Sports

KYLE COULD BE NEXT RANGER COACH

Kevin Lowe, a lock for the job had he wanted it, is staying in Edmonton. So, too, is Craig MacTavish. There’s John Paddock, who surely wants the assignment, but if Glen Sather were turned on by the Hartford coach, the GM probably would have promoted him already. Ron Low has been interviewed but he’s not likely to make the move to Broadway, either.

So who will Sather hire to coach the Rangers if he doesn’t decide to run the team from behind the bench himself?

Well, does the name Walt Kyle ring a bell? Probably not, but, according to two individuals familiar with the process, the 44-year-old former Anaheim assistant who coached Edmonton’s AHL Hamilton farm team the last two seasons, has emerged as a prime candidate for the job.

“Glen is not at all opposed to making what might be considered an ‘unconventional’ hire,” one informant said. “People might look at Walt Kyle and say he doesn’t look like the prototypical NHL coach, but then, Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t look like the prototypical NBA coach, either.”

Kyle, who overcame a form of bone cancer in the early ’80s and has been cancer-free since 1987, is known as a motivator and communicator, though nearly all of his coaching work has been with young players.

In addition to his two seasons behind the Hamilton bench, Kyle coached Anaheim’s top development teams in 1994-95 (IHL San Diego) and 1995-96 (AHL Baltimore); coached the junior Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL in 1992-93 and 1993-94; and, was head coach of the 1992 and 1993 U.S. National Junior Teams. Prior to that, Kyle, a native of Waterloo, Iowa, was assistant head coach for 10 years at the U. of Northern Michigan, his alma mater.

“Walt is terrific with players one-on-one,” one well-respected league source said. “And Glen has a very high regard for him and trusts him.

“He’s definitely a leading contender.”

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Sather, who attended yesterday’s Board of Governors meeting at the Essex House in Manhattan, will fly to Calgary today for Friday’s expansion draft and the weekend’s Entry Draft. Rangers do not have a first-round pick, having traded it to Tampa Bay last year in the Pavel Brendl deal.