Glen Sather

Born	September 2, 1943 (1943-09-02) (age 66), High River, AB, CAN
Height Weight	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position	Left wing
Shoots	Left
Pro clubs	Edmonton Oilers Minnesota North Stars Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues New York Rangers Pittsburgh Penguins Boston Bruins
Pro career	1967 – 1977
Hall of Fame, 1997

Glen Cameron "Slats" Sather (born September 2, 1943 in High River, Alberta) is the current President and general manager of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also served as the head coach of the Rangers, as well as General Manager and coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and later NHL. Prior to coaching, Sather was a professional ice hockey left winger in the WHA and 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

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Edmonton Oilers

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 President and General Manager, but remained the Head Coach of the Oilers. 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.

New York Rangers General Manager

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 Holík. 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 Former coach Tom Renney after 62 games in the 2003–2004 season. Sather's 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, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Michael Del Zotto and Bobby Sanguinetti. The team has greatly improved after the lockout under Renney. They have made the Stanley Cup playoffs the past four years, but have been knocked out by the New Jersey Devils in the quarterfinals, the Buffalo Sabres in the semi-finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins in the semi-finals, and in this past season the Washington Capitals in the quarterfinals.

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  14
1966-67  Oklahoma City Blazers       CPHL   57   14   19   33  147  11   2   6   8  24
1966-67  Boston Bruins               NHL     5    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  --
1967-68  Boston Bruins               NHL    65    8   12   20   34   3   0   0   0   0
1968-69  Boston Bruins               NHL    76    4   11   15   67  10   0   0   0  18
1969-70  Pittsburgh Penguins         NHL    76   12   14   26  114  10   0   2   2  17
1970-71  Pittsburgh Penguins         NHL    46    8    3   11   96  --  --  --  --  --
1970-71  New York Rangers            NHL    31    2    0    2   52  13   0   1   1  18
1971-72  New York Rangers            NHL    76    5    9   14   77  16   0   1   1  22
1972-73  New York Rangers            NHL    77   11   15   26   64   9   0   0   0   7
1973-74  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   4
1975-76  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.
• Stanley Cup Champion 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990
• 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 1996 World Cup of Hockey ( Finalists ).

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

External links

• Glen Sather's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Glen Sather's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Edmonton Oilers Legacy – Glen Sather
• TheGarden.com profile