Rangers: For Glen Sather, It's a Case Of Jekyll and Hyde

Last night, chants of "Fire Sather" rained down from the crowd at Madison Square Garden. This morning, via both WFAN and ESPN rumor central, it was said that should the Rangers lose tonight, Glen Sather will be fired. I find that incredibly hard to believe, but it is still something to take into consideration. He is probably the most unpopular general manager with the fan base in the entire league, but I have stuck by him for the most part during his tenure. He has made some terrible signings in recent years, but he has also done some great things to help this organization. I don't love the guy, but when I look at all the available options out there, I still want him to finish out the season. The only way I support his firing is if John Tortorella and Jim Schoenfeld both go with him. Getting rid of one part of this team will do nothing. It has to be an all or none mentality for Jim Dolan.

In looking back on the bad part of Sather's Ranger career, I want to delve mostly into the moves he has made in the post-lockout era. There were some bad signings made before that, but since there was no salary cap, they really should not affect his overall judgment. I will begin with his most infamous signings of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. I still understand completely why the two were brought in; Drury was coming off a career year in Buffalo with no sign of slowing down and Gomez was coming off a 70 point season while playing in a defensive system in New Jersey. There was nothing wrong with the players, it was just the years and salary they were given. Roughly $35 million to Drury for five years and $49 million to Gomez for seven.

Had the Rangers roster, coaching staff, and management all been on the same page, the signings would have worked. Unfortunately, it ended in utter disaster. Drury's transition to New York was brutal, and he is still trying to find his game three years later. Gomez, meanwhile, did put up a 70 point season in his opening year on Broadway before a sub-par effort last season had him banished to Montreal in a steal of a trade that led to the signing of Marian Gaborik, a superstar still in his prime. All these years later we look at the signings as complete insanity, but when they happened, they made a lot of sense.

Personally, those two players did not signify Sather's downfall; that came with the signings of Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival. With Jagr not returning, it made absolutely no sense to bring back Rozsival, especially since his main source of points was playing on the powerplay with the former captain. Redden, on the other hand, was a powerplay quarterback in Ottawa and was something this franchise desperately needed at the time his was signed. Again, another instance of good intention, bad outcome. These two moves triumph the two made in the off-season before and ultimately sealed the fate of the once great GM.

It's hard to believe that the same man responsible for those aforementioned signings was the same man who saved this franchise by acquiring Jaromir Jagr. Anson Carter was dealt for him, and while Carter would go on to score only 49 more goals in his career, Jagr would put the Rangers back on the map when he scored 54 in the year after the lockout, setting a franchise record and removing the Blueshirts from being the laughingstock of the NHL. Sather also signed Michael Nylander and Martin Straka to play alongside Jagr. Those two players would not score under 70 points in each of their two full seasons playing on the same line together.

Before the lockout, Sather also orchestrated two more trades that were pretty amazing, yet never reached full potential because of injuries. He traded Filip Novak (who would never appear in the NHL) and Igor Ulanov to Florida in exchange for superstar Pavel Bure in 2002. In two seasons, Bure would record 50 points in 51 games before injuring himself and being declared medically unable to play.

A year earlier, marquee center Eric Lindros was brought in from Philadelphia in exchange for Jan Hlavac, Jim Johnsson, and Pavel Brendl. Lindros would go on to record 79 points in 78 games during his first season, before his offense went down a year later due to a defensive minded Bryan Trottier system. In his final season on Broadway, Lindros was playing the best hockey he could but suffered a season ending injury 39 games in. He had 32 points.

Now for the part that people often mis-associate Glen Sather with, and that is trading away youth. Never in his tenure with the Rangers has the GM traded away promising youth like his predecessor Neil Smith. Sather inherited a team that was a complete mess when Smith left it and he had virtually no farm system at all to work with. It was for that reason that he made big money signings before the lockout that included Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis. There was absolutely no prospects in the entire organization available to work with. It took time but now here in 2009, the Rangers have a top five ranked farm system according to Hockey Future.

To read the rest of this article, click here.