With the New York Rangers about to finish Year 1 of their rebuild, the man who helped spearhead the movement could be on his way out.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported late Wednesday night that Rangers president Glen Sather will “likely” be stepping down from his current position.
The 75-year-old would remain an advisor to Rangers owner and MSG CEO James Dolan.
Sather took over as general manager and president of the Rangers in 2000 when the organization was in the middle of a seven-season playoff drought.
If there was any man to help turn the Rangers around, it was Sather. This was the man who helped build the Edmonton Oilers into one of the NHL’s greatest dynasties in the 1980s. As president, general manager, and head coach, Sather led a team that featured Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, and Jari Kurri to four Stanley Cup championships in five seasons from 1984-1988.
After cycling through head coaches like Ron Low and Bryan Trottier in New York, Sather took over as head coach from 2003-2004 before hiring Tom Renney, the man who helped lead the Rangers to their first playoff berth in 2005 since 1997.
It sparked a 13-year run in which the Rangers were one of the most consistent franchises in the Eastern Conference, making the playoffs 12 times during that stretch that featured more notable head coaches like John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault.
Despite their constant presence in the postseason, the Rangers made just one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 where they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.
Sather was the key man behind the construction of the team, creating a core of players that ensured its long-term success.
Among his greatest moves, Sather was the man who drafted Henrik Lundqvist, traded for Jaromir Jagr, Ryan McDonagh, and Rick Nash. He also signed the likes of Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes, and Dan Girardi.
Sather stepped down from GM duties in 2015 and brought on Jeff Gorton, who has helped lead the Rangers into a new, far-less prosperous era.
The Rangers have missed the playoffs for two straight seasons now — the first time that’s happened in 15 years — with Gorton trading away McDonagh, Zuccarello, Hayes, and Nash over the last two years.
It’s the byproduct of a clear message Sather and Gorton released to Rangers fans last year, stating that the organization was going to start purging its veteran stars and building the franchise up through young talent.
It also meant bringing in a new coach in David Quinn, whose highest head-coaching experience before this was at Boston University.
He and his young Rangers are staggering to another sub-80-point finish this season where they sit in seventh-place out of eight teams in the Metropolitan Division.
