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Report: Steve Yzerman Interested in Rangers Team President Job

John Shannon of Sportsnet reported Thursday that Steve Yzerman is someone who could potentially replace Glen Sather as President of the New York Rangers.

Yzerman is reportedly interested in the position according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post. Per Brooks:

Steve Yzerman, likely the hottest pending free agent in hockey, is amenable to being wooed by the Rangers to succeed Glen Sather as team president, multiple sources with knowledge of his thinking have told The Post.

Yzerman stepped down as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning in September, and is currently serving the last year of his contract as a senior advisor to general manager Julien BriseBois.

At the time, it was reported that Yzerman was stepping aside in order to spend more time with his family. After it was announced he also did not commit to anything beyond the 2018-19 season.

This decision came just a few months after the Detroit Red Wings extended the contract of EVP and GM Ken Holland by two seasons. It has been rumored that Holland could be interested in joining the expansion franchise in Seattle, and that would open the door for Yzerman to return to the franchise he captained to three Stanley Cups.

The same story that listed Holland as a potential fit for Seattle mentioned Yzerman too, but stated that it was unlikely.

Via Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times:

He still lives with his wife, Lisa, in Detroit, where he played all 22 seasons of his Hall of Fame career and won three Stanley Cup titles. Yzerman tired of regularly commuting from Detroit to Tampa as Lightning GM and his three daughters now attend college in the Northeast, so he’s almost certainly not coming here. It’s a matter of what happens with Holland.

Brooks also made reference to the potential of him going back to Detroit as well, but reiterated that him not ruling out New York is something of note.

But it does mean that Yzerman, who for months has been believed headed back to the Red Wings organization with which he won three Stanley Cups as captain during his 22-year career wearing the winged wheel, has not ruled out coming to New York and so consider the first hurdle jumped.

Yzerman is going to be a highly sought after candidate, and based on experience and results, he certainly would be a top-end option for the Rangers to consider. He was originally hired by the Lightning as vice president and general manager on May 25, 2010, and also served as an alternate governor reporting directly to chairman and owner Jeff Vinik for eight years.

Yzerman’s credentials speak for themselves, but he could go through the interview process an ultimately not be what Sather and James Dolan are looking for. I would think Yzerman possesses — if not all — most of the qualities that are required to be the next team president, but you never know what can happen in the interview process.

The turnaround of the Lightning under Yzerman’s watch, obviously helped by some key trades made with the Rangers, would be hard to ignore, but we will have to wait and see what other candidates are involved in the process.

The fact that Yzerman’s name has been mentioned by two different individuals as a potential candidate certainly makes this an interesting situation to monitor, but it is still very early in the process.

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