Game On!

In a sense Glen Sather -- announcing his new coach and looking to the immediate and distant Rangers future -- sounded the theme of a recently-elected president.

CHANGE!

His Blueshirts needed a different personality, with a louder voice who would provide the Rangers with a go-go attacking style rather than over-worrying about goals against.

More than anything, those points explain why John Tortorella is the new head coach and Tom Renney is on a sabbatical he would not have wished on himself.

Oh yeah, and there's also a not-so-small matter of the Rangers possibly even slipping out of a playoff berth had the Old Guard remained behind the bench.

"Over the last couple of weeks I watched the team slide," said Sather in a far-reaching conference call, "and our game eroded. This was obvious from the last couple of games."

Listen to President and GM Glen Sather's entire conference call from Monday


It wasn't the disastrous overtime loss on Bathgate-Howell night that forced Slats to pull the trigger. He had been studying the coaching staff for weeks -- maybe even longer -- and if there was one matter that the g.m. wanted altered it was the ambience of his new coach.

Through thin and thick, the erudite Renney simply was too darn calm, perhaps even too collected, too professorial.

"Torts is more fiery in his approach," Sather added, "and he's going to bring that fiery attitude to this team."

Ironically, Tortorella once was a member of the Rangers organization and could have been retained 'way back when; so the obvious question: why did the Blueshirts originally ignore him when he was there for the taking?

"That was eight-and-a-half years ago," Sather countered, "and sometimes things have a way of coming full circle."

Sather seemed as perplexed as anyone over the fact that the Seventh Avenue skaters looked like a sleek, well-oiled machine in the early going and then just about everything went wrong.

I asked him if he could pinpoint what that "something" was when he declared that "something happened."

"I don't have any conclusive answer," he replied. "We lost our zip. Maybe it was an earlier game with Toronto when we blew a two-goal lead late in the game; or possibly a loss to Washington. In any event, we all have to take responsibility."

While asserting that he would have made the coaching change whether the club had won or lost on Sunday night to Toronto, he noted that the club's erratic play against the Leafs set off a trigger in his head.

"During that game," he went on, "I came to the conclusion that today (Monday) would be the day that I'd have to do it -- make the move."

Jim Schoenfeld, an old friend of Tortorella, will be an interim assistant coach, working with Mike Pelino and Benoit Allaire.

"Jim and John know each other," Sather noted, "and their philosophies are the same."

One newsman suggested that Renney was not thrilled about Sean Avery's possible return to the Rangers. The g.m. countered that The Great Gabbo is paying his dues in Hartford, is doing well but still has to get into NHL shape. He also intimated that Avery has played his best NHL hockey in New York.

"You always have to be cognizant of the fact that we have a (good) history with Sean," said Sather, "and over time you learn to love him; as I do."

Pressed about off-season changes that included the acquisition of Wade Redden, Sather asserted that such moves were made "collectively" by the coaching staff, scouts, et. al.

"You always can second-guess on changes that were made," he explained, "and I still think we have a team that's played very well. Earlier in the season we were a fast, puck-possessive team but we got away from that and now we have to move forward."

While allowing that other potential candidates -- in addition to Tortorella -- had been considered as Renney replacements, it was a Stanley Cup-winner who won the Manhattan Coaching Lottery.

"Torts has a reputation that precedes him," Sather concluded. "That's who we needed at this stage.

Ergo: A winner! 

Perhaps more importantly, someone who will bring what, perhaps, the club most needed -- CHANGE!

MORE:

• Why Torts Is the Right Man for the Job
• Renney Knew it Was Coming
• Bathgate, Howell's Numbers Raised to Rafters