Sports Logic

written by Shaun Deering

Is there a better job in the world than working for James Dolan? Dolan, who owns the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers is either the most patient man alive or just a sucker for punishment. First the New York Knicks get run into the ground by Isiah Thomas, and in spite of Thomas running the team like a fantasy basketball team, it took a sexual harassment charge to get him fired. Now today, the Rangers gassed their coach Tom Renney. I know the old cliché that every General Manager gets to fire a coach before they are in the crosshairs, unless your name is Bryan Murray, but Sather can’t survive past the end of the season can he?

Without blinding everyone with numbers, Sather has hamstrung this team for at least the next four seasons with untradeable contracts. Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden and Michael Roszival are all under contract for seven plus million dollars this season. So, according to the rumour mill, John Tortorella is on his way back to clean up the mess in New York. While he can surely scare the players into exerting a little more on the ice, not even Scotty Bowman could make these horses run. The Rangers are a mess, just like they were in the pre-lockout days. They covet the key free agents, they overpay them and they miss out on the playoffs. If not for Henrik Lundqvist in goal, the Rangers would be looking a lottery pick in the eyes this season, and it’s not the coach’s fault. He was another casualty in the era of Glenn Sather...the 6th casualty in 9 years.

One-Timers


• This will be John Tortorella’s second term as coach of the Rangers. In 2000, he was the coach for 4 games before being replaced by Ron Low. Tortorella’s record in those 4 games was 0-3-1. Something tells me it will be a little better this time around.

• You have to feel bad for the Panthers’ Ville Peltonen. On Saturday night, he hit three posts on 1 shift, and then at the end of the game had an open net only to be stopped by the Bruins’ defenceman Andrew Ference.

• Sure it’s always good to stay out of the penalty box, but Kyle Wellwood really took that to the extreme. On Tuesday versus Calgary, Wellwood took a high sticking penalty. It was his first penalty since April 11, 2006.

• While on the topic of lengthy droughts, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ third period goal against the Rangers on Sunday was the first goal scored at Madison Square Garden since December, 2007.

• Something that I will never understand is why the NHL schedules only 1 game on a Monday in February. After an amazing schedule of games on Saturday night, the NHL fails to capitalize on any momentum and forces people to wait until Tuesday to get a compelling series of games again. I guess that’s what happens when the schedule is made by a computer in Denver, as opposed to having a little human element in there.

• I’ve grown tired of the Hockey Day in Canada gimmick. It’s been eight years, and there are only so many stories we can tell about NHLers giving equipment to the less fortunate, or a small town losing their arena’s roof to a wind storm or fire. Plus, it was real nice of the CBC to end their Hockey Day coverage after their precious Leafs’ game, leaving the Battle of Alberta to the “capable” hands of Mark Lee and Marc Crawford. As I said to a friend on Saturday night, those two are an embarrassment to the institution that is Hockey Night in Canada.

• I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Mats Sundin’s love-in at the Air Canada Center on Saturday...