Remember when the NHL decided to announce Quarter-Century Teams for all 32 of its member clubs and for the league as a whole? Well the WFAN radio station in New York liked the idea and decided to make a “New York Quarter-Century Team. New York City is the only media market home to three NHL teams, so there was a lot to choose from.
Their “quarter century” team featured an almost full line up of three forward lines, two defensive pairings, and only one goaltender. The New York Rangers led the way with six players making the list with Chris Kreider, Ryan Callahan, Jaromir Jagr (well count him as a Ranger for this, since that’s where he was in his prime), Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Brian Leetch. Five of the six were forwards with Leetch being the lone defenseman. Kreider and McDonaugh appeared on the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team for the Rangers. Former head coach John Tortorella was named as the best head coach from the last 25 years.
Next up was the New Jersey Devils, also with six players. The Devils were well-represented on the “second forward line” with Jack Hughes and Patrik Elias. They also took three of the four defensemen positions with Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and Ken Danyeko. Unsurprisingly in goal was the NHL all-time wins leader Martin Brodeur. All the Devils listed were also included on the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team for New Jersey. Brodeur was the only player from the three NYC area teams to make the “all-NHL” Quarter-Century Team honors from WFAN’s version.
Last was the New York Islanders with two player selections. Former Islanders superstar -- turned public enemy number one when he deflected to the Toronto Maple Leafs -- John Tavares earned a spot on the “top line”. Tavares also appeared on the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team for the Islanders as well. He was joined by Kyle Palmieri who, with Jagr, were the only players to have played for multiple NYC area team on this list. We'll list Palmieri as an Islander since he still currently plays for them.
Are there any glaring submissions? Mark Messier famously ended New York’s cup drought in 1994 and played with the Rangers for a second stint from 2000-2004. Those were years the Rangers failed to make the playoffs and he was left off the list. Former Devils Zach Parise and Jaimie Langenbrunner were said to have come close in the vote. Parise was included on the NHL’s Quarter-Century Team for the Devils and was the only New Jersey player from that not to be included on WFAN's list. While not mentioned in WFAN’s article, current captain Nico Hischier would have also been a worthy submission. Same could be said of Matt Barzal with the Islanders.
The biggest decision as who should be in the crease and it was a two horse race between Brodeur and former New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, a decision WFAN dubbed “the GOAT versus the King”. Brodeur’s place is well secured in the record books but those complaints about benefitting from the Devils defense first mindset will always ensue. Lundqvist also played the entirety of his career in the 21st century and on some very good Rangers teams, while Brodeur retired in 2015 after starting his career in the early to mid-1990s.
In the end it appears Brodeur’s two cup wins in the past 25 years squeezed him past Lundqvist. Even WFAN wrote they were surprised that Brodeur received 80.5% of their vote. In the next quarter of the century, New York has elite goaltenders Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers and Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders to look forward to.
The timing was ironic as Rangers favorite, and top vote getter, Chris Kreider was recently sent to the Anaheim Ducks. As of the 2024-25 season, the Devils are the only New York media market NHL team to win a Stanley Cup since 2000, winning two and losing in two more. The Rangers would lose in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final to the Los Angeles Kings, just like the Devils did two seasons before. The New York Islanders haven’t made a cup final since 1985 but match the Rangers in “conference” finals (remember for two years divisions and playoffs were temporarily reset) since 2019 with two apiece.