Coach Tom Renney Fired by New York Rangers

It is always sad and disappointing to see a coaching change, but it was clear the players on the New York Rangers were no longer responding to Head Coach Tom Renney. The Rangers have been in a season long offensive funk with a miserable power play, and the strong start the club got off to in October and November has been wiped out by a strongly lackluster performance in the last six weeks to two months that has dropped the Rangers to the bottom of the playoff eligibles and in a struggle with such clubs as Carolina, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Florida just to make this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Renney started coaching the Rangers almost five years ago exactly on 25 February '04 on an interim basis and was named head coach officially on 6 July '04. He led New York to three postseason appearances during his tenure. Much of the problems with the Rangers Renney dealt with was directly due to less than great personnel management by GM Glen Sather.

The firing of Renney increases the total of head coaching changes in the NHL this season to five. No replacement was named immediately, but assistant coach Mike Pelino and goaltending coach Benoit Allaire are among the top probabilities. Ted Nolan, the former Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders head coach would also be a worthy candidate for consideration, but it is unlikely an outsider will be brought in with only about 25 % of the regular season remaining and a playoff spot still strongly at stake.

U P D A T E: Former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach John Tortorella was named as the replacement to Renney and Tortorella was signed to a multi-year contract by the Rangers.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/ny-sprang0224,0,4805031.story

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/rangers/2009-02-23-renney-fired_N.htm

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