SATHER PRESS CONFERENCE

With the news coming earlier today that Glen Sather had decided to make his fifth coaching change (if you include hiring and firing himself) since taking over the Rangers organization in 2000, the Rangers President and General Manager held a conference call with the media to explain the move and to introduce John Tortorella as the 36th head coach in team history.

Vice President, Public Relations and Player Recruitment for MSG John Rosasco opened the proceedings restating that Tom Renney was officially "relieved of his duties" this morning by Sather and made the official announcement that Tortorella was in fact hired to take over as the Rangers head coach effective immediately.

There were many revealing things discussed by Sather in the roughly half hour press conference, among them:

On the process and reaction by Tom Renney the GM responded, "I’ve been thinking about it for probably the last couple of weeks. I could see the team starting to slide and, after the start that we had at the beginning of the year and the way we were playing and moving and controlling the puck, the game just started to erode and I thought sooner or later we were going to have to do something. And I wish that it hadn’t have come to this, but it did. The last two or three games it was pretty obvious that we had to have something done.

"I talked to Tom this morning. I’m sure, as you know, he’s a very classy, intelligent human being. It was a tough thing for both of us to deal with. Emotional. But he handled it very well, very professional. He understands the coaching profession, he understands the mentality of the players sometimes and he knows that a lot of these things are out of his control. And coaches can only do what they think they’re doing is right. And that’s the way Tom tried to deal with everything. He’s very optimistic, very upbeat every day. He approached everything very professional and I can’t say enough about the way he worked with us for the last three and a half years."

Andrew Gross of The Bergen Record asked Sather first if Tom Renney would remain with the organization.

"Well, first of all Tom is going to take some time off, but he is absolutely welcome to stay with the organization."

Gross' follow up inquired on what the President/ GM thought that Tortorella will bring to the organization. Sather replied that, "Torts is certainly a lot more fiery and a lot different in his approach to the game and to the players. I think that he’s going to bring that fiery attitude and a lot of the games we seemed to be missing it. It’s certainly not a slight against Tom. It’s two entirely different styles."

Gross then asked Sather about why Tortorella wasn't brought in back in 2000 when he first came on board.

"I didn't know John at all at that point. I had talked to John Muckler. I talked to [Tortorella] a little bit, [and he said] one of the things I thought was really honest, [that] they’d done such a poor job they deserved to be fired. I liked that approach, that he was honest and accepting of what happened. I guess in retrospect you can look back and say it would have been smart to keep him. But that was eight and a half years ago now. Things have a way of coming full circle. I know that he’s always been interested in the Rangers, I know he’s always loved to be here and coach here. So I’m looking forward to getting to know him very well."

Next up was Steve Zipay of Newsday who asked Sather directly about management, players and coaches and their role in the position that the team was in.

"Absolutely. I think we all have to take responsibility for this. We think that we have a better hockey team than we’ve been playing the last ten games. I don’t think we’ve played very well. To come out of the gate the way we did and play and perform and move the puck and control the play in the beginning of the year, something happened. Something shifted, and certainly you can’t point your finger at Tom. You have to point it at everyone, and the players included, to take responsibility for the way they played. And they have to be smarter, and play smarter and play harder. I think that we all recognize that."

Zipay followed up asking if he was disappointed in any of the players that he brought in so far.

"I think that some of the players that I've brought in are better than they’ve performed up to date. But I wouldn’t start to point fingers at whoever I was thinking about and say so and so I don't think is playing nearly as well as he can play. But I know a lot of players here have played very well in the past and I expect they’re going to play very well in the future. Sometimes, who could ever tell you about this coaching business? One guy gets some players to perform really well, and another guy can come in and it doesn’t work for him. It’s a strange business, a strange profession. We’re all trying to do the same thing. We’re all trying to do the right thing."

Zipay then question the GM about reports that there was a possible issue over compensation to Tampa and if that was accurate?

"No, there was no compensation. These things they just take time. They’re always complicated when you start dealing with different people and it just takes time to iron things out. Everything is fine."

Craig Custance of the Sporting News was next and asked Sather about the need for a completely opposite direction personality-wise and if it was a conscious decision on his part to go that way?

"Yes, I think Torts is going to bring a lot more fire to his game, to his approach and that’s not to be critical of Tom’s approach. That’s just Tom’s personality. If you look at some of the players on our team, the past coaches that they’ve had in their history, a lot of these guys have thrived under that kind of coaching. I felt we needed to get some more fire in there."

The Maven, Stan Fischler was up next and he questioned the "something happened" comment that Sather had made earlier and if he could pinpoint what that was?

