It’s a difficult one to read, but it now appears far more likely than not that either Herb Brooks or Larry Robinson – and not Ken Hitchcock – will become the next head coach of the Rangers.
A well-placed source has told The Post that Hitchcock has not only supplanted Pat Burns as Bob Clarke’s first choice to take over the Flyers, but that the former Dallas coach is more comfortable with the idea of going to Broad Street rather than Broadway.
Hitchcock, who has spoken with Clarke at least once, has told confidants that he has reservations about his potential effectiveness dealing with some of the high-profile personalities within the Ranger room, notably Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure.
Glen Sather, meanwhile, shares exactly those same reservations -which is why the Ranger GM has not offered the job to Hitchcock, with whom he met on April 19.
Hitchcock, who also may be a candidate for the vacant Anaheim job, is due back this weekend from Sweden, where he was acting as a Team Canada assistant in the World Championships.
Robinson, who spoke with Sather briefly last week, phoned the GM from his home in Florida last night and is believed to have said that he’d like a few more days before committing to formally applying for the job.
Robinson, who is playing in a polo tournament this week, is believed a candidate for a player-personnel position with Tampa Bay. Sather is going to wait for Robinson’s decision before making a final decision, himself.
While the GM will speak to L.A. assistant Dave Tippett, and perhaps as well to Colorado assistant Bryan Trottier and Montreal assistant Guy Carbonneau depending upon how far their respective teams advance in the playoffs, Brooks is the leader in the clubhouse after his five-hour meeting of the minds with Sather on Monday.
The Post has learned that Brooks – who believes an NHL team can win and entertain at the same time – at one point proposed that he and Sather work in tandem as co-coaches, with Brooks running practices and Sather the game bench, but that the GM rejected the suggestion.
If Robinson is indeed interested in returning to coaching, and would consider a position as an assistant or associate, Sather would leap at the opportunity of pairing Brooks and Robinson behind the Ranger bench.
Hiring Brooks for an Act II on Broadway – his teams had a .532 winning percentage in 285 games from 1981-82 through the middle of 1984-85 – is likely to have a substantial impact on the Rangers’ free-agent strategy, with Chris Chelios, Billy Guerin, Tony Amonte and Scott Young all Group III’s off this year’s U.S. Olympic Team.
In addition, current Blueshirts Mike Richter, Brian Leetch and Tom Poti earned silver medals playing for Brooks at Salt Lake.
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Sather, we’ve learned, asked former Stars GM, and prior to that, coach, Bob Gainey, whether he’d be interested in succeeding Ron Low, but was rebuffed.
Blueshirts will convene scouting meetings in Palm Springs on Sunday and they will last all next week.