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Messier ‘very disappointed,’ future with Rangers unclear

Mark Messier

Former New York Ranger Mark Messier gestures to the crowd gathered for the Brian Leetch jersey retirement ceremony Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008, in New York. The jersey numbers of Leetch, Messier and Mike Richter were retired before the Rangers’ NHL hockey game against the Atlanta Thrashers. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

AP

Retired Hall of Fame forward Mark Messier has been serving as Rangers GM Glen Sather’s special assistant for years, but when head coach John Tortorella was fired, Messier was hoping to take his place.

That didn’t happen and the job will instead go to former Vancouver Canucks bench boss Alain Vigneault. The question now is what will Messier’s next step be.

“I don’t really know what Mark is going to do,” Sather told the New York Post. “He was very disappointed when I called to tell him that we were going to hire Alain.

“He said he wanted to take a few days and would call me, but we haven’t spoken since.”

Vigneault reportedly inked a five-year, $10 million deal with the Rangers and is expected to be officially introduced on Friday.

It’s not surprising that the Rangers ultimately went with Vigneault instead of Messier. As great of a player as he was and as much as he’s done for the franchise, Messier doesn’t have much in the way of coaching experience. That’s critical because, as we’ve seen before, success on the ice doesn’t always translate to success behind the bench.

Perhaps he’ll put himself in a position where he starts to get more coaching experience in the hopes of someday becoming an NHL head coach or maybe he’ll continue in his existing role and eventually become an NHL general manager. Time will tell.