NHL Franchise Notes: Wild Hope To Open '10-11 Season In Europe

Risebrough Thinks Wild, Finland Would Be A Good Match

SINGING THE BLUES: The Rangers yesterday fired coach Tom Renney, but ESPN.com's Scott Burnside wrote, "Is there a more overrated person in the entire game of hockey than Rangers GM Glen Sather?" Sather led the Oilers to five Stanley Cup titles as a coach or GM, but since joining the Rangers in '00, Sather has "made it seem as though all of that success in Edmonton was somehow a fluke." There is "little in the way of top-end talent coming through the Rangers' system ... and too much overpaid, underachieving weight on the big league roster" (ESPN.com, 2/23). In N.Y., Filip Bondy writes Sather has made "terrible personnel decisions ... over and over again." Bondy: "Is there another franchise in New York, aside from the Islanders, that would sit around for nine years and let failure fester in this fashion? Of course not" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/24). Also in N.Y., Michael Obernauer noted John Tortorella is the fifth coach Sather has hired since '00, which is "getting into Isiah Thomas territory." How much longer do Sather's past accomplishments "keep paying the bills on Broadway?" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 2/23).

AVOIDING TROUBLE? The GLOBE & MAIL's Stephen Brunt notes with the NHL and NHLPA looking into alleged ties between Canadiens players and a drug trafficking scandal, the team "seems to believe at the moment that there are no other shoes to drop." Canadiens Owner George Gillett said that it "ends here -- with bad judgment, bad taste in social companions, but no actual bad deeds." Gillett "doesn't believe there is anything more ominous to come." Gillett: "Any time you hear a story like that, you're obviously concerned. We believe we've got a great group of young men, and we're optimistic about the club for the rest of the season" (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/24).

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