Glen Sather

Glen Sather
Born	(1943-09-02) September 2, 1943 High River, AB, CAN
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shot	Left
Played for	NHL Boston Bruins Pittsburgh Penguins New York Rangers St. Louis Blues Montreal Canadiens Minnesota North Stars WHA Edmonton Oilers
NHL Draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1966–1977
Hall of Fame, 1997

Glen Cameron "Slats" Sather (born September 2, 1943) is the president and general manager of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also served as the head coach of the Rangers, as well as General Manager and coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and later NHL. Prior to coaching, Sather was a professional ice hockey left winger in the WHA and NHL. He played for the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, and Edmonton Oilers (in their WHA incarnation). Also nicknamed "Tomato Face" due to his perpetually red face during his playing days, Sather was born in High River, Alberta but grew up in Wainwright, Alberta. He also lived in Viking Alberta where the hockey playing Sutter family grew up. Sather now resides in Palm Springs, California in the off-season, but also has a home in Banff, Alberta.

Background and early career

Sather played three junior seasons starting in 1961 with the Edmonton Oil Kings. His professional career started in 1964 with the CPHL Memphis Wings and Oklahoma City Blazers, joining the Bruins at the end of the 1966–67 season and playing in 5 games.

Professional playing career

Sather played 10 full seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and another with the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA). He played 739 regular season games as a pro, scoring 99–146–245 and earning 801 minutes in penalties. In the playoffs he added 77 games played and scored 2–6–8 with 88PIM. His career as a player ended at the conclusion of the 1976–77 WHA season.

Post-playing career

Edmonton Oilers

Sather was named player-coach of the Oilers late in the 1976-77 season. He retired as a player after that season, but remained as head coach, a post he maintained when the Oilers joined the NHL in 1979–80. In 1978, then-Oilers owner Peter Pocklington came to Sather and asked him whether he should take advantage of an opportunity to acquire Wayne Gretzky. Sather replied, "Whatever you have to do, get him." This was considered a risky proposition in 1978, as many scouts and hockey pundits, notably Howie Meeker, considered Gretzky too small, and unlikely to ever make it in the pro ranks. Upon acquiring Gretzky, Sather allowed him to live with his family.

In 1979, the Edmonton Oilers were absorbed into the NHL. After taking them to the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season, Sather was promoted to President and General Manager, and named Bryan Watson the head coach of the Oilers. On the excellent advice of Barry Fraser, his chief scout, Sather selected Paul Coffey in the first round, Jari Kurri in the fourth and Andy Moog in the seventh. After a 4–9–5 record to start the 1980–81 season, Sather fired Watson and stepped back behind the bench. While his record was only 25–26–11 the rest of the way, the young Oilers caught fire late in the season and swept the heavily favoured Montreal Canadiens in the opening round of the playoffs. It was a signal of what was to come. Again on the advice of Fraser, Sather had another terrific draft in 1981, selecting Grant Fuhr in the first round and Steve Smith in the sixth round. The 1981–82 season saw the Oilers charge out of the gate as never before. They scored an NHL-record 417 goals, paced by Gretzky's 92 goals and 212 points.

This was the start of a tremendous run for the Oilers, who made it to the 1983 Finals (losing to the New York Islanders) and then winning the Stanley Cup in five of the next ten seasons following their first season in the NHL. The team made the playoffs with Sather as the sole head coach from 1979–80 until 1984–85. From 1985 until 1989, Sather retained the title of head coach but split coaching duties with John Muckler, winning the Jack Adams Trophy in 1985–86 as the NHL's coach of the year. In the 1988 offseason, Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers finished the season third in the Smythe Division, and then were eliminated by Gretzky's Kings in the first round of the playoffs in seven games, afterward Sather relinquished his title of head coach but remained general manager of the Oilers.

For the 1989–90 season, Muckler was promoted to head coach. The Oilers returned to the Finals where they again faced the Boston Bruins, winning in five games for their fifth Stanley Cup. It would turn out to be the last season where the Oilers finished as one of the league's elite teams.

After the Stanley Cup win in 1990, the Oilers were no longer a powerhouse (they last won the division title in 1986–87) as key players such as Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, and Esa Tikkanen left to seek higher salaries elsewhere (caused in part by the Gretzky trade in 1988), the high turnover often being attributed to Pocklington's cost-cutting moves.

The Oilers' decline was precipitated by poor scouting and drafting in the 1980s. This was largely overlooked during their glory years, since their stellar records resulted in them drafting fairly late and Sather was fairly adept at making trades to fill in the pieces. However the lack of talented young players coming through their system finally caught up with them when the last veterans from the dynasty years left town, as the younger players hadn't had nearly enough time to develop. The Oilers dropped to third in the Smythe Division in 1991 and 1992, but they still managed to make surprise runs to the Conference Finals both years. The bottom fell out in 1993, when the Oilers missed the playoffs for the first time in their NHL history and didn't return until 1996. Between 1982 and 2000, the 17 players that Sather chose first (excluding Jeff Beukeboom in 1983 and Jason Arnott in 1993) never turned out to be successful for the Oilers. This deficiency was particularly crucial as the Oilers' precarious financial situation in the 1990s meant it could not afford to buy or keep stars.

The Oilers returned to the playoffs in 1997 and would make the postseason in four more seasons. In 1997 and 1998, they managed first round upsets of the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, respectively, backstopped by goaltender Curtis Joseph. However Sather was unable to retain Joseph, who signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 1998–99, and Oilers were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs by the Stars from 1999 to 2001. Sather left the Oilers organization in 2000 and was succeeded as general manager by outgoing head coach Kevin Lowe.

