The New York Rangers are in freefall. This much is clear. After yesterday’s embarrassing 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the team has won just once in its last eight games and is in danger of all but disappearing from the Atlantic Division race. Time to point the finger. Actually, first it’s time to play a little game called “I told you so.” Back on Feb. 2, my last appearance in this space, I cautioned that the season appeared to have suffered an unfortunate turn, from which the team might not recover:

“We can go as far as to pinpoint the precise moment when perhaps (though hopefully not) the fortunes shifted dramatically in the Rangers season: The start of the third period in Pittsburgh last Wednesday (Jan. 28).”

As it turns out, that loss in Pittsburgh turned out to be the start of its present slump (the “last eight games” referred to above). I point this out partly mainly largely because I want to demonstrate how brilliant I am and that you absolutely should stick with me here, even if I disappear for weeks at a time (not by choice but due to my various other obligations, including my wretched day job). More importantly, however, this demonstrates just how desperate the Rangers are for a change in momentum if they are to salvage the season. Can the current coaching staff deliver the goods? Tonight should give us an idea, but the signs are not encouraging. Many of the players, chief among them Scott Gomez, appear to have quit on Renney. With Sean Avery not yet available, management simply does not have many other options to provide a spark. If the Rangers lose at St. Louis tonight, the Renney era at Madison Square Garden could be over.

Lost in this equation is the fact that Renney is not the biggest culprit for the team’s current malaise. That honor goes to Glen Sather, who saddled the team with overpriced free agents (Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden). Ironically, Sather will be the guy dropping the ax on Renney’s stint as Rangers head coach. I’m not saying Renney doesn’t deserve some blame (why oh why does he refuse to play Petr Prucha for example?) but the larger problems with this team are a reflection of Sather’s moves as general manager. If anybody needs to go, it’s him. But there’s no justice in this world. Everybody knows that.

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