Messier served as Rangers captain for 697 of his 698 regular season games and all of his 70 playoff games with the team. No player has been captain of the Rangers for more regular season or playoff games than Messier in franchise history. The only game that Messier played in with the Blueshirts that he was not the team’s captain was his debut with the team on October 5, 1991 at Montreal, which was one day after he was acquired by the Rangers. Messier was named Rangers captain prior to the team’s 1991-92 home opener on October 7, 1991.

In his first season with the Rangers in 1991-92, Messier won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player, as well as the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) as the NHL’s Most Outstanding Player as selected by members of the NHLPA, while helping the Rangers win the Presidents’ Trophy for having the best regular season record in the NHL. Messier tallied 107 points (35 goals, 72 assists) during the season; at the time, his 72 assists and 107 points were both the second-most by a Ranger in one season in franchise history.

Messier was the recipient of nearly every Rangers team award during his 10 seasons in New York. He was named the team’s Most Valuable Player on three occasions (1991-92, 1994-95, 1995-96), won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award twice (1994-95 and 1995-96), received the Players’ Player Award in 1995-96, was named the winner of the Good Guy Award (now John Halligan Good Guy Award) in 1991-92, won the Rangers Fan Club Frank Boucher Trophy (most popular player on and off the ice) on four occasions (1991-92, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97), received the Rangers Fan Club Ceil Saidel Memorial Award (for dedication to the Rangers organization on and off the ice) in his final NHL season in 2003-04, and received the “Crumb Bum” Award in recognition of his service to New York youngsters in 1995.