The 2006-07 New York Rangers. Photo by David Perlmutter
VIGNEAULT
2013-PRESENT
On his very first day after being anointed the 35th coach of the New York Rangers, Alain Vigneault took the stage at Radio City Music Hall and in a trice won the hearts of the hard-nosed New York media in attendance. He looked around at the throng, smiled, and said, “From now on just call me A.V.”
The aforementioned initials could have been equated with Advantage Vigneault because, from that point on, the feedback about the 54-year-old head coach was nothing less than A-OK.
Calm, cool, and collected, Vigneault came to Seventh Avenue with a splendid résumé that was developed as a player and later refined at an assortment of stops along the way to the National Hockey League.
His move onto center stage developed in the wings as a veritably unknown stickhandler. During the 1981-82 season, the 167th overall pick in the 1981 Draft made his NHL debut with the St. Louis Blues. The defenseman scored one goal and two assists in 14 games.
In time it became clear to Vigneault that he was going to reach the top as a major leaguer, and after three seasons playing at several levels, he chose to retire and pursue a career as a coach. Vigneault began with his first stint behind the bench with the Trois Rivieries of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The Rivieries went 28-40-2 and failed to make the playoffs with AV behind the bench.
The following season, the Quebec City native received his second job at the Junior level with the Hull Olympiques. In his first season, AV led the team to the QMJHL Championship. He spent the next three seasons in Hull, leading the Olympiques to the postseason in all three seasons.
Alain’s big break occurred in 1992 when he entered the NHL as an assistant with the Ottawa Senators under Coach Rick Bowness. Vigneault spent three-plus seasons with Ottawa, and received raves for his insights.
ALAIN VIGNEAULT
BORN: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; May 14, 1961
POSITION: Defenseman
NHL TEAMS:
PLAYING YEARS: St. Louis Blues, 1981-83
COACHING YEARS: Montreal Canadiens, 1997-2001; Vancouver Canucks, 2006-13; New York Rangers, 2010-Present
AWARDS/HONORS: Jack Adams Award, 2007
“Alain is one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever encountered,” said former NHL goalie and Madison Square Garden Network analyst Glenn “Chico” Resch. “Right from the moment he went to Ottawa he showed that he belonged in The Show.”
After three seasons with Ottawa, Vigneault was let go after Bowness was fired 19 games into the 1995-96 season. AV returned to the QMJHL in the 1995-96 season, coaching the Beauport Harfangs. In two seasons with the Harfangs, he led the team to two playoff appearances, including a trip to the finals in 1995-96.
It wasn’t until 1997 that Vigneault hit the jackpot, being named head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs made the playoffs in their first season under AV but missed the next two years. However, after his third season with Montreal, he was fired and returned to the QMJHL, this time with the Prince Edward Island Rocket. Two seasons later, he was back coaching professional hockey, this time for the Manitoba Moose, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks. The Moose earned 100 points and reached the second round of the playoffs in his lone season coaching the club.
Vigneault was named head coach of the Canucks the next season. He led the squad to a franchise-high 49 wins and won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year.
The Canucks thrived under AV, making the playoffs every season, including a President’s Trophy in 2010 and berth in the NHL Final, losing to the Boston Bruins in seven games. That should have ensured a long term in Vancouver, but after a first-round playoff exit in 2013, AV was released.
Shortly after John Tortorella was fired as Rangers coach in the summer of 2013, Glen Sather immediately tabbed Vigneault for the challenging head coaching job in Manhattan.
After a rough start to the first half of the 2013-14 season, the Rangers picked up their game and made a late run, finishing second in the Metropolitan Division. The team continued their stellar play into the playoffs, as Vigneault led the squad to its first Eastern Conference Championship and Stanley Cup Final since 1994.
His sophomore season with the club saw another formidable regular season as the Rangers finished the 82-game spread with a franchise record-setting 113 points, winning the President’s Trophy—another first since the 1994 season. After two seven-game series, however, the Blueshirts’ keen ability to pull out all the stops in elimination bouts came to a heartbreaking end just short of the Prince of Wales Trophy for the Eastern Conference Championship.
