Let’s not sugarcoat this. The Rangers get an “F” for the season. That applies to the front office, the coaching staff and the playing personnel.
Glen Sather has held the general manager job for nine seasons, during which time the Rangers have won two playoff rounds and have failed to qualify for the postseason five times. There is no reason on Earth that Sather, who is one of the truly good-hearted people in the game, should have the lifetime guarantee a largely clueless Jim Dolan, the owner who is either loyal to a fault or unable to admit mistakes, has given him.
John Tortorella’s last two full seasons behind an NHL bench have resulted in finishes of 30th overall with the Lightning in 2007-08 and 21st overall this season. He has a small-market mentality, does not understand at all what New York is about and is a professional bully who has earned the enmity of nearly everyone with whom he has come into contact.
I regret that I have become so personally entwined with this coach that I’m compelled to stipulate that I am not engaged in a vendetta against him. I have neither written about nor spoken of the breakdown in our relationship and have no interest in doing so.
But I must state that my relentless criticism of Tortorella — whom, by the way, I enthusiastically endorsed for the job a week before he replaced Tom Renney — is the cause of the rift and not its effect.
I do not believe a coach can win in this league by creating an environment of underlying tension, or by constantly screaming at players, or by changing line combinations every five minutes, or by obsessing over players staying out of the penalty box at the expense of protecting teammates, or by trying to win with two forward lines.
It does not, though, on the day after the Rangers’ playoff dream died, appear that either Sather or Tortorella is going anywhere, unless the GM decides on his own to step away from the operation.
So what should the Rangers do, assuming that Sather and Tortorella remain?
1. Restructure the front office so that Sather’s replacement is in place next year as his assistant. If it’s Mark Messier, then send him on the road next year to scout. If it’s not going to be Messier, let him know now and hire someone else.
2. Jim Schoenfeld is either the assistant coach or assistant GM. Call me crazy, but it seems as if the GM of the AHL Wolf Pack (part of the assistant GM’s job description) should actually watch the Wolf Pack play here and there.
3. If Ken Gernander is not a candidate to become the next head coach of the Rangers, he cannot be coach of the Wolf Pack. The AHL coaching job is not a reward for years of meritorious service.
4. With the exception of role players such as a veteran seventh defenseman, stay away from the free-agent market and stay away from trading for fading veterans with onerous contracts.
5. Stay the course. Do not engage in yet another extreme makeover that would see the roster turned over for the third straight summer. There can be neither stability nor structure without continuity. Nurture the core that includes Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy, Marian Gaborik, Erik Christensen, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Chris Drury, Sean Avery, Brandon Prust, Jody Shelley and P.A. Parenteau.
6. Draft selections have improved immeasurably since the hiring of Gordie Clark to run the player personnel department. The Rangers may have something in Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Ryan McDonagh (a trade acquisition), Evgeny Grachev, Dale Weise and Ryan Bourque. Trust Clark’s judgment and consider him for the post of assistant GM/GM in waiting.
7. Repeat No. 5, over and over and over again. There is no quick fix on the horizon. In other words, no Sheldon Souray, no Vincent Lecavalier, no Patrick Marleau, no Joe Thornton, no Brad Richards, no Pavol Demitra.
8. Do not even think about raising season-ticket prices.