Bobby Bevilacqua 

Jeff Gorton has officially taken over as the General Manager of the New York Rangers. Photo courtesy of Ron Antonelli.

In what has been rumored for quite some time now, Glen Sather has officially announced that he is stepping down as the GM of the New York Rangers, a position he has held since 2000. In his place is now Jeff Gorton, the assistant GM who has been getting more and more responsibilities over the past few years.

Sather is not completely removed from the Rangers organization, and will remain as team president. Gorton and he will continue to work together, but now Gorton will have the final word on players and all negotiations.

“Jeff has been an integral part of our success since joining the Rangers, and he has earned the respect of colleagues throughout the hockey community,” Sather said. “He is well prepared for and extremely deserving of this opportunity.”

Gorton, 46, has been a member of the Rangers organization since 2006 and has served as the Assistant GM for the past four years. He played a key role in the draft selections of Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast, Chris Kreider and JT Miller, as well as being a major part of the trades for Rick Nash, Keith Yandle, derick Brassard and Ryan McDonagh. He also was vital in the free agent signings of Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello.

Before joining the Rangers, Gorton spent 15 seasons in the Bruins organization, serving as Assistant GM for the final seven years there. His track record as the interim GM in 2006 is really, really impressive.

His biggest move was trading Andrew Raycoft for goalie prospect Tuukka Rask. Raycroft fizzled out while Rask went on to become a Vezina winning goaltender. That year he also drafted Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic, and brought in Zdeno Chara, the current captain of the Bruins, via free agency. Those are some fantastic moves.

Gorton has an eye for talent, and is a fantastic hockey mind, He knows the ins and outs of the Rangers organization, including the young talent in Hartford, and he has an idea of what he wants to do with the team. Part of it includes infusing young talent, with Oscar Lindberg and either Brady Skjei or Dylan McIlrath poised to have an important role on the Rangers next season.

Gorton was busy at work today, bolstering the Rangers’ bottom six with the signing of Viktor Stalberg, and adding a cheap seventh defenseman in former Ranger Rafael Diaz, signing him to a two year deal worth an average of $700k. He also added some depth forward to help fill out the ranks in Hartford.

Glen Sather got off to a rocky start with the Rangers, namely from 2000 to 2009, but he really has done some great things for this organization. However, Gorton was instrumental in a lot of the great moves, so with him having the final say, I’m sure this team will be run even better than before.