Rangers President/General Manager Glen Sather had seen from the beginning that Vigneault had the coaching style and attitude to the take the Rangers to the top of the NHL.
“He’s certainly been everything we thought he was: well-organized, very good at his job, gets along well with players and media.” Sather added: “I like his up-tempo practices and games; I like the way we play.”
The head coach’s style has brought the Blueshirts to new realms of success, and his quiet yet friendly nature has certainly won the hearts of the Rangers staff and media.
GLEN
SATHER
1971-1974
In 2010, the World Hockey Association bestowed the honor of being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame’s “Legends of the Game” category upon someone who’s touched all bases in hockey—and then some!
No question, Glen Sather has done it all, most recently as the 10th president and 12th general manager of the Rangers and the club’s titular leader since arriving on Seventh Avenue in 2000.
“Slats,” as he is known in the hockey community, is admired for his confidence, leadership ability, and managerial common sense.
Sather’s legacy in hockey dates back to his Junior days in his native Alberta. He proved good enough to make it to the professional ranks and starred for Memphis of the Central Professional Hockey League before eventually signing with the Boston Bruins in 1966. He would later emerge as a loyal foot soldier and an asset to many major-league teams.
GLEN SATHER
BORN: High River, Alberta, Canada; September 2, 1943
POSITION: Left Wing
NHL TEAMS:
PLAYING YEARS: Boston Bruins, 1966-69; Pittsburgh Penguins, 1969- 71; New York Rangers, 1971-73, 1973-74 (2 GP); St. Louis Blues, 1973-74 (69 GP); Montreal Canadiens, 1974-75; Minnesota North Stars, 1975-76
COACHING YEARS: Edmonton Oilers, 1976-89, 1993-94; New York Rangers (interim), 2002-04
MANAGEMENT YEARS: New York Rangers, 2000-present
AWARDS/HONORS: World Hockey Association Hall of Fame, 2010; Hockey Hall of Fame, 1997; Stanley Cups (GM), 1990; Jack Adams Award, 1986; Stanley Cups (head coach), 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988
Once a member of Boston’s big bad Bruins, Sather danced through his playing career with a gung-ho style that compensated for any of his deficiencies.
In 658 NHL games, he tallied 80 goals, 113 assists, and 724 penalty minutes.
“When we scouted Glen, we saw that he was tough to play against,” remembers former Bruins general manager Harry Sinden. “So we figured that we should draft him so we wouldn’t have to play against him.”
Sather was an agitator who tried to rile his opponents by talking trash, not unlike former Ranger Sean Avery.
“When Glen was with the Bruins, he would always yell that he was going to get me from the bench,” recalls ex-Ranger Rod Gilbert. “One time I scored a goal, and he was still on the bench yelling that he was going to get me, so I asked him, ‘When?’”
According to former Boston teammate Ed Westfall, Sather enjoyed staying up late most nights.
“When I first roomed with ‘Slats,’ I thought that the curfew was eleven o’clock,” says Westfall. “For him, the earliest he would get back to the room was eleven o’clock. I didn’t know I had a roommate for a while.”
Despite the fact that Glen was relatively small among NHL performers, he proved to be a ready, willing, and most able fighter when it was necessary to drop the gloves.
“He was an agitator, but he would also stand up, and he would fight when he was challenged,” said ex-Rangers forward Pete Stemkowski.
When the Penguins traded Sather for Syl Apps on January 26, 1971, Pittsburgh fans were mystified.
“We were forced into trading him,” recalls ex-Penguins general manager Red Kelly. “The game after that, fans put up banners asking why I traded him. But later in that game, Apps scored on a breakaway, and fans put away their signs.”
Sather’s pro playing career ended in 1976 with the Minnesota North Stars, but those who knew him well predicted that he eventually would become a big-league executive.
