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New York Rangers: A word on sentimental choices

By Nicholas Zararis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 08: (l-r) Mark Messier and Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers Stanley Cup winning team of 1994 attend a ceremony prior to the Rangers game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on February 08, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers were celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Stanley Cup win in 1994. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 08: (l-r) Mark Messier and Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers Stanley Cup winning team of 1994 attend a ceremony prior to the Rangers game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on February 08, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers were celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Stanley Cup win in 1994. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Anytime there is a job opening with the New York Rangers, notable alumni like Mark Messier and Brian Leetch are always mentioned as candidates. They shouldn’t be.

With the recent announcement that New York Rangers president Glen Sather would be stepping down after 19 years on the job, the organization is naturally looking for a replacement. In conjunction with Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan, Sather is expected to help pick his replacement.

In the hockey world, more than any other sport except for maybe soccer, teams love to bring back former players in an executive or coaching capacity. For the most part, executives and coaches have played hockey at some professional or collegiate level before they ever sniff the NHL.

This brings us to the Rangers and the team’s infatuation with members of the 1994 Stanley Cup championship winning team. The names are immortal, Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Adam Graves, Sergei Zubov, Alexi Kovalev, Mike Keenan and Neil Smith. They should be revered as franchise legends and that’s it.

Anyone with no experience as an executive or coach should not be given their first chance at the NHL level. The game is too competitive and the gap between the smart and not so smart teams widens every single day. This does not even begin to tap into the emotional connections with players and how ugly things could possibly get.

For those who weren’t alive or didn’t follow the Rangers back in the late 90s, the 1994 team didn’t exactly break up in the best way possible. Messier wanted a multi-year extension and Smith disagreed about the center’s worth. So, the Moose went up to Vancouver for three seasons and the relationship between New York and he was on ice.

When Sather was hired as team president and g.m. in the summer of 2000, he brought Messier back into the organization for a final run.

This six-year stretch alone should give anyone who wants Messier or Leetch as the Rangers new president a moment of pause. Does anyone really want to see either team legend embarrassed by being fired after an unsuccessful run in an executive position?

It’s not worth the risk to hire a first time executive with the added baggage of being either Messier or Leetch. After all, there is a reason that the Edmonton Oilers never gave Wayne Gretzky a position of authority to make hockey decisions. Instead, the “Great One,” is on the business side of things and able to use his influence in a non-player personnel way.

dark. Next. Who should you root for in the playoffs?

Does anyone really want to see Dolan embarrass a team legend if the team were to falter? Take a page from Edmonton if Messier or Leetch wants to be in the organization, join the business side of things as shareholders and avoid unnecessary drama.

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