Renney Out, Tortorella In?

February 23, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

The news came down a couple of hours ago that Tom Renney was fired by the Rangers.

The end finally came for the classy well stated man who helped turn the franchise around making the postseason three consecutive years since the lockout. Assistant Perry Pearn also goes as GM Glen Sather tries to save face for his mess that’s seen no legit finisher and a soft D led by free agent bust Wade Redden. But don’t worry. Whoever comes in has Tinman for another five years.

It’s been reported on WFAN in New York that former Lightning coach John Tortorella is close to becoming the new coach. The former Ranger assistant guided Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004 besting the Flames in a hard fought seven games.

He’s the polar opposite of Renney, who was a players coach that gave guys the benefit of the doubt. Tortorella is a fiery coach who’s not afraid to get in the face of his highest paid players. If he takes over instead of much rumored assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld, the former Bolts coach will make players accountable. Translation: If Redden, Michal Rozsival, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury don’t perform, they’ll get benched.

Judging off last nite’s lackluster 3-2 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs following honoring two Ranger legends finally retiring Harry Howell’s No.3 and Andy Bathgate’s No.9, Redden and Drury would be made examples of because neither did much.

At least Gomez and Rozsival showed playing hard with each getting the club’s goals including the much maligned Czech defenseman who was booed during the pregame ceremony giving up his old No.3 for No.33. Oddly enough, he played one of his best games throwing his weight around while setting up and scoring the tying goal with less than 40 seconds remaining in regulation.

It wasn’t enough to salvage Renney’s job as a mistimed penalty from loyal soldier Blair Betts out of all people led to Toronto’s Niklas Hagman deflecting home a Pavel Kubina point shot in overtime- making it 10 defeats in the last 12 (2-7-3).

With 21 games to go, the Rangers are locked in a tight race tied with Montreal for fifth in the East with 69 points having played one more game. The Panthers are a point behind with two games in hand while the Sabres who just lost Ryan Miller to an ankle sprain also are a point back having played one fewer game.

The ninth ranked Hurricanes have won three straight with former Ranger Matt Cullen recording the first hat trick of his career in a 5-2 home win over Colorado. They’re one out and two behind the Blueshirts also having 21 left.

Meanwhile, the Pens have 64 points in 61 contests suffering a bad 5-2 loss to Alex Ovechkin and the Caps on NBC yesterday. A game which saw the game’s best player diss Sidney Crosby taunting him. For another day.

If Tortorella really is in, can his personality mesh with the controlling Sather? And how would a close knit team that hasn’t been severely punished for lackluster efforts handle such a tough demanding coach?

That remains to be seen. For now, Renney is gone along with Pearn while assistants Mike Pelino and Benoit Allaire stay.

In four seasons after taking over the job late in 2003-04, Renney finishes with a 164-121-42 record with the 164 wins ranking fourth all-time on the club’s list. The lack of scoring with the club ranking 29th in offense (2.33 goals/game) and a futile power power play which placed 28th best (13.8 percent) finally cost him his job.

The question is can a new voice fix this mess? I don’t know.