Now that the charade has ended, now that Glen Sather is finally admitting he has hired Ron Low as head coach for next season with Edmonton chums Walt Kyle and Ted Green as his assistants, what do we know about this staff?
Well, we know at least one of the Oilers’ marquee players thinks the Rangers have done great here, that’s what we know after a chat with Billy Guerin late yesterday afternoon.
“I loved playing for Ronnie Low. He as is into it and as emotional as any coach I’ve ever had,” said the right winger. “Ronnie is a real easy guy to read. He believes in giving a guy a kick in the rear when he feels it’s necessary and also giving a guy a pat on the back when a player deserves that.
“He’s a great motivator, really he is. He’s upbeat every day. He’s psyched. And he backs his guys up all the time. He’ll go to war for the team.
“I absolutely love him.”
Low, who will celebrate his 50th birthday a week from Friday, coached the Oilers for just over four full seasons, registering a 139-162-40 record from late 1994-95 through 1998-99, when he was replaced by Kevin Lowe. His Oilers went 10-18 in the playoffs, including memorable first-round, seven-game upsets in 1997 of Dallas and in 1998 of the Avalanche. Low coached Houston of the IHL to a 44-29-9 record last season.
While Sather did speak to numerous individuals concerning the job, and for some reason continued to insist through Monday that the post remained open – his unsolicited public announcement last week that he was considering Mike Keenan for the job was not only unnecessary but essentially a fib that does not reflect well on the GM – Low had the inside track from the moment Lowe took himself out of the picture by deciding to remain in Edmonton.
Why? Because the two had worked comfortably together with the Oilers, Sather’s hockey home for the last 24 years, that’s why.
“Glen was very honest about it with me when we talked. He told me he would be most comfortable working with someone he had worked with before,” John Paddock, who coached the Wolf Pack to the 2000 AHL championship and had originally been considered a leading candidate to replace John Muckler, told The Post. “He told me that would be the reason why he would be going in a different direction, and so I had to respect that.”
We blundered in this space last week in overlooking Low’s previous relationship as an assistant coach with both Mark Messier and Adam Graves, and his relationship as a teammate of John MacLean in New Jersey. An engaging fellow, Low was always extremely well respected by his peers throughout an 11-year NHL career in nets with the Devils, Oilers, Toronto, Washington, Detroit and Quebec.
Low, who will be introduced at an afternoon Garden press conference, will be joined on the dais by Kyle and by Green. Kyle is the 44-year-old former Anaheim assistant who for the last two years coached the Oilers’ AHL farm club in Hamilton, and is regarded as a rising star.
Green, who has served in various coaching and front-office capacities with the Oilers since the 1981-82 season, is merely the most hated opponent in Ranger history. He nearly killed Phil Goyette with a spear to the kidney on Dec. 26, 1965, an act that prompted team president Bill Jennings to put a “bounty” on his head.
Who knew that cries and chants of “Get Green” that echoed for years throughout the Garden when the Bruins came to town would be taken literally more than three decades later by Sather, who himself began his NHL career in Boston as Green’s teammate?
“Teddy is really into it; 100-percent dedicated,” said Guerin. “He’s great with video, he ran our penalty-killing unit and was as involved as I’ve ever seen an assistant coach.
“He’s a very funny guy; really good with young guys. I think it’s great for the Rangers that he’s going, not so great for us that he’s leaving.”