2009–10 New York Rangers season

The 2009–10 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 83rd season of play and their 84th season overall. For the first time in five years, the Rangers failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs after falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in each team's last game with the winner clinching the final Eastern Conference playoff spot and the loser being eliminated. This is the only season the Rangers missed the playoffs between 2005–06 and 2016–17.

Off-season
On May 4, 2009, Markus Naslund announced that he would be retiring from professional hockey after playing one season for the Rangers.

At the NHL Entry Draft, the Rangers chose Chris Kreider with their first-round pick, 19th overall. The Rangers followed this with a couple of trades at the draft to acquire Brian Boyle and Chad Johnson. A bigger splash was made a few days later when the Rangers traded Scott Gomez to the Montreal Canadiens. With Gomez's $7 million contract gone, the Rangers then signed free agent Marian Gaborik on July 1, the first day of free agency. On July 16, the Rangers announced that Mike Sullivan had been hired as an assistant coach.

On August 16, 2009, Mark Messier rejoined the Rangers organization as a special assistant to general manager Glen Sather.

Regular season
The NHL took a two-week break from February 15 to March 1 for the Olympics. The Rangers had five players represent their countries; Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan for the United States, Marian Gaborik for Slovakia, Olli Jokinen for Finland and Henrik Lundqvist for Sweden.

Playoffs
The New York Rangers failed to qualify for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, despite going 7–1–2 at the end of the season. Their run set up a home and home series with the eighth place Philadelphia Flyers, but the Rangers fell to the Flyers in a shootout in the final game of the season and finished one point out of the playoffs.

Player statistics

 * Skaters


 * Goaltenders

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

Transactions
The Rangers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

Trades

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Draft picks
New York's picks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Canada, at the Bell Centre.

* On March 11, 2009, the NHL general managers agreed to award the 17th selection of the second round as a compensatory pick to the New York Rangers for deceased player Alexei Cherepanov.

Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)
The 2009–10 season will be the 13th season of AHL hockey for the franchise.

Charlotte Checkers (ECHL)
The 2009–10 season will be the 17th and final season of ECHL hockey for the franchise, as their place will be taken by an American Hockey League team of the same name (currently known as the Albany River Rats) for the 2010–11 season.