New York Americans (1925-1941)

At the conclusion of the 1923-24 hockey season, the National Hockey League (NHL) was a four-team circuit with all clubs based in Canada. Having completed seven seasons, the league was looking to add teams, particularly in the United States. Thomas Duggan, owner of the Montreal Royal Arena, home of the Canadiens, was awarded the option for two U.S.-based teams. He sold one to Charles Adams, a grocery store magnate, who started the Boston Bruins. They joined the league in 1924 along with the Montreal Maroons. Duggan had no stake in the latter, as they played in the Forum.

For the other, Duggan partnered with New York bootlegger Bill Dwyer, but the latter wanted to wait a year to start a team until construction on the new Madison Square Garden, the third facility to use that name, could be completed.

Meanwhile, the Hamilton Tigers were experiencing their most successful season since moving to Ontario from Quebec City in 1920. The team finished in first place with a record of 19-10-1. However, the Hamilton squad was upset that the league had expanded the schedule that season by 6 games with no increase in pay for the players. The Hamilton players refused to play in the championship series against the Montreal Canadiens unless they were paid an additional $200 each.⁶Hamilton Refuses to Give in To Demands of Players, The Calgary Daily Herald, Mar. 13, 1925​

The team’s owners balked and were backed up by league president Frank Calder, who declared the Canadiens league champs, fined the Tiger players $200 each, and promptly suspended the lot of them.

The issue dragged on through the summer and into fall when Duggan attempted to purchase the assets of the Tigers in order to build his New York squad. After much back and forth, the deal was finally approved on September 28, 1925, with the Tigers’ most valuable assets, the players, being reinstated.⁷Admit New York and Pittsburgh to National Hockey League, The Ottawa Citizen, Sep. 28, 1925 The Pittsburgh Pirates joined the league that same day, making the NHL a seven-team loop.

Great things were predicted for the Americans as they hit the ice for the first time on December 3, 1925, downing fellow expansion team Pittsburgh 3-2 in the Steel City. Optimism was high as the Americans had obtained most of the players from the team that had finished first the previous season. However, it was the Ottawa Senators who topped the standings, followed by the Montreal Maroons. The Pittsburgh Pirates wound up in third place with the final playoff bid. The Americans finished fifth with a record of 12-20-4.

The team was a hit at the ticket window, though, averaging over 11,000 fans per game. This did not go unnoticed by Tex Rickard, the man who operated the team’s home arena, Madison Square Garden. Less than a month after the Stanley Cup final, on April 18, 1926, Rickard and Colonel J.S. Hammond applied for, and were conditionally granted, a franchise that would share the Garden with the Americans.⁸Second New York Team Granted Franchise in N.H.L. for 1926-27 Season, The Morning Leader, Apr. 19, 1926

At first, the team was going to be called the New York Dodgers, but the name was changed to Rangers before the meeting in which the franchise was granted.⁹New York Dodgers Latest Team In The New Hockey League, AP via The Lewiston Daily Sun, Apr. 19, 1926. Rangers was suggested by a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune as a play on “Tex’s Rangers,” as in Tex Rickard, one of the two owners.

The new team was an even bigger hit than the Americans had been the season before. The Rangers finished in first place in the 5-team American Division, while the Americans, who, ironically, were in the (much tougher) Canadian Division, finished in fourth place.

Not many more hockey fans showed up at Madison Square Garden that season, but the Rangers drew mor than the Americans. The Rangers drew an average of 7,100 per game while the Americans pulled in almost 5,600. That came out to about a thousand more fans per game, total, than the Americans had drawn when they had  the building to themselves.

Things didn’t improve much for the Americans after that. Just a month into the 1933-34 season, rumors began to swirl that the Americans and the equally troubled Ottawa Senators were planning to merge and continue on as the former.¹⁰Deny Rumor That Americans And Senators to Merge, AP via The Lewiston Daily Sun, Dec. 4, 1933 The league and both teams denied the reports.

A week into the 1935-36 season, reports circulated that Dwyer was looking to sell the team. Among the possible buyers, the press mentioned John Hammond, a former partner in the Rangers.¹¹Many Men Are Interested in Sale of N.Y. Americans of N.H.L., CP via The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Nov. 19, 1935 No one came forward, however, even after the Americans made the playoffs. On October 19, 1936, the NHL revoked the franchise but kept the team together.¹²N.H.L. Franchise of New York Americans Declared Forfeited, CP via The Windsor Daily Star, Oct. 20, 1936 Red Dutton was retained as manager and placed in charge of the club as a whole.

The team soldiered on, making the playoffs three years in a row, starting with the 1937-38 season. However, they hit hard times with the outbreak of World War II. Like the other pro leagues, the NHL lost many players to the war effort. The Americans were hit particularly hard, as Canada took up arms in 1939, meaning many NHL players were serving before America entered the conflict. Two of Dutton’s sons were killed in the war.

In a last-ditch attempt to save the franchise, Dutton sought to move the team to Brooklyn in the fall of 1941. Unfortunately, there was no viable arena in that borough, so the rebranded Brooklyn Americans continued to play in Madison Square Garden for what would be the team’s final season.

On September 25, 1942, Dutton was informed by the league that the Brooklyn franchise, still under league control, would not be playing in the 1942-43 season. The league cited a lack of quality players as the reason for the franchise’s folding. Dutton claimed it was pressure from the Rangers and Madison Square Garden that put the nails in the Americans’ coffin.¹³Amerks Out; “We’ve Been Scuttled,” Says Dutton, CP via The Windsor Daily Star, Sep. 26, 1942 The league was down to six teams, and would stay that way until 1967, when it doubled in size.

New York would remain a one-hockey- team town until 1972, when two franchises began play. One was the expansion New York Islanders of the NHL, who played their games out on Long Island at the new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. They were established to thwart the efforts of the New York Raiders and the new World Hockey Association. The latter club had intended to play in the new building on Long Island, but when the Islanders got the lease, the Raiders wound up in the Americans’ former home, Madison Square Garden. They shared the facility with the NHL Rangers and the NBA’s New York Knicks. After one season, the Raiders changed their name to the New York Golden Blades. After half a season under that name, the team moved to New Jersey, across the river from Philadelphia, to become the Jersey Knights and later the San Diego Mariners.