Why the Knicks’ NBA championship could affect how James Dolan runs the Rangers

In a series of rare public appearances recently, Dolan offered a few hints about how his NBA team's success could apply to his NHL franchise. Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

At the end of a now-public speech in which New York Knicks owner James Dolan implored his players to sacrifice in pursuit of the franchise’s first NBA title in 53 years, the 71-year-old left the team’s dressing room with an emphatic message.

“If you do that, at the end of 10 weeks, we’re walking out of here with rings,” Dolan said. “And we’re walking out of here with a moniker on ourselves that will never, ever f—ing go away.”

He stomped his right foot to emphasize that last line, then pointed to his chest and exclaimed, “Me, too!”

Dolan had been chasing that elusive championship ring for nearly three decades as executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., with the heaviness of that emanating through the camera. He recognized that winning one could wash away much of the criticism he received over those years.

By accomplishing that goal, he brought unbridled joy to the city and, for some in the greater New York area, forever changed the way he’s perceived.

But did it change how he views his other professional sports franchise, the New York Rangers, and what it will take for them to end their 32-year-and-counting Stanley Cup drought?

“That’s a big thing,” Dolan said last week, when the subject of winning a title with the Rangers was broached during a radio appearance on WFAN. “I have many of the same people who are helping me with the Knicks are focusing on the Rangers, too — particularly my son Quentin, who does all the conditioning and wellness for both teams.”

Dolan credited Quentin, the fourth-oldest of his six sons, for helping the Knicks stay healthy entering the playoffs and throughout their run. The 32-year-old has seen his role increase with both franchises in recent years.

According to the company’s website, Quentin began as a director for MSG Sports in 2021 and has served in various advisory roles since 2023. He became senior vice president of player performance and science leader for both the Knicks and Rangers in July 2024, a position he’s held for the last two NBA and NHL seasons, and was named special advisor to the executive chairman of MSG Entertainment this February.

He’s influenced a data-driven approach to fitness and injury prevention, with indications his purview will continue to expand coming off the Knicks’ title. That likely means a larger say in other aspects of the Rangers, including more direct communication with team president and general manager Chris Drury.

How else might the Dolans look to apply the Knicks’ success to the Rangers? The family patriarch, who usually shies away from speaking publicly but has been much more visible in recent weeks, has offered a few hints.

‘Best collector of talent’

It’s difficult to examine how the Knicks built their championship team and point to a similar blueprint the Rangers can implement. NBA roster construction is vastly different from the NHL, but perhaps there are philosophical parallels Dolan can draw.

His most recent WFAN appearance was focused almost entirely on the Knicks, including an answer to a question about the March 2020 decision to hire then-agent Leon Rose as team president. It revealed a shift in how he sees the job’s primary function.

“It was more a change in my thinking about the job that drove me to Leon,” Dolan explained.

He noted previous instances in which the Knicks “flipped up our strategy in order to get the shiny object.” The inference was that they got caught chasing executives and coaches who brought star power and reputations as great basketball minds, with host Craig Carton pointing to Phil Jackson’s dispiriting tenure as Knicks president from 2014-17 as one example.

“That’s the temptation in New York,” Dolan said. “If you’re running a team and you’re under the gun in New York, you want to produce. Because if you don’t produce, guys like you are going to tear them apart. You’re afraid of doing badly and you’re dying to do great, and you’re hoping for a quick solution — a savior to come in, etc. I didn’t want to do that anymore.”

It was around then, Dolan said, that he had an epiphany.

“I’m not going to worry about a GM who’s really good at strategy,” he recalled deciding. “What I need is somebody who’s the best collector of talent.”

That led him to Rose, who fit the bill as one of the most powerful agents in sports and had spent decades cultivating relationships around the NBA. It was an outside-of-the-box hire, to be sure, but it gave the Knicks a proven dealmaker who could lure winning players to the Garden.

It stands in stark contrast to the current situation with the Rangers, where Drury has been unsuccessful in his quest to attract the NHL’s best talent. The inability to acquire enough needle-movers outside of trade-deadline rentals helped cause the team’s contention window to slam shut, resulting in back-to-back seasons without the playoffs.

The mounting losses have left the Rangers on the outside looking in as big-name players hit the market. The two most recent examples are Dylan Larkin and Brady Tkachuk, who did not include New York on their lists of preferred destinations. It serves as an indictment of a proud Original Six franchise and a clear sign that it’s fallen behind in the league’s evolving arms race.

Above all, those players are seeking better opportunities to win than they’ll find in New York. But when you combine that with the friction that’s bubbled between management and players in recent years, it makes the Rangers an even harder sell. Messy divorces with respected veterans such as Chris Kreider, Barclay Goodrow and former captain Jacob Trouba, as well as overreaching workplace and travel restrictions placed on team employees, have dinged New York’s reputation in the eyes of some around the league.

The hope was that would change with the hiring of two-time Stanley Cup winner Mike Sullivan, whom Drury viewed as a culture-setter and a draw for top players — particularly those associated with Team USA, which Sullivan guided to an Olympic gold medal this winter in Milan. It helped convince Dolan to make Sullivan the highest-paid coach in the NHL last year, but so far, the desired pieces have not followed.