Rangers Name Sullivan Assistant Coach

After Rangers Head Coach Tom Renney and Assistant Coach Perry Pearn were fired in February, Jim Schoenfeld had more jobs than Barbie. Although Schoeny is still Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel and General Manager of the Wolf Pack, he no longer is responsible for the duties of interim assistant coach.

That position has been filled by Lightning Assistant Coach Mike Sullivan. Sullivan held that position in Tampa Bay for the last two seasons including 2007-2008 under current Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella. This move has been rumored for quite a while, as Tortorella begins to assemble a coaching staff of guys that are on the same page with him.

Sullivan was also the head coach of the Bruins for two seasons, including 2003-2004 in which Boston won the Northeast Division Title, before he was fired in June 2006. He has also been the head coach for the AAA Providence Bruins and assistant coach for Boston and the 2006 United States Olympic Team.

Sullivan joins Goalie Coach Benoit Allaire as Tortorella'sright hand men. Although penalty-kill coach Mike Pelino was retained after Renney and Pearn were fired, the Team page on the New York Rangers website no longer lists him as an assistant coach. Pelino was a popular coach amongst the players and ran a great penalty kill, but he may not have blended well with the hard-nosed Tortorella. Sullivan will most likely be running the Rangers power-play which was absolutely terrible under Pearn.

Rangers Notes:
-The Blueshirts have traded Hartford defenseman Brian Fahey for Lake Erie (Colorado) d-man Nigel Williams. Although this is a minor trade, it is a very good one. Fahey was signed before last season to compete for the Rangers seventh defenseman role and/or replace Andrew Hutchinson as the leader of the Wolf Pack defense. After traveling with the Rangers along with Corey Potter to the Czech Republic as an insurance policy (they only had six defenseman on their roster), he was sent down to Hartford where he disappointed throughout the entire season. He slowly slipped from the top D pair to the third as many youngsters surpassed him.

Fahey never seemed to show any fire power, but instead made many stupid decisions on the ice, and this led to occasional healthy scratches. Williams at 21 is younger than the 28 year-old Fahey. The former Avalance prospect had around the same point total as Fahey did last year in Triple-A, but he has the talent to become an NHL player while Fahey is essentially a strictly AHL guy. Very good trade.

-Speaking of Nigel Williams, former Ranger Nigel Dawes was waived by Phoenix(?Hamilton?) and picked up by the Flames. Dawes, a solid shootout scorer, but small body and overall inconsistent player, is a very replaceable player on any team (although many Rangers fans are still upset that he was traded).