Even from 2,400 miles away, Don Maloney has a pretty good read on the New York Rangers these days. That comes with the territory considering Maloney played over 600 games wearing the Blueshirt and then worked in the Rangers front office for 10 years.
So, even though he’s now the president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames, Maloney told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast this week “The Rangers are my roots. As much as I’ve worked for other teams along the way, I’m still a fan at heart.”
Like the rest of us, Maloney was surprised by the Rangers epic meltdown last season, one that ended with them becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to win the Presidents’ Trophy one season and fail to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs the next year.
Unlike the rest of us, though, the 66-year-old hockey lifer presented a unique factor that he believes played a part in the trainwreck of a season.
And surprisingly it centered on Glen Sather, who’s no longer even part of the Rangers organization after he stepped down from an advisory role with them in June 2024 — though that’s exactly the point, according to Maloney.
“You look at the Rangers team this past year and it’s good players, good team, came out of the gates as good as anybody,” Maloney explained. “But Glen’s no longer there, he left the team, and I think they missed him, having that senior voice to calm things down a little bit. When I look from a distance at the Rangers, I think that maybe had an impact in how the season went a little sideways last season.”
Before we wave off this theory, keep in mind that Maloney wasn’t saying Sather’s departure caused the team to collapse. Instead, Maloney believes that Sather’s presence, advice and experience would’ve been invaluable resources for general manager Chris Drury to tap into as he navigated a mess of his own making.
Place Barclay Goodrow on waivers to bypass his no-trade clause so that the San Jose Sharks can claim him, and not inform the respected veteran until moments before he landed on the waiver wire? Perhaps Sather could’ve counseled Drury on how to handle that better.
Let a potential trade hang over the head of your captain and infuriate the locker room? Have the name of the third-leading goal-scorer in franchise history publicly leaked in a trade memo to the other 31 teams?
Yes, perhaps Drury would’ve benefitted from having a Hockey Hall of Famer with 40 years of NHL front office experience to lean on — either to avoid such messes or, as importantly, how to handle the fallout before it became catastrophic, as did with the Rangers a year ago.
Don Maloney believes Rangers missed ‘smart … insightful’ Glen Sather when times got rough
This is not to say Sather always made the right decisions in his roles as president and general manager of the Rangers, and before that, the Edmonton Oilers. Maloney knows that first-hand. After serving as assistant GM under Neil Smith, he filled the same role for the first seven seasons Sather was Rangers general manager.
Sather did, of course win six Stanley Cup championships with the Oilers, though Rangers fans will be quick to tell you he never won one with the Blueshirts. In fact, the Rangers reached only one Stanley Cup Final — in 2014 — under Sather’s watch.
But the thing is, Sather built great and lasting relationships on both sides of the aisle, so to speak. He was respected throughout the League by players, coaches, executives, owners and agents. The 81-year-old basically had been there, done that and seen it all over the course of his career.
“He’s a really good man. He’s one of those people that the more you get know him, the more you like him,” Maloney explained. “He’d come off a little rough at times, but really a smart man and insightful.”
Drury’s no dummy. But Maloney is on the mark thinking that Sather could’ve helped smooth out the rough edges that buried the GM and his team last season.
