Rangers pick up during their early years playing blocks from Times Square?
The Broadway Blueshirts
The players became minor celebrities in the city's Roaring Twenties nightlife.
Q 17What did the "GAG" in the Rangers' famous 1970s GAG line stand for?
Goal-a-game
The line carried the team to the 1972 Final even after its centre was injured late in the season.
Q 18Which member of the GAG line was the last of the three to have his number retired, in December 2018?
Vic Hadfield
He held the club's single-season goal record, 50, until it was broken in 1993–94.
Q 19Whose 52 goals in 1993–94 set a Rangers single-season record that stood until 2006?
Adam Graves
He was one of seven former Edmonton Oilers Cup winners on that Rangers roster.
Q 20Which winger broke the Rangers' single-season goal record with his 53rd of 2005–06 against Boston?
Jaromir Jagr
The same spring he set the club points record with 110 and won his third Pearson Award.
Q 24How many numbers have the Rangers retired?
9
Two of them honour two players each, so eleven men are represented, plus the league-wide No. 99.
Q 25Which number did the Rangers retire for Henrik Lundqvist in January 2022?
30
It went up in his first season after retirement; No. 35 belongs to Mike Richter.
Q 26What nickname did Rangers fans and media give goaltender Lundqvist during his rookie season?
King Henrik
He broke the club rookie goaltending record with 30 wins that first year.
Q 27In which year did Henrik Lundqvist finally win the Vezina Trophy?
2012
That season the Rangers finished as the top seed in the East with 109 points.
Q 28Henrik Lundqvist led Sweden to Olympic gold at which Winter Games?
2006 Turin
It was Sweden's second Olympic hockey gold; he arrived in New York for the season before it.
Q 29In December 2006 Lundqvist first faced his twin brother, who was playing for which team?
Dallas Stars
The Rangers won; the brothers are only the third set of twins to play against each other in an NHL game.
Q 30Mike Richter set a franchise record with how many saves in a single game in January 1991?
59
Twenty-six of them came in the third period alone as the Rangers held on for a 3–3 tie.