The team played as the Brooklyn Americans during the 1941–42 season before suspending operations in 1942 due to World War II and long-standing financial difficulties.

The demise of the club marked the beginning of the NHL's Original Six era from 1942 to 1967, though the Amerks' franchise was not formally canceled until 1946.

In 1923, Canadian sports promoter Thomas Duggan received options on three NHL franchises for the United States.

[1] Somewhat fortuitously given the shortage of players, the Hamilton Tigers, who had finished first the season before, had been suspended from the league after they struck for higher pay.

The Americans and Pirates became the second and third American-based teams in the NHL, following Adams' Boston Bruins, who had begun play during the 1924–25 season.

However, when the Garden opted to seek a house team after all, the Amerks had little choice but to agree to the creation of what became the New York Rangers.

Part of the problem was that they were placed in the Canadian Division in defiance of all geographic reality, resulting in a larger number of train trips to Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

The next season saw the Americans fall even further by finishing last in their division (ninth overall) with a record of 11–27–6, while the Rangers captured the Stanley Cup in only their second year of existence.

Standing on Worters' shoulders, the Americans made the playoffs for the first time, but were unable to beat the Rangers in a total-goals series.

After the 1933–34 season, having missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year, the Americans attempted a merger with the equally strapped Ottawa Senators, only to be turned down by the NHL Board of Governors.

As fortunes had it, the Americans made the playoffs for the first time in six years under player-coach Red Dutton, but bowed out in the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Despite the presence of Dutton, who had retired as a player to become coach and general manager, the team fared no better under the league's operation than before, finishing last with a record of 15–29–4.

Canada entered World War II in September 1939, and some of the team's Canadian players left for military service.

This debt, combined with the depletion of talent and wartime travel restrictions, forced Dutton to sell off his best players for cash.

As result, they continued to play their home games in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden while practicing in Brooklyn.

Dutton blamed the owners of Madison Square Garden (who also owned the Rangers) for pressuring the NHL to not reinstate the Americans.

Notably, former New York Americans defenseman Pat Egan played for the Jacksonville Rockets of the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) as a player-coach in the 1965–66 season.

[6] Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalty minutes The Americans' radio situation mirrored that of the New York Rangers: same stations, same broadcasters, same announcers; home games only, joined-in-progress.