LAS VEGAS — Longtime Rangers front office executive Glen Sather is metaphorically hanging up the skates, the team announced Wednesday.
Sather, 80, will retire after nearly half a century as an NHL executive, including 24 years with the Blueshirts in some capacity.
It marks the end of an era for the Rangers, who Sather has had a hand in since June 2000, when he was named team president and general manager.
After serving as president for 19 years and GM for 14, Sather held the role of senior adviser to the owner and alternate governor for the final five years of his tenure with the Rangers.
“Having the opportunity to be associated with the National Hockey League, and specifically the New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers, has been one of the great privileges of my life,” Sather said in a statement. “I want to thank Jim Dolan for giving me the chance to work for the Rangers 24 years ago and for his consistent guidance and friendship. I want to thank everyone in the Rangers organization for their dedication and pursuit of excellence throughout the years, as well as the family atmosphere they helped create. I would also like to thank the great Rangers fans for their passion and loyalty. This experience is something I will always treasure.”
The 1997 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee is a five-time Stanley Cup champion with the Oilers, who helped Sather transition into the next phase of his hockey career by giving him a player-coach title with 18 games remaining in the 1976-77 World Hockey Association season.
Putting his playing days behind him at the conclusion of that campaign, Sather then served as Edmonton’s head coach for the following two seasons before the Oilers were absorbed by the NHL.
He was then promoted to team president and GM in November 1980.
From then until the conclusion of the 1988-89 season, the Oilers went 414-202-86, had the most wins in the NHL over that span and collected two Presidents’ Trophies, six division titles and six conference championships under Sather. They also posted a 133-82 record in 215 playoff games.
After spending parts of two seasons as head coach of the Rangers in 2003-04, Sather finished his coaching career with a record of 592-383-7 with 128 ties (497-307-7 with 121 ties in the NHL and 95-76-0 with seven ties in the WHA).
The Alberta native may have overseen one of the most prolific playoff eras in the Rangers’ 98-year history, but Sather was never able to help bring a Stanley Cup to New York.
In 14 seasons as Rangers general manger, Sather earned more wins (556) and held the position for more games (1,114) than any other GM in franchise history.
From 2005-17, the Blueshirts were one of just four NHL teams to reach the playoffs 11 times.
Before Sather became just the second person in hockey history to win at least four Cups as both a head coach and general manager (along with Punch Imlach), he played parts of 12 seasons in the NHL as a forward, including 186 games with the Rangers across four seasons.
“The National Hockey League congratulates Glen Sather on his retirement and salutes him for his legendary career,” commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Glen enjoyed a remarkable six-decade career as a player, coach, general manager and executive that earned him election to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997. Whether with the dynastic Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s, the contending New York Rangers clubs of recent years or various iterations of Team Canada, Sather always showed a keen eye for elite talent and a deft touch for bringing out its best.
“As important, he cared deeply about his players as people, sought to develop them as men and supported them through any off-ice challenges. Congratulations, ‘Slats,’ on a remarkable career.”
