Glen Sather

Infobox Ice Hockey Player
position = Left Wing


image_size = 225px
shoots = Left
height_ft = 5
height_in = 11
weight_lb = 170
league = NHL
nationality = CAN
birth_date = birth date and age|1943|9|2
birth_place = High River, AB, CAN
career_start = 1967
career_end = 1977
played_for = Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota North Stars
Montreal Canadiens
St. Louis Blues
New York Rangers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Boston Bruins

Glen "Slats" Sather (born September 2, 1943 in High River, Alberta) is a retired professional ice hockey left winger in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League and current President and General Manager of the New York Rangers of the NHL. He played for the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, and Edmonton Oilers (in their WHA incarnation). Also nicknamed "Tomato Face" due to his perpetually red face during his playing days, Sather was born in High River, Alberta but grew up in Wainwright, Alberta. Sather now resides in Palm Springs, California in the off-season, but also has a home in Banff, Alberta.

Background and early career

Sather played 3 seasons starting in 1964 with the CPHL Memphis Wings and Oklahoma City Blazers, joining the Bruins at the end of the 1966–67 season and playing in 5 games. He earned the nickname "Slats" because of his gritty style of play.

Professional playing career

Sather played 10 full seasons in the NHL and another season in the WHA. He played 739 regular season games as a pro, scoring 99–146–245 and earned 801 minutes in penalties. In the playoffs he added 77 games played and scored 2–6–8 with 88PIM. His career as a player ended at the conclusion of the 1976–77 WHA season.

Post-playing career

Sather became head coach of the Oilers in 1977 and maintained the post when they joined the NHL in 1979–80. After taking them to the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season, he was promoted to General Manager. This was the start of a tremendous run for the Oilers, who won the Stanley Cup in five of the next ten seasons following their first season in the NHL. The team made the playoffs with Sather as head coach from 1979–80 until 1984–85. From 1985 until 1989, Sather split coaching duties with John Muckler, but retained the title of head coach. With Sather at the helm in various duties, the team won five Stanley Cups in seven years, after losing in the finals to the New York Islanders in 1983.

In 2000, Sather left the Oilers organization and joined the Rangers to become their President and General Manager, a position he currently holds despite not making the playoffs during his first four years at Madison Square Garden and cutting ties with many beloved Rangers, such as Adam Graves and Brian Leetch to bring in high-profile (yet unsuccessful in New York) players such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, and Bobby Holik. He replaced Bryan Trottier after 54 games in the 2002–2003 Season as the head coach of the New York Rangers only to give the head coaching job to current coach Tom Renney after 62 games in the 2003–2004 season. His record as the Rangers coach was 33–39–11–7 over 90 games. That pushed his NHL career win total to 497, currently 10th all-time. Many good, young players were also drafted during his tenure as the Rangers general manager, such as Henrik Lundqvist, Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, and Bobby Sanguinetti. The team has greatly improved after the lockout under Renney. They have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past three years, but have been knocked out by the New Jersey Devils in the Quarterfinals, The Buffalo Sabres in the Semi Finals and in this past season the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Semi Finals.

Coaching record

Career statistics

--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1964-65 Memphis Wings CPHL 69 19 29 48 98 -- -- -- -- --1965-66 Oklahoma City Blazers CPHL 64 13 12 25 76 9 4 4 8 141966-67 Oklahoma City Blazers CPHL 57 14 19 33 147 11 2 6 8 241966-67 Boston Bruins NHL 5 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --1967-68 Boston Bruins NHL 65 8 12 20 34 3 0 0 0 01968-69 Boston Bruins NHL 76 4 11 15 67 10 0 0 0 181969-70 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 12 14 26 114 10 0 2 2 171970-71 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 46 8 3 11 96 -- -- -- -- --1970-71 New York Rangers NHL 31 2 0 2 52 13 0 1 1 181971-72 New York Rangers NHL 76 5 9 14 77 16 0 1 1 221972-73 New York Rangers NHL 77 11 15 26 64 9 0 0 0 71973-74 New York Rangers NHL 2 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --1973-74 St. Louis Blues NHL 69 15 29 44 82 -- -- -- -- --1974-75 Montreal Canadiens NHL 63 6 9 15 44 11 1 1 2 41975-76 Minnesota North Stars NHL 72 9 10 19 94 -- -- -- -- --1976-77 Edmonton Oilers WHA 81 19 34 53 77 5 1 1 2 2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHA Totals 81 19 34 53 77 5 1 1 2 2 NHL Totals 658 80 112 192 724 72 1 5 6 86

Notable achievements

Glen Sather is the most successful coach in Oilers history. Under his leadership the team set several NHL records, including most team goals for and holding several spots in the best winning seasons ever. They won 3 President's Trophies for best league regular season record. Their playoff record was even more impressive, winning 133 games and losing 82 en route to five Stanley Cups in six Finals appearances. In 1985–86, Sather won the Jack Adams Award as the league's best coach. Teams he has coached for a full season have only finished out of the playoffs once and had winning records 8 out of 11 seasons. He currently stands tenth in coaching wins in NHL history.

Outside of the NHL, Sather has been instrumental in building Canadian national teams for the 1984 Canada Cup ( tournament champions ), the 1994 Ice Hockey World Championship ( Gold Medal winners ) and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey ( Finalists ).

Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997.

External links

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* [http://www.oilersheritage.com/legacy/contributions_coaches_glensather.html Edmonton Oilers Legacy - Glen Sather]
* [http://www.thegarden.com/inandaroundgarden_GlenSather.html TheGarden.com profile]