Glen Sather
Glen Sather ( born September 2, 1943 in High River, Alberta ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach and is currently general manager of the New York Rangers in the National Hockey League. He played for eleven years in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota North Stars, as well as in the World Hockey Association for the Edmonton Oilers. As a coach and general manager, he led the Edmonton Oilers to five Stanley Cups.
- 2.1 As a player
- 2.2 As a coach and manager
Career
As a player
Glen Sather began his career in 1960 at junior teams in Wainwright, before the Edmonton Oil Kings started in 1961 the CAHL and with them the 1963 Memorial Cup, won the trophy of the 16 principal one in the Canadian Hockey Sports - 21- year-old up. Then Sather played his first season as a professional with the Memphis Wings in the Central Hockey League. After a year he moved within the league to the Oklahoma City Blazers, where he played for two years. At the end of the season 1966/67, he came for the first time in the NHL for the Boston Bruins and was used in the following year to the root cadres.
Despite its rather low for a striker he could yield points in the league by his tough game establish and moved in 1969 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. After two seasons in Pittsburgh followed by three years at the New York Rangers, with whom he was in the 1972 Stanley Cup final. His most successful season in the NHL, he had finally in 1973/74 with the St. Louis Blues with 15 goals and 29 assists in 69 games. After two seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota North Stars, he moved in 1976 to the competition league WHA Edmonton Oilers, where he still played one year as team captain, and then ended his career.
Player stats
As a coach and manager
Directly after the end of his playing career was Glen Sather head coach of the Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 1977. 1978 obliged the Oilers 17- year-old Wayne Gretzky and Sather led the team to the play-off final of the season 1978 / 79th After the end of the season, the WHA was dissolved and the Edmonton Oilers joined the NHL in. In the summer of 1980, Sather was appointed General Manager of the team shortly before the NHL Entry Draft in 1980. In this draft he laid an important foundation for years to come, as he selected Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Andy Moog and. In the NHL Entry Draft in 1981 he chose Grant Fuhr and along with Gretzky and Mark Messier, who had been committed in 1979, the young players should form the cornerstone of the Edmonton Oilers.
Sather handed over as coach in the summer of 1980 to Bryan Watson, but returned a few months later, back to the post and the team from then on was training again. After two decent years in the NHL, the Oilers increased in the 1981/82 season and were clearly in the regular season second-best team. The following year, Sather led the team to the Stanley Cup Finals, but there they were subject to the New York Islanders, who had dominated the league in recent years. 1984 we again reached the Stanley Cup final and got back to the Islanders, who sought their fifth Stanley Cup triumph in a row, but, it was the Oilers who could win the coveted trophy for the first time. In addition, Sather won in the summer as head coach of the Canadian national team Canada Cup 1984.
The following season, the Oilers defended the title successfully. Sather retired then something out of the coach work back and told them henceforth with his former assistant John Muckler, remained officially but still the head coach and was in 1986 with the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL. 1987 and 1988 won the Oilers again the Stanley Cup, but only a few months after the last triumph had a setback Sather, as the superstar of the team, Wayne Gretzky, was transferred to the Los Angeles Kings. But he succeeded to the new team captain Mark Messier and Jari Kurri and goalkeeper Bill Ranford build a competitive team.
In the summer of 1989 put Sather finally resigned his coaching job and focused solely on his work as a general manager and John Muckler took over as coach. 1990 won the Oilers their fifth Stanley Cup, but after the franchise heavy sporting and economic times had to go to meet. The players' salaries in the NHL rose dramatically and the Oilers were a team that are located in one of the smallest markets in the NHL, not the players to offer these salaries in the situation. Sather had to watch as the stars left the team and head coach John Muckler joined the Buffalo Sabres.
1992/93, only three years after the last Stanley Cup victory, the Oilers missed the first time the NHL playoffs and could no longer qualify for them until 1997. During the 1993/94 season Sather returned in the meantime once again to the post of head coach back, but he also could not be attributed to the team's past successes. In 1994 he took up the post of General Manager of the Canadian national team at the World Cup, where he could at least celebrate the first World title for Canada since 1961 a success.
Towards the end of the nineties, the team at Curtis Joseph, Doug Weight, Ryan Smyth and Bill Guerin qualified back regularly for the playoffs, but in the summer of 2000, Glen Sather stepped down as general manager.
A few weeks later, he joined the Organization of the New York Rangers and took over the post as president and general manager of the franchise. But even there the first years were marked by failure. In addition, Sather made himself unpopular by transfers, which shift to other teams he sent to get better players in return longstanding team members like Brian Leetch and Adam Graves, however, could not meet the expectations, as Eric Lindros and Bobby Holik. Between 2002 and 2004, Sather also took over as coach at Rangers.
Sather was able in 2004 to oblige you with Jaromir Jagr a superstar and he brought before the season 2005/ 06 with Martin Straka another experienced striker and with Henrik Lundqvist a talented goalkeeper in the team that the Rangers for the first time since 1997, again in the playoffs led. This was followed by further commitments from players like Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery, the team further strengthened and in summer 2007 Sather scored a coup when he could get with Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, two of the most coveted free agents to New York.
1997 Glen Sather was recorded for his achievements as a coach and general manager in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Trainer Stats
S = Wins; N = Losses; D = Draw; OTL = Overtime Loss ( defeat in extension )
Awards and achievements
As a player
- Stanley Cup Finals 1972
- Memorial Cup 1963
As a coach and manager
- Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990
- Canada Cup 1984
- World Cup 1994
- Jack Adams Award 1986