Aside from a couple of college hockey games taking place at Madison Square Garden this fall, there hasn’t been much hockey to talk about in Manhattan. Last season was their most successful since winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. Because of the work stoppage, they cannot continue building on what they already have despite signing Rick Nash over the summer.
What did occur sometime recently was the arena raising their Atlantic Division Champions banner from last season. It’s located in the rafters of MSG next to the regular season champions banner from that Messier-led championship season, which coincidentally was before the 1995 work stoppage. If there’s anything to tip your hat to with the Rangers organization, they did it without a ceremony. Banner raising ceremonies I believe should only be reserved for raising Stanley Cup banners. The rare occasion granted for your first time winning the division (see 2006-07 Atlanta Thrashers as it was their only banner when in Atlanta).
It should also be noted that the Garden is going through a series of renovations, in case the construction workers raised the banner when rehanging previous championship and retired number banners.
