Glen Sather Glen " Slats " Sather ( born September 2 , 1943 in High River , Alberta ) is a retired professional ice hockey left winger in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League and current President and General Manager of the New York Rangers of the NHL . He played for the Boston Bruins , Pittsburgh Penguins , New York Rangers , St . Louis Blues , Montreal Canadiens , Minnesota North Stars , and Edmonton Oilers ( in their WHA incarnation ) . Also nicknamed " Tomato Face " due to his perpetually red face during his playing days , Sather was born in High River , Alberta but grew up in Wainwright , Alberta . Sather now resides in Palm Springs , California in the off - season , but also has a home in Banff , Alberta . Background and early career . Sather played 3 seasons starting in 1964 with the CPHL Memphis Wings and Oklahoma City Blazers , joining the Bruins at the end of the 1966 - 67 season and playing in 5 games . He earned the nickname " Slats " because of his gritty style of play . Professional playing career . Sather played 10 full seasons in the NHL and another season in the WHA . He played 739 regular season games as a pro , scoring 99 - 146 - 245 and earned 801 penalties in minutes . In the playoffs he added 77 games played and scored 2 - 6 - 8 with 88PIM . His career as a player ended at the conclusion of the 1976 - 77 WHA season . Post playing career . Sather became head coach of the Oilers in 1977 and maintained the post when they joined the NHL in 1979 - 80 . After taking them to the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season , he was promoted to General Manager . This was the start of a tremendous run for the Oilers , who became a genuine NHL dynasty with him as the coach and GM . The team made the playoffs with Sather as head coach from 1979 - 80 until 1984 - 85 . From 1985 until 1989 , Sather split coaching duties with John Muckler , but retained the title of head coach . With Sather at the helm in various duties , the team won five Stanley Cup s in seven years , after losing in the finals to the New York Islanders in 1983 . In 2000 , Sather left the Oilers organisation and joined the Rangers to become their President and General Manager , a position he currently holds despite not making the playoffs during his first four years at Madison Square Garden and cutting ties with many beloved Rangers , such as Adam Graves and Brian Leetch to bring in high - profile ( yet unsuccessful in New York ) players such as Eric Lindros , Pavel Bure , and Bobby Holik . He replaced Bryan Trottier after 54 games in 2002 - 2003 Season as the head coach of the New York Rangers only to give the head coaching job to Tom Renney after 62 games in the 2003 - 2004 season . His record as the Rangers coach was 33 - 39 - 11 - 7 over 90 games . That pushed his NHL career win total to 497 , currently 10th all - time . Notable achievements . Glen Sather is the most successful coach in Oilers history . Under his leadership the team set several NHL records , including most team goals for and holding several spots in the best winning seasons ever . They won 3 President ' s Trophies for best league regular season record . Their playoff record was even more impressive , winning 133 games and losing 82 en route to five Stanley Cup s in six Finals appearances . In 1985 - 86 , Sather won the Jack Adams Award as the league ' s best coach . Teams he has coached for a full season have only finished out of the playoffs once and had winning records 8 out of 11 seasons . He currently stands tenth in coaching wins in NHL history . Outside of the NHL , Sather has been instrumental in building Canadian national teams for the 1984 Canada Cup ( tournament champions ) , the 1994 Ice Hockey World Championship ( Gold Medal winners ) and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey ( Finalists ) . Sather was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997 .