New York Rangers Breakup Day: Lamenting Another Wasted Season

One has to wonder where the Rangers that stormed through the final three weeks of the season were when they were going through a midseason slump that led them to a less-than-glorious 24-31-9 stretch.

The Rangers that showed up for the first eight games of the season—and the last nine, for that matter—were clearly not the same team.  

One thing is for certain: Once they had a stable framework in place, they played a lot better.

However, one thing is clearly lacking on this team. That is a missing piece that has nothing to do with skill level, or intelligence. It simply has to do with heart.

Something fascinating happened when Jody Shelley came to the Rangers. His presence seemed to buoy the Rangers' locker room. There seemed to be an air of calm determination, and even the soft-spoken Drury began to call out members of his team.

The Rangers also realized that, as good as King Henrik Lundqvist is, he does not score goals. In the season finale, the Rangers' best player stood on his head to make 47 saves over what would be the final 65 minutes of his season. However, the Rangers folded in the shootout under the weight of Olli Jokinen's futile attempt to keep the Rangers alive.

Honestly, did Rangers fans expect anything else?

Did James Dolan really believe that Olli Jokinen, a career underacheiver, would be the hero on that afternoon? Did Glen Sather really believe that his oft-frustrated organization would leave with anything other than despair on the stick of another failed experiment? When John Tortorella looked down his bench and put together the first three shooters, did he really think that Jokinen was the answer?

Clearly the Rangers have more problems than just inconsistent performance. However, it is not the doom and gloom that has been posted all over the New York-area press.

The Rangers do have a young core, with Lundquist, Marian Gaborik, Marc Staal, Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky. Sean Avery, toward the end of the season, returned to be the daily pest on the ice, and he may have broken through whatever funk he has been in since returning from his Dallas vacation.

Now, that brings me to Chris Drury. Drury will make $7 million next season.

This is not his fault. He is a role player, and a locker room leader. He scored clutch goals down the stretch and is a major reason why the Rangers were even in the position they were in at game 82. Clearly he was a big voice in the locker room, and his influence, along with Callahan, Lundquist, and Shelley, brought stability to a team that has had very little of that all season.

The only person that can be held responsible for the Rangers failure is simply Sather. Is Dolan, the Garden check master, really that blind?

Sather made one brilliant coup in trading Gomez and clearing the space to sign Gaborik. This does not excuse the contracts of Drury, Wade "Slow Foot" Redden, and Michael Roszival. Even though Roszival's play did improve significantly, it still is not worth the $4 million that he will make next year.

No one can deny these mishaps. But Dolan has still made Sather part of the furniture in One Penn Plaza. John Tortorella is all about accountability. I guess Dolan is not.

Here's another fact: The Rangers have only made the playoffs four times during Sather's nine-year tenure as general manager and have only won two playoff series. This is not a statistic that smacks of a commitment to winning.

In stark contrast, the Tampa Bay Lightning, after a streak of futility, cleaned house, clearly intending to bring in a front office and coaching staff that will be charged with building a winning organization in Tampa.

The Rangers have again done nothing.

Now, maybe one day Dolan's faith in his staff will prove to be founded, but in a sports culture that has no tolerance for mediocrity, how long will he expect fans to wait for their inflated season ticket packages to bring them the same joy they see right across the Hudson in that brand new beautiful Prudential Center? The Devils are again proving to be contenders, and their fans are awarded with a high postseason berth and a favorable first-round matchup.

At the close of this season, this writer clearly sees the benefit to "stay the course" and keep the current team together. However, the urge to purge the management staff still remains the clear solution to almost a decade of disappointment and broken promises.

It's time to say goodbye to Glen Sather.