"We had a lot of meetings with the players we a lot of meetings with the coaching staff we tried to analyze it the best we could. We spent a lot of time dealing with the films, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. There really wasn’t any conclusive answer. We had lost our zip at one point in time, whether it was the game in Toronto when we were up 2-0 with seven minutes to go and there was a giveaway that started that onlaught — we ended up losing [5-2], or the game against Washington that we had them down 4-0. We have to be more of an attack team rather than a team that’s going to pull back and back in."

Fischler then asked about what assistants were going to be brought in.

"For now we're going to keep Mike Pelino and Jim Schoenfeld."

Lynn Zisler of the New York Times asked Sather about the trading deadline coming up and possibly making some moves next week.

"That’s certainly an option that’s coming soon. It’s not very far away. The telephones have been busy, certainly a lot busier than they were in the first half of the year as teams try to sort themselves out. SO many of us are in the position of moving up or moving down, a lot of guys have to be careful. We have to be careful that after a coaching move we
start to fool around with the personnel. I think it’s going to depend on how John sees the team and sees us  going forward. He’s certainly going to have input into the lineup as well as the personnel, and it’s going to take him a little time to see who’s here, but I wanted to give him enough time to analyze that."

She followed up about the timing of the move.

"Absolutely. I wanted to be able to give him the opportunity so that he would know
the team and see where he’d like to make some improvements and get his
input on where he’d like to see those changes occur."

Larry Brooks then took center stage and asked Sather his thoughts on making a move to a coach that he didn't know well and the conversations and philosophy discussions he had discussed with Tortorella.

"I think he has a reputation that precedes him. He also has a history with Jim Schoenfeld. They know each other very well and Jim, of course, knows me very well. He thinks our attitudes and desires are going to mesh quite easily. Our philosphy is the same. I know that John works hard. He’s very demanding. I like that. He’s going to bring some of those things back to our game on the ice. We need it at this stage."

Dubi Silverstein of Blueshirt Bulletin's telephone line was then opened and he asked a question as to whether or not the organization had considered doing anything along the lines of what Montreal did with Kovalev (sending him home to sit for two games).

"No I didn't. First of all I'd have a diff time picking out one guy and giving him a day or two of rest. But no it didn't cross my mind."

Andrew Gross was back up and asked if anyone else was seriously considered and if Schoney might get the job?

"Schoeny is going to be an interim assistant coach. There was no consideration in giving him the head coaching job. He really wasn’t interested in it." Sather then indicated that there were others who were considered for the job.

Gross followed up with the inevitable question about Tortorella not exactly being a fan of Sean Avery.

"I think you always have to be cognizant of the fact that coaches have opinions about players and people that are in different organizations at different times. He has no history with Sean that we do. I think that, over time, you learn to love him just like I have. That’s going to be something we’re going to deal with. Sean is still part of the Dallas hockey club and we’re not really at liberty to speak about it."

Ira Podell of AP asked Sather if last night was a final straw of sorts.

"No, the overtime loss last night wouldn’t have changed my mind. I’ve had it in the back of my mind for a few days, but winning or losing that game last night, as painful as it was to lose it, I had come to the conclusion during the game that today was probably going to be the day that I was going to do what I had to do."

EJ Hradek from ESPN asked Glen how much input did Tom and Perry (Pearn also fired today) had in the free agent signings in particular Wade Redden.

"Well, when we do our meetings, certainly everyone has input in these, both scouts and the coaching staff certainly have more of an input than the scouts do but we do this as a collective group of people that analyze the players and who we're looking for and everyone has an equal amount of input from the coaching staff as well as the managment staff."

Sather was then asked about the reentry waivers situation with Avery.

"I’m going to speak to John about it, absolutely. But Sean has not played very many games in Hartford. He’s worked hard, his attitude has been great, he’s done what the coaching staff have asked him to do there. He’s been a good contributor. The team has won three out of the four games. He's got one assist in those four games. He's coming along and he’s got a great attitude and we’ll deal with that in the next week for sure."

He was then asked about the moves the team has made and the "gamble" they were taking.

"You can always second-guess any of the moves and changes we made. but when we made them I thought we were doing the right thing and I still think that we have a team that’s played very well. we’re into a time right now where the team has not played very well, but that doesnt mean that we can’t get back to laying the way we played in the begining of the year. We were a fast, puck-possession hockey club that was determined and worked very hard and moved the puck very well and we’ve gotten away from that and that’s why wemade the change in teh coaching personnel, to get where we are today. In moving forward, I’d like to think we made the right change to help this team move in that direction."

