Notes From Glen Sather's Press Conference

Glen Sather met with the media today after the trade deadline officially passed to discuss his activity in the trade market (or lack thereof), and also gave his thoughts on the one trade the Rangers made today, the acquisition of John Scott.

You can listen to the audio of Sather's press conference here, but I'll provide some of the more important notes below.



Glen Sather said that the Rangers talked to "a lot of people today" but there were ultimately no deals that Sather felt made sense for the Rangers to pull the trigger on. Slats didn't specifically mention Rick Nash while fielding questions with the media to avoid tampering charges that could be filed against him. He only said things "didn't go anywhere" and would only confirm that he did talk to Columbus today. Sather said the prices in general for players the Rangers were interested in "seemed very high" and said they never came down as the deadline drew closer.

Sather said John Scott appealed to the Rangers because he provides a lot of toughness and is versatile in that he can play both forward and defense if the Rangers need him to. Sather said the trade for Scott was important because the Rangers have a lot of games down the stretch against tough opponents who like to stir things up on the ice, and having a guy like Scott in the lineup will help limit that.

Ultimately, Slats said he didn't want to "dismantle the organization," which is why the Rangers really refrained from making any moves. I tend to believe Sather was telling the truth here, and I just had a gut feeling all along that the only way the Rangers were going to acquire Rick Nash, or anyone else for that matter, was if a great deal fell into Glen Sather's lap. That's sort of been the story of Sather's entire tenure as Rangers GM; he never panics into making a bad trade no matter how good or bad the team is playing.

Sather likes the way the Rangers have played and ultimately feels like this is the team he wants to go to war with. That was basically the underlying point in his entire press conference, and it's hard to fault him for thinking that way. The Rangers are sitting comfortably as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the fact that they're amongst the best teams in the league is no fluke. The Rangers will need to continue playing hard and do the little things that have gotten them this far, and I would think/hope the fact that the deadline has passed will help settle down guys like Brandon Dubinsky so that he can get back to playing his game.