though he gets a lot of hits from people on this board, Sather has made moves that has put this team on a track to win. Acquiring Diaz, Klein and Carcillo is really paying off now. Hiring AV when the safe, popular choice would have been Messier is really paying dividends now. The trade for ST. Louis, while maybe not a long term investment, looks like it could be huge for a playoff run here. And last but not least, boy oh boy how great is it that Del Zotto is just a memory of awful defensive hockey. If we do not win the Cup ( still not likely ) i'm sure the Sather haters will be back in full force
You need more than a 2-1 series lead in the 1st rd of playoffs to wash away almost 15yrs of futility.
True. But I dont see how anyone can knock the job he did this year. Team had alot of challenges. Got rid of a coach and system. Had to bring in the right coach. Marquee players (Hank, Cally, Girardi, McDonough) were free agents. He put this team in a position to win this year and in the next 2 years without totally mortgaging the future (bad contracts, etc). He has had his share of crappy moves the past 15 years and if you judge the total body of work he gets a bad grade as we have 1 ECF trip to show for it. But he was a great GM THIS year, end of story
i would say he's had a good year, not great. I would rate him great if he had "stolen" a Seguin, or Perron, or Moulson, or Vanek for a 2nd, etc. I think his moves were solid, but not steals by any means. I give him more credit for firing Torts last year and realizing we needed to move in a different direction/style, especially after it was just a couple months before that he had made a trade to fit Torts' style.
Hmmmm, I see what you mean 31 but there are alot of variables. No way the Isles would ever trade Vanek to the Rangers. But there were some players stolen so maybe that is the bar. Also its hard to improve the team when you have given up alot of assets before (Nash trade). I guess "good" is fair though. I am just pleased he has set the team up for success and if they dont do it its sort of on them with this roster
being a gm in New York may be the toughest job in hockey. the Rangers have never been allowed to bottom out. The fan base would not show up. thus, we never are able to draft a franchise player. always drafting in that 10 -20 range. so the trick for Sather has been to keep this team competitive without a "Crosby" being on the team, while trying to build through shrewd deals and finding later pick gems. the first 7 years were mostly futile, while the last 7 have been pretty good. The Rangers probably have the fewest top 5 picks of any of the original 6
Not to be a dikk but I can't agree with this. As a season ticket holder and one that knows at least 30 others, there is not one that I know of that wouldn't be patient with a true rebuild. In fact, we all wanted that as we were sick of the buy players and stink routine, and would have gladly paid our money. This argument may be true of the Yankees, but not the Rangers. Plus most of the seats are now corporate and would have been sold anyway. The last 7 years I would say were barely ok, not pretty good. Eking into the last spot most years, usually just by having a goalie stand on his head, and winning 2 rounds once is not that good. I think average would be generous.
62, Sather's track record of 15 years is a failure, dont think anyone is disputing that. This year however he has been good.
I would have to disagree 1962, about the fans being patient for a complete rebuild. That would probably be 3-5 years of non-competitive hockey ( think Islanders) easy to say, but when the rubber meets the road, it would get real ugly at MSG. Our last five years have been better than average. 2 years removed from the best conference record, and I believe 5 consecutive years in the top 5 in goals against. Sather and management have put a good product on the ice these last 5 years. If not for key injuries and MDZ being on the ice last playoff, we may have taken the Bruins to 7 games
Puck, starting with the '97-'98 season and up til the end of the '03-'04 season this team was not good at all, and the fans put up with it. In that time period the Rangers won 215 out of 574 gms played and were 57gms under .500 collectively. Remember those days of Cambpell, Muckler, Low and Trottier? When Gretzky had to drop his gloves b/c the team was a bunch of pssies? I think fans would be more willing to put up with a couple of years of rebuild knowing there is a plan than almost a decade of mediocrity, to be kind, with no plan and no direction, like we saw until the lockout. That's water under the bridge, though, b/c this team is in a win-now mode, but we shouldn't have suffered as long a downturn as we did.
They would never go into a total rebuild since they spend to the cap every year. In Sathers defense, though I think his lesser FA signings have been very poor, his dealing for Klein/Diaz/Carcillo/MSL were very good moves, they wouldn't have made the playoffs without them all. Maybe they'd have still gotten a WC spot, but it would've been close imo.
I agree he did pretty well this year and we don't need a rebuild at this point, even though I still think we need to get bigger overall and better at center. Seven years +/- ago we did, and the fans would have been patient. The year after the lockout with all our no names were the loudest I've heard MSG in years. Everyone was excited. If young, unproven players play hard, the fans would be appreciative and patient. All water under the bridge now though. We have a good team. Is it championship? I have my doubts but here's hoping.
The keys to the last 6-7 years are the farm system moving from awful into the top 15 and certainly Lundqvist becoming an elite goalie. Throw in the McD/Nash/StLouis trades to add star power. Prior to 2005 both the roster and the farm system were awful. They're still at about 80% of being a real SC type power but it's not far off if they make some good FA moves this summer.
I will not give Sather a pass. He came here on Edmonton laurels......and for 15 years he tried different ways to get a championship and has come up empty. We read about his notorious 5 year plan which has become 15 years. I just think he needs to retire.