Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Sather: ‘Every coach has a shelf life’

Glen Sather

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather gestures as he speaks about the Rangers trade for defenseman John Scott of Chicago before the Rangers NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, Feb. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

AP

Glen Sather didn’t want to get into specifics when asked why he fired head coach John Tortorella.

The bottom line, according to New York’s general manager, was this: the Rangers were supposed to compete for a Stanley Cup, and they only lasted five games of the second round.

Sather even admitted that the reasons for the dismissal may seem “a little vague.”

“There isn’t one specific incident or one specific reason that brought this about,” he said.

But if there was a money quote during Sather’s conference call with reporters, it was this: “Every coach has a shelf life.”

The phrase “shelf life” has been used in conjunction with Tortorella a lot. Everyone knows he can be extremely demanding, and he’s certainly not afraid to use the media to call out his players. After a while, that approach can lose its desired effect. (Just ask another former Rangers bench boss, Mike Keenan, whose shelf life expired many, many times during his coaching career.)

You can listen to the audio of the call here.

Also worth noting:

---- Despite what was reported earlier today, Sather said Henrik Lundqvist’s comments had nothing to do with Tortorella being fired -- “We plan on signing Henrik to a long-term contract.”

---- Scratching Brad Richards for Games 4 and 5 of the Boston series was “an organizational decision,” according to Sather.

---- Sather hopes to hire a new coach in time for the draft on June 30.

---- Sather: “I can’t predict what the next coach’s system will be like.”

---- For those wondering about the shelf life of the GM, Sather said he plans to be back next season.