CANTLON’S CORNER: SCHOENFELD STEPS DOWN 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT –  With New York Rangers’ President, Glen Sather announcing his departure near the end of the season, it comes as no big surprise the team declared that Senior Vice President and Assistant GM, Jim Schoenfeld, 66, has officially stepped down from his positions.  This move was seen as a fait accompli.

Schoenfeld served 14 seasons as the General Manager of the Hartford Wolf Pack / CT Whale from 2003-04 until the 2016-17 season, He served as the Pack’s Head Coach for two seasons (2005-06 and 2006-07) where he mentored his replacements, Ken Gernander, and JJ Daigneault, who were just starting out their pro coaching careers.

During his tenure as General Manager in Connecticut’s capital city, players such as Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, and Artem Anisimov all made their professional debuts in the AHL before they were called up by the Rangers. Ironically all four players are no longer with the franchise.

Additionally, in Schoenfeld’s two seasons as Hartford’s Head Coach, he oversaw the progression of players such as Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, and Brandon Dubinsky before they joined the Rangers on a regular basis.

In July of 2016, Schoenfeld received the Thomas Ebright Award in recognition of career contributions to the American Hockey League.

In his playing days, Schoenfeld played just two AHL games where he had two assists with the old Cincinnati Swords.

The big redhead was always a colorful character. It didn’t matter whether he was mad at a referee or a player, he always sported a big smile, a laugh and a great sense of humor!

He once threatened the mercurial and coach-killing, Evgeni Grachev in the locker room hallway with banishment to Charlotte, who back then the Wolf Pack’s ECHL affiliate, if he didn’t play better. It scared players and media alike.

Schoenfeld baptized goalie Cam Talbot as the Pack playoff goalie in front of everybody with a big slap of his paw on his shoulder in front of the media.

Another mercurial player, Jarkko Immonen, who was struggling mightily, a reporter told him his agent said he was depressed he wasn’t in New York. Schoenfeld shot back. “I’m depressed too. My best player is playing like (crap) at minus-16!”

As tough as he could be, Schoenfeld also defended his players with the same fervor and loyalty.

In a playoff game in Portland, Maine, referee, Francois St. Laurent, made two horrible calls. The first was overruling his linesman and nullifying an Artem Anisimov goal. The second was tagging Alex Bourret with a major and game misconduct with under five minutes to play in regulation with the Pack trailing by a goal. It would be a game they would go on to lose.

Despite a 102 degree fever, Schoenfeld punched and dented a metal office door, walked past everybody and stood just outside the ref’s room and let St. Laurent have it, but without entering the ref room.

Schoenfeld’s sense of humor was probably best on display after a comical situation when former Hartford morning radio jock, Jeanine Jersey, famously forgot the words to the National Anthem and blurted out for all to hear, “Oh, crap, I forgot the words,” before a big crowd with Schoenfeld, Sather, and lot of other Ranger brass in attendance.

Following the game, Schoney, as he is known by those close to him, exited the coach’s room and put his arms around the shoulder of the team’s, then game night Operations Director, Danielle Levy, and said in a voice for all to hear, ‘Whatever happened to Teresa Rodriguez?” Schoenfeld was referencing the former anthem singer who was let go two weeks earlier.

He also had a great running feud with former Lowell head coach, Tom Rowe, in his last coached playoff series in the 2004 lockout year.

Rowe told this reporter, “Tell Schoeny they still have his chair warm at ESPN since he talks so much!” Schoeny had worked at The Worldwide Leader doing NHL games when they were broadcast by the network. The response can’t be printed here, but it was extremely funny.

Schoenfeld was involved in the hockey business his entire adult life prior to being a coach and executive with the Rangers, Schoenfeld served as a Head Coach in the NHL for parts of ten seasons.

He served as a Head Coach for 580 regular-season NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes, posting a 256-246-78 record (.509 points percentage), and he guided his team to a playoff berth in six of the ten seasons.

In 1987-88, Schoenfeld was named the New Jersey Devils’ Head Coach with 30 games remaining in the regular season. He guided the Devils to a 7-0-1 record over their last eight games that season, including winning the final five games in a row, to help the team clinch its first playoff berth since moving to New Jersey.

Schoenfeld proceeded to lead the Devils to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final during the 1988 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He is most famously remembered for his confrontation with referee Don Koharski in a hallway after a controversial 1988 playoff series. He shouted, “have another doughnut you fat pig.” It was all caught on camera and played all over the US and Canada. It led to a referee boycott of the next game in the series with Boston. See it HERE.

When the senior Koharski came to see his son Jamie do one of his first AHL games as a referee, he stopped by to see Schoenfeld prior to the game and brought with him – a box of donuts.

Schoenfeld was born in Galt, Ontario, but grew up in Cambridge, Ontario. Schoenfeld played parts of thirteen NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Boston Bruins. The defenseman skated in 719 career NHL games, registering 51 goals, and 204 assists for 255 points, along with a plus-236 rating and 1,132 penalty minutes.

He was a tough and fierce defenseman in his playing days. One of his more memorable battles was with the Bruins’ Wayne Cashman. After a jarring Schoenfeld hit, the pair fell through the unsecured Zamboni door at the Boston Garden and they got up and starting tossing haymakers. See it HERE.

Schoenfeld played in two NHL All-Star Games and was named to the NHL’s Second All-Star Team in 1979-80, as he led the NHL with a plus-60 rating during the season. Schoenfeld served as the Sabres’ captain for three seasons, and in his first season as the team’s captain in 1974-75, he helped Buffalo advance to the Stanley Cup Final where they lost to the Flyers.

The Sabres featured the fabled French Connection line of Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert, and the late Richard Martin. Teammates included ex-Nighthawk head coach, Rick Dudley, Danny Gare, Craig Ramsay and fellow defenseman Jerry “King Kong” Korab.

Schoenfeld played his junior hockey with OHA (now OHL) with the London Knights, who drafted him in the third round, (25th overall), Hamilton Red Wings and Niagara Falls Flyers in 143 games 15 goals, 90 assists and 105 points and 555 PM. He was drafted as the first pick and 5th overall in the 1972 NHL Draft by Buffalo.

Schoenfeld is a member of the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Cambridge (Ontario) Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.