Now that's acting

Glen Sather (New York Rangers)

Radio City Music Hall has been the home for many a show during it's history but no show was as big a stinker as the song and dance show that Glen Sather put on last Friday. Wow how Glen Sather could say all that he did without his nose growing was quite the feat. Look I am not going to shed any tears over John Tortorella's firing since I opposed his hiring to begin with.

Yet I am not going to just sit here and let Glen Sather place all of the blame on last season's failures all on John Tortorella. I started and stopped writing this since Friday because it wasn't as much that Alain Vigneault was the wrong person that Glen Sather made the mistake of hiring but rather it was because Glen Sather was allowed to make the choice to begin with. As I toyed with all of the way to write how much this was a bad move, I slowly realized that Glen Sather's own words should be held against him.

The words I am talking about is how Sather said that coaches have a short shelf life as he described why John Tortorella was fired. But what of general managers as Glen Sather has had 13 years and one has to ask to ask how many years does Glen Sather get before he too should be held accountable for his failures with his job?

Look Alain Vigneault is the 6th hire that Glen Sather has gotten to make and if you want to know why I this was a bad hiring then go bad and read why John Tortorella was fired. Other than Vigneault is going to make the lives of Ranger beat reporters easier and his teams don't block shots then guess what Vancouver fired him for the same reasons why the Rangers fired Tortorella. So in other words you got Tortorella the nice guy version.

You will get a guy who hasn't been able to reach the top of the mountain despite having way more talent than he starts with on the Rangers. Vigneault was fired in part because Mike Gillis didn't think he was the right guy to develop younger players. Forgive me if I just don't jump for joy here when I see another guy who can't or won't trust younger talent as I have been there one too many times.

And reading all of the reasons why many in Vancouver felt that Mike Gillis was just as much to blame for why Vancouver has failed to win a Stanley Cup as Alain Vigneault was then so should we be blaming Glen Sather too? Wonderful Sather says all of this is on him but he also said that back in 2004 too.

13 years with one trip to the conference finals to show for it and yet Sather gets a reset with nobody among the Ranger beat media even thinking that maybe just maybe Glen Sather needs to be held accountable. Nice going Glen, get rid of Tortorella and the beat media is so relieved that they don't even question what you have done over the last 13 years.

See Glen Sather needs to be called out for not looking long and hard at the value that Brandon Prust brought to the team until after the fact. If you don't think Montreal jumping from 15th in the conference to 2nd wasn't because they added Prust to their lineup think again. Sather winds up giving away 2 very valuable second round picks on a guy who was in decline in his contract year and now is not going to give you value for what you gave up.

Sather said he was thinking about firing Tortorella at various times during the season is not at all credible because there was no way coming off a trip to the conference finals that he could justify the move. No way do you slap the fans with a huge ticket increase just after a lockout wiped out half the season because it would have sent the message that you didn't believe the Rangers could win.

Sather's only chance would have been at the trade deadline when Sather was forced to trade Marian Gaborik for Columbus Bluejacket spare parts. Nothing against Derek Dorsett, Derick Brassard or John Moore but they aren't equal value for a 40 goal scorer. At that point in time, Sather could have made a strong case of a team with the talent that wasn't living up to it and that would have been the truth.

No Sather decided to trade Gaborik when he had to know that the Rangers were a mess and not going to be serious contenders. At least Sather would have saved Gaborik to give Vigneault 2 legit scorers he could have counted on. Now Sather doesn't have the assets to swing a trade for a sniper and this year's crop of UFAs looks more like "the few, the aged, or the damaged."

Then there is the matter of the draft as come June 30th when Ranger fans have to listen to how deep the draft is only the Rangers won't get to make a selection until the 65th (3rd round) pick in the 3rd round. Not going to hammer Sather over trading the 19th pick as part of the Rick Nash as that was fair value. But the Ryan Clowe deal which cost the team the 49th pick (2nd round) and 62nd (3rd round) was a very bad trade.

Glen Sather is one very lucky guy because he doesn't have anyone holding him accountable for what has happened. James Dolan thinks he is the greatest GM in the world, the media is more thankful to be rid of Tortorella and I don't think the fans have made up their minds yet.

I have this fear that when the Islanders move to Brooklyn in 2015 that they will have a much stronger franchise than the Rangers and sadly that is what it will take for James Dolan to realize what a mistake he has made.

Only the Rangers fans will be the ones paying for those mistakes.