New York Rangers

In 2000, Sather joined the Rangers to become their president and general manager, a position he currently holds despite not making the playoffs during his first four years at Madison Square Garden and cutting ties with many beloved Rangers, such as Adam Graves and Brian Leetch to bring in high-profile (yet unsuccessful in New York) players such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, and Bobby Holik. He hired Bryan Trottier as head coach in 2002 after receiving a 93 page hand-written application for the job, despite having no head coaching experience. The former Islander great, hated by Ranger fans, was hired, and then fired 54 games in the 2002–2003 season. This was preceded by his hiring of old pal Ron Low as coach in 2000, who also proved to be a failure. Both times Sather was forced to take over as head coach; his record as Rangers coach was 33–39–11–7 over 90 games. That pushed his NHL career win total to 497, currently 10th all-time.

Some good, young players were also drafted during his tenure as the Rangers general manager, such as Henrik Lundqvist, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, and Michael Del Zotto. The team greatly improved after the lockout under Renney, making the Stanley Cup playoffs four consecutive years. After the Rangers lost in the second round of the 2007 and 2008 playoffs and were struggling to make the playoffs in 2009, Sather fired Renney and replaced him with John Tortorella. The Rangers made the playoffs as the seventh seed but ultimately lost in the first round to the Washington Capitals in seven games. The Rangers failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2010, resulting in some fans holding a rally asking the team to relieve Sather of his position as general manager.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	W	L	Win %	Result
EDM	76–77	18	9	7	2	–	(72)	4th in WHA West	1	4	.200	Quarter-Finalist
EDM	77–78	80	38	39	3	–	79	5th in WHA West	1	4	.200	Quarter-Finalist
EDM	78–79	80	48	30	2	–	98	1st in WHA West	6	7	.462	Lost in Final
EDM	79–80	80	28	39	13	–	69	4th in Smythe Division	0	3	.000	Lost in preliminary round
EDM	80–81	62	25	26	11	–	74	3rd in Smythe Division	5	4	.556	Quarter-Finalist
EDM	81–82	80	48	17	15	–	111	1st in Smythe Division	2	3	.400	Division Semi-Finalist
EDM	82–83	80	47	21	12	–	106	1st in Smythe Division	11	5	.689	Stanley Cup Finalist
EDM	83–84	80	57	18	5	–	119	1st in Smythe Division	15	4	.789	Won Stanley Cup
EDM	84–85	80	49	20	11	–	109	1st in Smythe Division	15	3	.833	Won Stanley Cup
EDM	85–86	80	56	17	7	–	119	1st in Smythe Division	6	4	.600	Division Finalist
EDM	86–87	80	50	24	6	–	106	1st in Smythe Division	16	5	.762	Won Stanley Cup
EDM	87–88	80	44	25	11	–	99	2nd in Smythe Division	16	2	.889	Won Stanley Cup
EDM	88–89	80	38	34	8	–	84	3rd in Smythe Division	3	4	.429	Division Semi-Finalist
EDM	93–94	60	22	27	11	–	(64)	6th in Pacific Division	-	-	-	Missed playoffs
WHA total		160	86	69	5	0
EDM total		842	464	268	110	0
NYR	02–03	28	11	10	4	3	(78)	4th in Atlantic Division	-	-	-	Missed playoffs
NYR	03–04	62	22	29	7	4	(69)	4th in Atlantic Division	-	-	-	Missed playoffs
NYR total		90	33	39	11	7
NHL total		932	497	307	121	7

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1964–65	Memphis Wings	CPHL		69	19	29	48	98		—	—	—	—	—
1965–66	Oklahoma City Blazers	CPHL		64	13	12	25	76		9	4	4	8	14
1966–67	Oklahoma City Blazers	CPHL		57	14	19	33	147		11	2	6	8	45
1966–67	Boston Bruins	NHL		5	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1967–68	Boston Bruins	NHL		65	8	12	20	34		3	0	0	0	0
1968–69	Boston Bruins	NHL		76	4	11	15	67		10	0	0	0	18
1969–70	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		76	12	14	26	114		10	0	2	2	17
1970–71	Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL		46	8	3	11	96		—	—	—	—	—
1970–71	New York Rangers	NHL		31	2	0	2	52		13	0	1	1	18
1971–72	New York Rangers	NHL		76	5	9	14	77		16	0	1	1	22
1972–73	New York Rangers	NHL		77	11	15	26	64		9	0	0	0	7
1973–74	New York Rangers	NHL		2	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1973–74	St. Louis Blues	NHL		69	15	29	44	82		—	—	—	—	—
1974–75	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		63	6	9	15	44		11	1	1	2	4
1975–76	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		72	9	10	19	94		—	—	—	—	—
1976–77	Edmonton Oilers	WHA		81	19	34	53	77		5	1	1	2	2
WHA totals				81	19	34	53	77		5	1	1	2	2
NHL totals				658	80	112	192	724		72	1	5	6	86

Notable achievements

• Sather currently stands tenth in coaching wins all-time in the NHL. Teams where he has served as head coach for the full season had winning records in 8 out of 11 seasons, and missed the playoffs only once. With the Oilers, his teams finished first in the regular season three times, and also set numerous scoring records.
• In the playoffs, as head coach, his Oilers won 133 games and losing 82 en route to four Stanley Cups in five Finals appearances.
• Stanley Cup Champion 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990
• Outside of the NHL, Sather has been instrumental in building Canadian national teams for the 1984 Canada Cup (tournament champions), the 1994 Ice Hockey World Championship (Gold Medal winners) and 1996 World Cup of Hockey (Finalists).
• Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997.

External links

• Glen Sather's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Glen Sather's biography at Legends of Hockey
• TheGarden.com profile