ught we competed right to the end." However, starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed with that assessment. Lundqvist is entering the final year of his contract and would be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. "It is a step back," Lundqvist said. "We were i

NEW YORK -- John Tortorella was defiant in stating that the New York Rangers didnt take a step back when they were knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the second round. General manager Glen Sather thought otherwise and fired the combative coach on Wednesday. The fiery Tortorella was let go four days after the Rangers season ended with a Game 5 loss at Boston to the Bruins. New York had reached the Eastern Conference finals last year and was considered to be a championship contender in this lockout-shortened season. "I came up with the decision that I really needed to do something to improve our team going forward," Sather said during a conference call. "Every coach has a shelf life. Ive told every guy that Ive hired that at some point in time this is going to change. "Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and we didnt achieve that goal this year. I had to make a decision, so I did." Tortorella was unexpectedly dismissed with one year left on his contract. In 319 regular-season games with New York, including a four-game run at the end of the 1999-2000 season, Tortorella went 171-118-1-29. He was 19-25 in the post-season, and reached the playoffs in four of five seasons after taking over as coach in February 2009. "Every time a coach gets fired, it is a surprise for me, because ultimately, we, the players, are responsible for our own play on the ice," Rangers backup goaltender Martin Biron told the Associated Press in a text message. Tortorella, hired to replace Tom Renney with 21 games remaining in the 2008-09 season, achieved some success with the Rangers but couldnt match the Stanley Cup title he earned in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sather said Tortorellas contract status didnt factor into the decision. "It wasnt one thing and I am certainly not going to speculate or start to criticize what happened with Torts and give you a lot of reasons why we decided to do this," Sather said. "After the analytical work that we do every year at the end of the season, trying to decide how were going to improve the team and how were going to move forward, this is a decision I made." Sather didnt name an immediate replacement, but hopes to have a new coach in place by the June 30 NHL draft in Newark, N.J. Former NHL coaches Lindy Ruff and Alain Vigneault could be candidates for New York. Sather wouldnt speculate whether anyone currently employed by the Rangers would be considered. The fate of assistant coach Mike Sullivan will be decided during the teams organizational meetings in June. "Hopefully whoever we hire has a lot of the good things that Torts had and a lot of good things that Tom Renney had," Sather said. "There are a number of good coaches around, and a lot of them have different qualities. It is a little tricky sometimes to find someone who has all those qualities, but hopefully thats what were going to have this time around. "I am certain that were going to find the right person." Last season, Tortorella led the Rangers to 51 wins -- the second-most in franchise history -- and 109 points before they were beaten in six games by New Jersey in the conference finals. He finished his Rangers tenure in fourth place on the teams career coaching wins list. The 54-year-old Tortorella got the Rangers back into the playoffs in this lockout-shortened season, and New York outlasted Washington in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Boston. "I felt this was a decision that had to be made going forward," Sather said. "I think he was shocked, but he is a gentleman and he took it very well." Tortorella made curious comments on Monday when the Rangers packed up for the season, which could have led to his ouster. In his final meeting with reporters, Tortorella said his club wasnt emotionally ready to take on Boston after getting past Washington with back-to-back shutout wins when it faced elimination. "One of the things, and it falls on my shoulders, is our teams mindset going into another round," Tortorella said. "I dont think our mindset was ready to play another series and to the level you need to be at. It didnt have a playoff atmosphere. "Thats what I struggle with right now. I didnt do a good enough job in correcting and getting their mindset back to not only play at the level of a Game 7 in the first round but get ready for round 2, which is always going to be tougher." Even though the Rangers were knocked out earlier this year, Tortorella emphatically stated he didnt believe the team regressed. "I know the surrounding feeling here is that it was a negative season, a disappointing season. I dont buy it and I wont," Tortorella said. "There are some good things that happened. I dont think we took a step backward. I think this is a sideways step in our lineup and how things worked out. "We played really well our last couple of months to get in, found a way to win a big series against Washington, and against Boston I thought we competed right to the end." However, starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed with that assessment. Lundqvist is entering the final year of his contract and would be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. "It is a step back," Lundqvist said. "We were in the conference finals last year, we had high expectations on ourselves this year. It didnt go our way, so yeah it is a step back. Its tough to make it there, though. You cant just expect it to happen." Sather said he hadnt talked to Lundqvist, but added the teams plan is to sign him to a new long-term deal. The Rangers entered the 48-game season as a prime contender to win the Stanley Cup, especially after the off-season acquisition of top forward Rick Nash in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a slow start, the Rangers rallied to a 26-18-4 record and the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But New York struggled to score in the post-season, and Nash and Brad Richards were among the biggest offenders. Nash recorded only one goal and five assists in the Rangers 12 playoff games. Richards, who has seven years remaining on a nine-year deal, was a bigger disappointment and was a healthy scratch by Tortorella in the final two games against the Bruins. Sather said that move was an organizational decision. Richards had thrived under Tortorella when they won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, but he managed only one goal and zero assists in his 10 post-season games. Richards will likely also be gone from the Rangers, who can buy out the remainder of his lucrative deal and remove him from the salary cap that will go down for next season. Tortorella is the career leader in wins by a U.S.-born coach with 410. He was an assistant coach with the Rangers in the 1999-2000 season and took over for John Muckler as head coach for the final four games. Tortorella was then hired by the Lightning and he was their coach for seven seasons -- compiling a mark of 239-222-36-38 and earning the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in the championship 2003-04 season. Vapormax Moc Canada .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Nike Vapormax Clearance . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. http://www.airvapormaxcanada.com/nike-just-do-it-shoes-canada/air-max-270.html . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Vapormax Plus Mens Sale . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. Air Max 97 Vapormax Canada . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. It doesnt get much more daunting for a young AFL ruckman than going head-to-head with Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands.But Adelaide coach Don Pyke says hes confident Reilly OBrien wont be overawed by the mammoth task facing him in Saturdays AFL clash at Domain Stadium.OBrien has been given another chance to impress after Sam Jacobs failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained against Essendon in round 19.The 20-year-old finished his debut against Brisbane last week with 29 hitouts, 16 touches and a goal.Well back Reilly in, Pyke said on Thursday.I thought his game last week showed that he was comfortable at the level.He certainly wasnt overawed by his first game.Selected with Adelaides first pick in the 2015 rookie draft, OBrien was a key defender before arriving at West Lakes but is now considered Jacobs long-term successor.The Crows are hopeful Jacobs will only miss one more game after racking up 93 consecutive appearances before his injury.ddddddddddddThat ankle was a little bit worse than we initially thought, Pyke said.Today was the first day he ran and to be honest with you, its going to be too tight to try and run that schedule.Veteran midfielder Scott Thompson, who was rested last week, is one of four inclusions in the Crows extended squad and is likely to slot in for Paul Seedsman (corked buttock).Pyke will consider resting others depending on how they pull up ahead of clashes with Port Adelaide and West Coast.Obviously we come off the Fremantle game into two six-day breaks and were always mindful of managing our players, he said.Well pick our strongest available side (while) being mindful of maybe some load issues. 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