IF GLEN Sather is evalu ating Tom Renney’s status on a game-by-game basis, then whether he knows it or not, the GM has made up his mind that the head coach has got to go.
It can’t be that 3-1 with an empty-netter over the Islanders on Wednesday grants Renney a reprieve when 2-1 against in the same game without Yann (Mr. Softie) Danis yielding that goal to Scott (Mr. Muffin) Gomez would have meant the end for Renney.
It can’t work that way.
Either Sather – who shares his thoughts with, well, with we can’t quite tell you, exactly, and we can’t tell you from whom the GM seeks counsel, either, if he does – believes Renney commands the authority to steer the Rangers to a fourth straight playoff berth, or he doesn’t.
This coach’s immediate future cannot be determined by the outcome of a one-goal game. That’s lunacy. The Rangers aren’t rolling over. They’re not quitting.
If Renney is behind the bench tomorrow night in Buffalo, and there is no reason on earth to expect anything different, he should remain for the duration of the season.
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Regardless of the outcome of this season, Renney has ensured his place as one the most significant head coaches in franchise history, in fact joining Mike Keenan and Emile Francis as the team’s three most important and successful coaches of the modern era.
There was Sather’s foresight coming out of the lockout in assembling a squad built around Jaromir Jagr and his European posse, there was the Great 68, missed so terribly this season, and there was Henrik Lundqvist.
But there also was Renney to guide a laughingstock team back to credibility, and to do it always with a sense of class and character that brought pride back to the organization.
That not only counts for something, that counts for a great deal, even if the head coach seems to be off-balance in dealing with the challenges of leading this vanilla team that misses go-to personalities even more than go-to scorers.
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There is no question whatsoever that John Tortorella is the right man, if not the only man, for the job when and if Sather makes a change behind the bench. He’s the guy.
There is, however, nothing in the GM’s track record to suggest that he’d be willing to turn the team over to as strong, charismatic, hard-headed and independent a coach as Tortorella, who could care less who you are or what you make when it comes time to hold players accountable.
“I will not answer a single question about a job that is not open,” Tortorella, the 2004 Cup winner in Tampa who was dismissed last summer, told The Post yesterday. “I had that happen to me for two months after last season. I believe it’s unethical in our business to do that to anyone.
“I’m fortunate enough to have a job working for TSN that’s been something I really enjoy, It’s allowed me to learn and I’m appreciative. But if the question is would I like to make a career at TSN or return to coaching, there’s no question that in my mind, I want to coach.”
With Sather’s resume, however, if Edmonton dismisses Craig MacTavish after the season, make book that he becomes the leading candidate to replace Renney, if replacing is needed.