Rangers announce Glen Sather will step down as president, transition to role as adviser
Rangers' Glen Sather addresses the media before their game against the Devils on Feb. 27, 2012 at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — On the day after multiple reports said team president Glen Sather plans to inform Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan that he intends to step down at the end of the season, the Rangers confirmed that Sather is transitioning to a new role with the organization.
In a news release, Dolan announced that Sather will become a senior adviser to the owner and alternate governor. The Rangers will begin searching for a new president immediately.
“I want to thank Jim Dolan for a great partnership working together over the last 19 years, and to everyone in the Rangers’ organization. It has been a privilege to represent New York and our great fans,” Sather said in the release. “I truly believe the team is headed in the right direction and think the future is bright. I look forward to transitioning to a different role and continuing to play a part in building the next Rangers Stanley Cup contender.”
Reports surfaced in a tweet Wednesday night from TSN’s Bob McKenzie and in a story in the New York Post that said Sather, 75, who won five Stanley Cups as coach and general manager of the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier-Grant Fuhr Edmonton Oilers before taking over as president and general manager of the Rangers in 2000, will be stepping down.
Rangers coach David Quinn, in his post-practice news conference at the team’s MSG Training Facility, was asked if he had any comment on the reports about Sather.
“We haven’t made an announcement, so I’ll just hold off and talk about what we’re talking about,’’ Quinn said.
Sather turned over his general manager duties to Jeff Gorton after the 2014-15 season, but he has worked closely with Gorton since then.
The Rangers announced in February 2018 that they would enter a rebuilding stage. After Gorton fired then-coach Alain Vigneault following the Rangers’ final game of the 2017-18 season, Sather had input into Gorton’s decision to hire Quinn, who had been coaching at Boston University, to replace Vigneault.
The Rangers missed the playoffs in Sather’s first four seasons, but after the 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout that eventually brought about the salary cap, the Rangers made the playoffs in 11 of the next 12 seasons, reaching the Eastern Conference finals three times in that span and the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, their first season under Vigneault.
Sather also coached the Rangers for parts of the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons after firing Bryan Trottier and before hiring Tom Renney.
Notes & quotes: The Rangers called up defenseman Ryan Lindgren from their AHL Hartford affiliate and held their final practice of the season. Lindgren practiced, but center Filip Chytil, who missed Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Ottawa with an upper-body injury suffered at the end of Monday’s game against the Devils, did not . . . Alexandar Georgiev will start in goal Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Rangers’ final home game of the season. They will finish the season Saturday in Pittsburgh.
With Newsday.com
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
