Somewhat surprisingly the axe has fallen in Gotham, as GM-for life (apparently) Glen Sather dismissed coach John Tortorella hours ago after four and a half seasons behind the bench.  While no specific reason was given publicly, rumors were flying around that perennial All-Star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist‘s recent vacilation about signing a long-term deal – his contract is up next year – had something to do with what can only be termed a sudden decision.

“I felt this was a decision that had to be made going forward,” Sather said. “I think he was shocked, but he is a gentleman and he took it very well.”

I’ll let Derek get into the bones of this later, I’m sure he won’t be happy judging by his recent posts though.  Results ultimately were mixed in Torts’ tenure with only one trip to the third round including a quiet second-round exit this year where much was expected, though the team did make the playoffs in four of his five seasons.  By the coach’s own admission shortly after the Rangers were eliminated, he didn’t get enough out of his star players and it was hinted at Sather’s conference call that he didn’t get enough out of the younger players either – something that Derek has also pointed out on many blogs particularly considering the coach’s treatment of Chris Kreider.

On the bright side for Derek, there are many other qualified candidates out there including recently dismissed Alain Vigneault and Lindy Ruff.  Smart money has the Rangers going after a big-name coach as opposed to a lesser-known assistant, but who really knows what the GM is thinking?  He certainly didn’t offer many clues over what he was going to be looking for in the next Ranger coach at his conference call.  It does seem obvious to this outsider that the shot-blocking and win games 2-1 system is probably a thing of the past now and whoever the new coach is will try to implement a more offensive system.  Again, I’ll let Derek do the lion’s share of speculating over who the next coach is and what that means though, I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say on this.