Elliot Friedman from Hockey Night in Canada was up next and asked about not moving the young players like Dubinsky and if that was still the case?

"That's a pretty hypothetical question. I'm not sure what you're getting at? Do you want me to state that we're not interested in trading any young players? Absolutely we don't want to trade any young players but if someone came along and offered us an opportunity to make the team better with another young player, I'd have to say, 'Yeah, that's certainly a chance I might be willing to take.'"

He was then asked about cap flexibility…or the Rangers lack thereof… and perhaps sending a player (all together now…Redden) down to Hartford to make a statement.

"That's another hypothetical question that's difficult to answer but that type of a scenario, there are possibilities. We're not up against the cap so there are lots of things that can happen in the meantime. As we move forward we'll try to work through this and see what we've got when the time comes."

With that Rosasco ended the press conference.

Here are a couple of things that sort of got glossed over in the other media outlets.

1) For those who thought that Avery coming to NY now that Renney is gone had best forget that. Slats essentially said without saying that he's coming to NY if they can get him through the waivers.

2) Sather would trade some of the young players but not for aged veterans but other youngsters that he thought could make the team better. I think other than Marc Staal that means anyone could be had in the right deal and knowing this team some of them will be dealt. The only young players that have any real trade value in the organziation at this point would be Nik Zherdev, Dan Girardi, Brandon Dubinsky Ryan Callahan, Lauri Korpikoski, Nigel Dawes, Bobby Sanguinetti, and Artem Anisimov.

3) In explaining how decisions were made Sather stepped all over himself spreading the blame around and making it all sound like one big commune and that he wasn't really the boss.

4) From the way it sounded it's almost a forgone conclusion that Redden is headed to Hartford since his is the worst contract of the bunch and that the team is prepared to do that if they have to.

5) Lastly, Sather said the team isn't up against the cap. That depends upon how you look at it. Technically they're not against the cap. Technically they are just under a million dollars below the cap. However, unless some big moves are made, i.e. sending Redden to Hartford and Aaron Voros to points unknown, the team won't have any room to make any significant moves at the deadline…especially if they bring up Avery's 1.9mm cap hit.

So Wolf Pack/ Ranger fans, what do you think?

For those interested in reading the official release on the Tortorella hiring, here it is direct from MSG, enjoy:

JOHN TORTORELLA NAMED HEAD COACH OF RANGERS

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has named John Tortorella as the team’s new Head Coach.

Tortorella, 50, becomes the 34^th Head Coach in the 83-year history of the Rangers. He returns to the organization after
serving as Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning for seven seasons. Under his guidance, Tampa Bay compiled a 239-222-36-38 record in 535 games. He led the Lightning to four consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff appearances, including two Southeast Division Championships in 2002-03 and 2003-04. In 2003-04, Tortorella guided Tampa Bay to a franchise record 46 wins and 106 points, and went on to capture the club’s first Stanley Cup Championship. He was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the National Hockey League’s top coach following that season.

Tortorella joined Tampa Bay following a one-year stint with the Rangers in 1999-2000 where he was an Assistant Coach and served as Head Coach for the final four games of the season. Prior to joining the Rangers, he spent two seasons as an Assistant Coach with the Phoenix Coyotes. He joined Phoenix during the 1997-98 season, after spending the previous eight seasons with the Buffalo Sabres organization. Tortorella served as an Assistant Coach with the Sabres from 1989-90 to 1994-95 and as Head Coach with their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans, during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 campaigns. He guided the club to the Calder Cup championship in 1995-96.

The Boston, Massachusetts native spent two seasons as General Manager and Head Coach of the Virginia Lancers of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) from 1986-87 to 1987-88, where he compiled a 73-24-1-0 record to earn Coach of the Year honors both seasons, along with the league
championship during the 1986-87 campaign. Following the 1987-88 season, Tortorella joined the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League (IHL) during their 1988 playoff run before serving as an Assistant Coach with the New Haven Nighthawks (AHL) in 1988-89.

Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Tortorella played at Salem State College before transferring to the University of Maine Black Bears of the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC), where he skated for three seasons as a right winger. As a member of the Black Bears, Tortorella registered 26 goals and 52 assists for 78 points, along with 133 penalty minutes in 65 games, and was twice named an ECAC All-Star. After playing in Sweden, he returned to North America to skate in the ACHL with the Hampton Roads Gulls, Erie Golden Blades and Virginia Lancers, recording 98 goals and 160 assists for 258 points, along with 302 penalty minutes in 200 games over four seasons.