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Rangers owner Dolan had ‘special relationship’ with Tortorella

James Dolan

New York Rangers owner James Dolan believes that it’s important to be patient, as he has been with Rangers GM Glen Sather. He thinks that to do otherwise would run the risk of destabilizing things, but obviously teams can’t remain completely static. There has been turnover for various reasons, as was the case when the Rangers fired coach John Tortorella and replace him with Alain Vigneault over the summer.

The jury is still out as to whether the move will ultimately help the Rangers in their goal of winning the Stanley Cup – right now making the playoffs is a challenge – but regardless of what happens, he misses Tortorella.

“I’d visit Torts before a game and we would trade barbs for 10 minutes,” Dolan told the New York Post, “he’d tell me about his [lousy] cable TV service and I’d be sitting there saying, ‘You can’t clear the puck out of your zone, what the hell’s wrong with you?’ and he’d strike back and then play the game and I miss that.

“I’m developing a relationship with Alain [Vigneault] and he’s also a good guy, but Torts and I had a special relationship. It was fun for me. He banned me from the locker room for a while, all in fun. I miss that.”

Dolan noted that the Rangers are starting to adapt to the coaches new strategy and he remains upbeat about the team’s future.

As for Sather, he wants to keep him around until the 70-year-old general manager decides to retire.

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