Renney Fired, That's Step One!

Just under a week ago, I said that if the Rangers lost their next game to Islanders that would be Tom Renney's last. Well they beat the Islanders to buy some time, but they lost the two games since and now Renney is out. The new head coach for the Blue shirts is John Tortorella.

The Rangers got off to a tremendous start, and as it turns out, is what eventually led to the downfall of Renney. They have played just about .500 hockey since then, but have really come apart over the last 12 games where they have won just two of those contests. Getting off to a good start gave us expectations that we didn't have before the season started.

This off season the Rangers lost goal scores Jaromir Jagr (25 goals 71 points, in 2007-08) and Brendan Shanahan (23, 46 last season) and have not been able to replace them, they are in the bottom 3 in the NHL in goals-per-game and power play percentage. To sure up what was a struggling defense last year, G.M. Glen Sather signed Wade Redden, who has been so bad, that the "boos" rain down from the blue seats every time he touches the puck.

The Rangers have the goalie they would need to go all the way, in Henrik Lundqvist. And players like Chris Drury and Scott Gomez have been key pieces on winning teams before, but without the superstar player, they are carrying too much of the load for players who are not goal scores, they are both far better players when their responsibility involves setting up the goal rather than scoring it. And the lack of scoring has put way too much pressure on Lundqvist, who has to go into every game thinking shutout.

Renney may very well have been better off had they played .500 hockey all season, and been in a battle for a playoff spot, but early season success had us all dreaming bigger. The slide in the standings put Renney on the hot seat, and the recent lackluster play has sealed his fate, the players have tuned him out and the message was not getting through. It was time for a change, fair or not. You can't get rid of 15 players, so it's the coach who takes the fall when he can't motivate them.

New coach John Tortorella comes in with both a reputation, and a bark that need to be respected. He won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning and has been known to speak his mind. But can he turn around a team slumping this bad, and with so many parts missing. He will no doubt light a fire under these guys, and the energy level should be high at the Garden. It will be interesting to see if that translates to points both on the ice and in the standings.

There is just a bit over week left before the trade deadline, and Glen Sather needs to bring in a sniper, which will be very difficult. With parity throughout the NHL, very few teams will be looking to dump scorers, and the Rangers don't have a lot to trade that other teams would be interested in, outside the core. Sean Avery is a possibility, but with the two strong personality's, it may not be worth the distractions for a good - not great- offensive player. If no deal is pulled off, it won't really matter what Tortotella does, this team will not beat any of the big three in the Eastern Conference with the offense constituted the way it is at the moment.

Glen Sather took a step in the right direction today by making a change, but that's just the start of this teams problems. If he can't work out a trade, at best it's first round and out for this team, at that point it will be time to make another major change, Mr. Sather need only look in a mirror to see who the next firing should be.