The New York Rangers have announced today that General Manager Glen Sather is stepping down from his position as GM. Sather started as the Rangers GM and President in 2000. His replacement is pretty obvious for people who have tracked the Rangers in the last few years, assistant GM Jeff Gorton. Jeff Gorton was a key in the Rangers front office and will help them now as the GM. Jeff Gorton is the 11th GM in Rangers franchise history. Glen Sather will remain as the President of the New York Rangers. Prior to joining the Rangers in 2007, Gorton was the interim GM of the Boston Bruins. He is known for pulling off a trade in 2006 that sent Andrew Raycroft to the Toronto Maple Leafs on draft day 2006 and acquired Tukka Rask.
Glen Sather’s legacy as the Rangers GM will be looked upon as a mixed bag. He built the defending President’s Trophy team, drafted stars such as Henrik Lundqvist, Derek Stepan and the rest of the Rangers core pretty much. The Rangers have had seven head coaches since 2000, including Glen Sather who took over as head coach in 2003-04 and went 33-46-11. Sather also had terrible signings like Wade Redden and Chris Drury.
Glen Sather was brought in after being the head coach of one of the greatest if not the greatest dynasty in NHL history, the 1980s Edmonton Oilers with Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Sather had a long distinguished career with the Oilers and the Rangers. According to the Rangers Twitter, Glen Sather was talking about his predecessor Gorton and was saying, “Jeff has been an integral part of our success since joining #NYR. Jeff has earned the respect of colleagues throughout the hockey community. He is well prepared for and extremely deserving of this opportunity.”