With Glen Sather‘s departure, Lightning architect Steve Yzerman is reportedly interested in running the New York Rangers.
There is an opening for the New York Rangers president’s position and former Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman is interested, according to the New York Post’s Larry Brooks.
Yzerman stepped down as the Lightning’s general manager last September but served as the main influencer of the current roster. A large part of Tampa’s incredible 61-16-4 record is due to the work of the former Detroit Red Wing.
If Yzerman is truly indeed interested and willing to join the Rangers front office, New York absolutely needs to jump all over this opportunity. He is the perfect man for the job as someone for Jeff Gorton to answer to. Yzerman successfully did what Gorton is trying to accomplish with the Rangers rebuild, and has a different eye for talent than most in the game.
He found Nikita Kucherov in the second round of the draft, along with third-rounder Brayden Point, who have combined for a total of 81 goals and 137 assists this year. Clearly, there is not a single player on the Rangers right now who are capable of putting up numbers like that.
Brooks does go on to warn us that we’re only at the “interest” stage of the game. The Rangers do have some other candidates in mind, but none of them really have the resumes Yzerman has.
The closest candidate to Yzerman would be Columbus’ president and former Ranger goaltender and broadcaster John Davidson. Other names Brooks has mentioned as potential candidates are Mike Gillis, Kelly McCrimmon, Brian Leetch, Dean Lombardi, and Dave Maloney.
New York would like to have a new president in place as early as the NHL Entry Draft in June, or before free agency starts on July 1.
