Yes, Virginia, there is a Glen Sather, and he is the Rangers’ GM this morning, just as he will be tomorrow morning, and the morning after that and the morning after that regardless of the outcome of any individual game or sets of games.
There is no indication that Garden CEO Jim Dolan is considering a change in the Blueshirts’ hierarchy. Neither, it turns out, is the GM making an immediate change with the team.
“Everything has been discussed, and I mean everything, but this is not the time for drastic action,” Sather told The Post before the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Islanders at the Coliseum last night that stanched the bleeding at five straight (0-3-2) defeats.
“No one is satisfied with where we are. This is not where we want to be or believe we should be. But I have confidence in this group and in this coaching staff.”
Head coach John Tortorella took action as promised following Wednesday’s debacle of a 2-1 defeat at home to the Islanders by scratching Wade Redden and Ales Kotalik. Sitting Kotalik, who has been benched intermittently, was not a statement. Sitting Redden, however, was.
Redden, utterly devoid of passion through the first 109 games of his Rangers career, finally showed some emotion upon hearing the news oh boy about the scratch by confronting and shouting at Tortorella in the visiting coach’s office prior to the morning skate.
Later, the defenseman who represented himself as worthy of a $39 million investment over six years upon reaching free agency on July 1, 2008, complained to the press that he was being “singled out” and being made an “example.”
How absurd. How outrageous. But how typical. Though, in a sense, Redden was correct. He is an example … of what happens when players are not held accountable. Management shares the responsibility for Redden’s sense of entitlement.
The Rangers scored five times last night, but Henrik Lundqvist, who was clearly the best athlete on the ice, rescued them from falling into an early hole that might have prompted panic. It would be a mistake to declare this midseason crisis over. Indeed, it is impossible to forecast whether this victory will prove more than a one-day respite for this team with a battered psyche.
There is repair work to be done here, repair work between Tortorella and his players. The Rangers have not quit on the coach. But there appears to be a disconnect between the team and the coach who seems to have divided his athletes — or at least his forwards — in a caste system where the top six are more worthy than the grinders and role players who are essential to any big-time club.
It was, in that sense, ironic to hear Tortorella’s answer when asked by The Post whether he believes the Rangers are at a defining crossroads.
“The key thing is we’ve got to start becoming a team, more of a team,” he said. “There’s been a lot of changeover, a new coaching staff and new players, but it is late December.
“The important thing is to be a team, play as a team and play for one another. I don’t think they’re there yet.”
Clearly, they aren’t. But it is on Tortorella as the head coach to imbue his role players with a sense of importance. It is on Tortorella to coach the team and not simply coach his most talented athletes.
For if the coach cannot do that, Sather ultimately may have no choice but to take, “drastic action.”