In 1977, he became coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association. Sather was the first member of the Oilers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Oilers entered the NHL in 1979, and Sather was appointed president and general manager. Building around a core of young breakthrough talent—which included Kevin Lowe, Grant Fuhr, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, and a free-agent phenom named Wayne Gretzky—“Slats” schooled his team in the ways of winning.
Edmonton became an NHL powerhouse with Sather as the mastermind behind five Stanley Cup championships between 1984 and 1990, numerous division titles, and team scoring records, not to mention the career of the record-shattering Gretzky.
“I knew that Edmonton was going to knock off somebody and win a couple of Cups,” said ex-Islanders general manager Bill Torrey. “Unfortunately, the Oilers beat our team and began a dynasty of their own.”
Sather’s .706 winning percentage in the Stanley Cup playoffs is one of the highest in league history. Undaunted, he stepped down as Edmonton coach in 1989 to concentrate on general management duties.
“A lot of Oilers wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for Sather,” says former Oilers forward Glen Anderson.
The cigar-chomping Sather became an astute executive and one of the league’s shrewdest, especially once Edmonton’s dynastic days ended. The Oilers struggled to stay afloat as a Canadian small-market team in the expanding NHL. Among the moves he made to strengthen the organization was the 1993 trade of an aging Esa Tikkanen for center Doug Weight, the preeminent playmaking Oilers star of the 1990s. It was generally acknowledged as one of hockey’s all-time steals.
Glen’s keen sense of team building also led him to stints as Team Canada’s general manager and coach of the 1994 Canada Cup and 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
In 1997 Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but his tenure took another turn shortly afterward.
After 24 years with the Oilers organization, Glen stepped down in 2000 to become the 10th president and 12th general manager of the New York Rangers, for whom he had played in the mid-1970s. As a forward with the Blueshirts, Sather played in 188 regular-season contests and was a member of the 1971-72 club that made a run to the Stanley Cup finals, losing to Boston in six games. Now, however, his job was to redefine the Rangers franchise.
One of Sather’s first and by far most popular moves as one of the most influential power brokers in the game was bringing back reliable former Oiler and ex-Ranger and Stanley Cup–winning captain Messier to lead the Blueshirts. But the 2000-01 Rangers could not make the playoffs.
During the summer of 2001, Glen acquired controversial, oft-concussed superstar Eric Lindros and a conditional first-round pick for Jan Halvac, Kim Johnsson, Pavel Brendl, and a third-round pick. When the team struggled down the stretch of the 2001-02 season, Sather went to work again. In March 2002, he sent two prospects and little-used defenseman Igor Ulanov plus picks to Florida for goal-scoring machine Pavel Bure. But for the fifth straight year, the Rangers did not make it into the postseason.
The Rangers required more revamping.
In 2004 Sather engineered a heads-up trade with the Washington Capitals, who received Anson Carter in return for 600-goal scorer Jaromir Jagr. The Rangers missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year; however, the wheels were in motion to bring the Rangers back to the playoffs.
After the NHL lockout during 2004-05, Sather brought up a player he had selected during his first NHL entry draft with the Rangers in 2000—net-minder Henrik Lundqvist.
Behind Jagr and Lundqvist, the Rangers made it to the playoffs in 2005-06 but were swept by the New Jersey Devils in the opening round.
More moves were needed. Through free agency, “Slats” signed another 600-goal scorer, Brendan Shanahan.
During the 2006-07 campaign, the Rangers began to flounder, and Sather stepped up again. This time, he acquired Sean Avery and John Seymour from Los Angeles for Jason Ward, Marc-Andre Cliché, and Jan Marek and called up two young talents in the form of defenseman Daniel Girardi and forward Ryan Callahan.
It turned out to be one of the most one-sided deals in memory. Ward floundered in Los Angeles and was later dealt to Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, Avery literally ignited the Rangers both on the ice and off.
“Sean Avery is the reincarnation of Glen Sather,” explained Rangers coach Tom Renney.
