I would like to congratulate Glen Sather on his tenth anniversary of service as President and General Manager of the New York Rangers.
Among your great accomplishments, my favorite was trading Brian Leetch to the Toronto Maple Leafs for prospects Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko Immonen, a first-round pick which became Lauri Korpikoski and a second-round pick which became Michael Sauer. With that move you showed the loyalty (to one of the greatest players this team has ever had) and a keen eye for talent that has been the hallmark of your career. Where would our team be today without Maxim, Jarkko, Lauri and Michael? Who cares that Brian got his 1,000 career point as a Bruin.
Thanks for getting rid of Blair Betts and picking up Donald Brashear. What a further display of loyalty to a team player! What a better demonstration of your loyalty to the fans could there be than selecting a player every fan hated! And Donald was such a valuable addition you gave him a two year deal; what an eye for value!
Thanks also for getting players such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure and Wade ($32.8 million) Redden. Your eye for talent and value just continues to improve!
Seriously, in ten years Sather has shown a lack of respect for loyalty and a lack of respect for Ranger tradition. He has been disrespectful to the media, players and fans alike. He has also shown a lack of ability to assess talent and an inability to deal with the salary cap.
And, seriously, the results have been horrific. In these ten years the Rangers have won exactly two playoff series, while the Devils have won two Stanley Cups.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Happy Anniversary Slats!
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Right on, Mike. Hard to believe its been a lost decade under GS. Time for him to go.
Sec 335,
We should all be singing the Anniversary Blues. It's amazing that the supposed tough NY media has let this guy skate off with this pitiful 10 year track record.
How many GM's have the opportunity to go through 5 different coaches:
* John Tortorella - current
* Tom Renney 2004 to 2009
* Glen Sather, himself 2003-04
* Bryan Trottier 2002-03
* Ron Low 2000-02
And not have to shoulder any blame for the team's pitiful performance??
To his credit if I had his woeful record I wouldn't show my face either.
It's nuts, no one gives a damn. It's always we'll just have to try harder next year. And the sycophant minions at MSG just continue to put lipstick on every pig of a move Slats makes. I get more mad at the spin-jokers like Stan Fischler who come out do his bidding. Slats does a nice job of hiding behind their cover.
I'll never forget Mike confronting Slats up by the luxury boxes after a dreadful Rangers performance in February 2009:
Mike said: "You should fire everybody on this team, and start with yourself!" To that, Stealth kept walking and with his head turned just a bit, grumbled "Kiss my A**" The Pundit calmly retorted, "Go back to Edmonton. You don't belong here!"
The next morning Slat fired Renney.
You could say that Mike is the only guy in this town, who has ever put any direct heat on old "Tomato Face" Sather.
As much as I dislike Sather's tenure as NYR GM, I don't fault him for bringing Lindros & Bure to NY. Mainly I guess because it was prior to the salary cap era and their contracts never really hurt the Rangers. I guess I'm one of the few NYR fans who actually like the "Big E"
Getting Brashear was a giant bitch slap in the face to every true Rangers fan. A small nothing deal, but the final insult as far as I was concerned.