Sather: the Man Behind Budding Dynasty

As a player, Glen Sather scored 80 goals in nine seasons. Offense obviously was not his forte.

Yet, here is Sather today, the president, general manager and coach of the Edmonton Oilers, the most awesome attacking team the National Hockey League has known. Sather is the architect of that team, as well as the main teacher and confidant of its stars.

When he played with six different teams from 1968 through 1976, Sather was a rambunctious antagonizer as well as a formidable checker. He hasn’t lost any of his spirit or candidness as an executive.

“Glen speaks his mind when other people might not,” assistant coach John Muckler said. “But he also gets things done.”

Indeed, Sather has built a budding dynasty in his 7 1/2 years in Edmonton. He took over a team which never had come close to winning the World Hockey Association championship, guided it into the NHL during the 1979 merger and, with Wayne Gretzky as the cornerstone, put together an organization to be envied.

“There are a lot of people who deserve credit for what we’ve done here,” Sather, 41, said. “The players, of course, and John and Teddy (Green), who help me run things on the ice. And Barry (Fraser, the director of player personnel), who oversees the scouting.

“You don’t get where we have gotten by chance. It takes hard work from everyone in the organization and a dedication to the same purpose. I won’t kid myself by taking any more credit than I deserve.”

Sather took the blame when the Oilers stumbled in the 1982 and ’83 playoffs. He was labeled a push-button coach who could not adapt to adversity and was easily outcoached by the Al Arbours and Scott Bowmans of the game.

Sather has proven over the past 12 1/2 months that he not only is one of the best organizers in hockey, but also one of the keenest bench bosses. He, Muckler and Green throroughly analyzed the system that had made the New York Islanders three-time Stanley Cup champions and found its weaknesses last year. The Oilers exploited those shortcomings and skated off with their first Stanley Cup.

Then Sather accepted what could have been a thankless job as coach and GM of Team Canada for the Canada Cup, a tournament that brings together the best international teams. It is as close to a true world championship as the sport can have and the Canadians were not expected to do very well.

When they struggled in the early games and qualified fourth and last for the semifinals, virtually all of Canada came down on Sather. But he was vindicated when his club -- dubbed Team Oilers because eight Edmonton players were selected -- upset the Soviets and won the tourney.

Then came the second successful assault on the Stanley Cup.

“People expected us to not do it again,” Gretzky said. “But we’ve surprised them by showing we deserve to be champions. Glen has never let us believe we couldn’t keep winning.”

Perhaps the most telling praise comes from Mike Krushelnyski, a left wing who joined Edmonton in a trade with Boston last summer. Krushelnyski wasn’t sure what to expect of the Oilers and especially of Sather’s hose hard-nosed reputation.

“I was really impressed by his thoroughness and his patience,” said Krushelnsyki, who responded to Sather’s treatment with a 43-goal, 88-point season. “They had all these tests for your strength, cardiovascular tests, weight tests. They keep these charts and know exactly the condition of a player.

“And there were some times when I didn’t understand something and I thought Glen might throw a glove at me or start screaming, especially at the beginning of the year. I was surprised he didn’t call me an idiot for not understanding the patterns.

“Instead, he would explain and explain. He had the utmost confidence in me and that helped me develop.”

The Oilers have developed to the point that any team with designs on the Stanley Cup has altered its style to add more speed, more offense, more creativity.

“It’s flattering that other teams feel that way,” Sather said. “It shows we’re doing something right.”