The Rangers again made the playoffs, sweeping the Thrashers in the first round before losing in the conference semifinals to the Buffalo Sabres in six games.
Some have suggested that at some point in the future, Sather will retire and return to his native Alberta. But after multiple fruitful seasons on Seventh Avenue, Glen has made it clear that he loves what he’s doing and loves where he lives.
“I try not to dwell on the past,” said Sather. “Winning all of those Stanley Cups with the Oilers was great, but it is in the past, and I’m looking forward to my future with the Rangers.”
“I TRY NOT TO DWELL ON THE PAST. WINNING ALL OF THOSE STANLEY CUPS WITH THE OILERS WAS GREAT, BUT IT IS IN THE PAST, AND I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO MY FUTURE WITH THE RANGERS.”
Reaching the Stanley Cup Final as the Rangers did in 2014 and clinching the President’s Trophy as they did in 2015 was hardly an accident.
Rather, it was a product of astute management orchestrated by the boss, President/General Manager Glen Sather.
The following examples offer proof positive, from Exhibits A through E:
A) RANGERS ACQUIRE RYAN MCDONAGH FROM MONTREAL FOR SCOTT GOMEZ
McDonagh has been a force on the Rangers’ blueline since he was brought over in a multi-trade on June 30, 2009.
His leadership qualities led to Ryan being named captain of the club in 2014. He has since led the team in ice time, and has offered solid defense. As an added bonus, McDonagh provides an offensive presence as well.
The Minnesota-born defenseman helped lead the team to the Eastern Conference Final in 2012 and the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. By the end of the 2014 postseason, Ryan had recorded 17 playoff points in the 25 playoff games.
B) ANTON STRALMAN IS SIGNED AFTER BEING RELEASED BY NEW JERSEY
Although the Swedish defenseman was given a tryout by the Devils in September 2011, New Jersey failed to retain the blueliner.
Sather struck while the iron was hot, and on November 5, 2011, inked Stralman to a contract. Slowly but relentlessly, Anton gained the confidence of the coaching staff and eventually became a top-four defenseman. During the 2014 Stanley Cup run, Stralman saved what appeared to be a sure goal by clearing the puck as it sat on the goal line. That pivotal move led to a Rangers victory in Game Four.
C) RICK NASH ACQUIRED FOR BRANDON DUBINSKY, ARTEM ANISIMOV, AND TIM ERIXON
Ever in search of a superstar, Sather seized yet another opportunity in a blockbuster deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He dispatched Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Tim Erixon to the Ohio Sextet for the former Columbus captain.
Although it took time before Nash fulfilled his glowing notices, Rick reached his prime during the 2014-15 season. Employing his speed and size to advantage, Rick emerged as one of the NHL’s leading scorers. Playing alongside Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello, Nash helped orchestrate a Rangers superior symphony as they finished on top of the Eastern Conference.
D) KEVIN KLEIN COMES TO NEW YORK FOR MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO
Kevin Klein surprises after being obtained for Michael Del Zotto. Nobody in the press corps was particularly excited when Michael Del Zotto was dealt to Nashville for a relatively unknown defenseman Kevin Klein.
In no time at all, Klein was welcomed to the regular blueline rotation because of his reliability both defensively and on the attack. Henrik Lundqvist rated Klein’s shot as the hardest on the team, and Kevin’s many pivotal goals underline that point.
E) THE RANGERS GET MARTIN ST. LOUIS FOR RYAN CALLAHAN
This was Sather’s toughest call simply because Callahan had become one of the most popular leaders in Rangers history. Nevertheless, when the deal was completed on March 6, 2014 for St. Louis, fans realized that New York had not only obtained a Cup-winner but also a future Hall of Famer in the miniscule Martin. As it happened, the likable French-Canadian proved his worth throughout the four 2014 Stanley Cup rounds. He helped the Rangers come back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Pittsburgh in seven games in the conference semifinals. He scored the game winner in overtime in Game Four against Montreal to give the Rangers a 3-1 series lead en route to becoming Eastern Conference Champions.
