Is Sather Changing Course?

Glen Sather does not tell us, the fans, what he is doing with our team. (Why should he - he is invincible.) So, we are left to guess. Why does a team that cannot score goals pick a stay-at-home defenseman first? Why do we trade a first rounder in the puck moving power play quarterback style of Brian Leetch for two draft picks?

Since we must guess at what the Rangers are doing from reading the tea leaves, I would guess that they are changing direction again.

We started our new direction in the post-Jagr era as a puck moving attacking team with a long term commitment to Wade Redden. Then, Torts was brought in to up-tempo the team. We were to become a take risks, attacking, Sather's Edmonton Oilers reborn. That experiment failed because we did not have Gretzky, Kurri, Anderson and Messier to score, and Redden was no Paul Coffey.

So, with goodbye to Bobby Sanguinetti, is it also goodbye to the fast pace we were promised? Is hello to Dylan McIlrath an attempt to copy the Kjell Samuelsson, Andre “Moose” Dupont, Chris Pronger style of the Flyers? If Sather is admitting he has made a mistake, as much as I dislike him, I give him credit. Defense can win the Cup. The Flyers are not the only team to use that formula. The Devils and Martin Brodeur have shown us this formula before too, with great success.

So Glen, if this is your new direction then finish the job. It is time to send Redden to the minors and sign Paul Martin. Then, find the money for Ilya Kovalchuk. That would get me excited - and would make us a contender.

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