Benoit Allaire's Retirement And More Rangers Opinions

Hands down, Tom Renney goes down in Rangers history as one of the most popular coaches – not to mention figures – in all of New York sports, 

Momentarily retired at his British Columbia home, Renney looks back at his stint behind the bench with unbridled enthusiasm.

"We loved the city," Tom told me on Alena Sychova's Bottle Rocket podcast, "and the people of New York and, of course, Rangers fans who are in a class by themselves."

During our hour-long schmooze, Tom remembered that he was there for the drafting of Henrik Lundqvist and was fascinated by the rookie goalie's development since few – at the time – knew about the amiable young Swede.

"Our number one goalie at the time was Kevin Weekes," Renney went on, "and if Henrik looked good in camp, he'd be Kevin's backup. But, as it happened, Weeke's got hurt so we gave thegoal stick to Lundqvist."

Make no mistake, Henrik - the future Hall of Famer – was no instant star. The good news was that management was patient and had a backup staff that made all the difference when it came to honing Lundqvist's skills to sharpness.

Renney: "Goalie coach Benoit Allaire had joined the staff and he was terrific for Henrik. As for myself, I saw Lundqvist's level of concentration and competition and, finnally, I said to Benny, 'He (Lunqvist) is the guy."

Insightful, amiable – really a "New York Kind Of Guy" – Renny was hesitant to pick out one "favorite" Ranger. But one of Tom's abilities was his way with people which enabled him to deal wifh diverse personalities on a fascinatingly unusual roster.

Sean Avery told me that Renney was "The best" because Renney knew how to deal with Avery's eccentricities. The peripatetic Jaromir Jagr was another of Tom's fans.

"Off the ice, Sean was not the kind of guy you saw on the ice," Renney explained. "I had great conversations with Avery and with Jags as well. Both were and are very interesting fellows."

A protege of Glen Sather who then was Garden owner Jim Dolan's right hand man, Renney worked the Rangers bench from 2004-2009, When Tom  was replaced by John Tortorella, he was suitably unhappy but bore no animosity toward Torts. Quite the opposite.

"Even though Torts took over from me," Tom recalled, "I like the guy. Despite what some might think, John is a GREAT  GUY. " 

Then a pause and a note that Torts' Vegas Golden Knights are leading Anaheim two games to one in their playoff series.

"Torts will get you there quickly!"