Glen Sather

Glen Sather
Born	(1943-09-02) September 2, 1943 High River, AB, CAN
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Edmonton Oilers Minnesota North Stars Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues New York Rangers Pittsburgh Penguins Boston Bruins
Playing career	1967–1977

Glen "Slats" Sather (born September 2, 1943 in High River, Alberta) is a retired professional ice hockey left winger in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League and current President and General Manager of the New York Rangers of the 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. 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 3 seasons starting 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. He earned the nickname "Slats" because of his gritty style of play.

Professional playing career

Sather played 10 full seasons in the NHL and another season in the WHA. He played 739 regular season games as a pro, scoring 99–146–245 and earned 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

Sather became head coach of the Oilers in 1977 and maintained the post when they joined the NHL in 1979–80. After taking them to the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season, he was promoted to General Manager. This was the start of a tremendous run for the Oilers, who won 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 head coach from 1979–80 until 1984–85. From 1985 until 1989, Sather split coaching duties with John Muckler, but retained the title of head coach. With Sather at the helm in various duties, the team won five Stanley Cups in seven years, after losing in the finals to the New York Islanders in 1983.

In 2000, Sather left the Oilers organization and 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 replaced Bryan Trottier after 54 games in the 2002–2003 Season as the head coach of the New York Rangers only to give the head coaching job to current coach Tom Renney after 62 games in the 2003–2004 season. His record as the Rangers coach was 33–39–11–7 over 90 games. That pushed his NHL career win total to 497, currently 10th all-time.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season							Post Season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	W	L	Win %	Result
EDM	77–78	80	38	39	3	-	79	5th	1	4	.200	Quarter-Finalist
EDM	78–79	80	48	30	2	-	98	1st	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	-	55	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
NYR	03–04	62	22	29	7	4
NYR Total		90	33	39	11	7
NHL Total		932	497	307	121	7

Notable achievements

Glen Sather is the most successful coach in Oilers history. Under his leadership the team set several NHL records, including most team goals for and holding several spots in the best winning seasons ever. They won 3 President's Trophies for best league regular season record. Their playoff record was even more impressive, winning 133 games and losing 82 en route to five Stanley Cups in six Finals appearances. In 1985–86, Sather won the Jack Adams Award as the league's best coach. Teams he has coached for a full season have only finished out of the playoffs once and had winning records 8 out of 11 seasons. He currently stands tenth in coaching wins in NHL history.

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 the 1996 World Cup of Hockey ( Finalists ).

Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997.

External links

• Glen Sather career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Edmonton Oilers Legacy - Glen Sather
• TheGarden.com profile