Today
the New York Ranges made official what was reported last week in terms of
changes within the front office. Jeff
Gorton goes from Assistant Director of Player Personnel where he worked closely
with Gordie Clark on the draft and scouting side to Assistant General
Manager. In his new role Gorton will be
working with Glen Sasther on player transactions and contract negotiations and
has three big ones to get done in the next few weeks before arbitration
hearings.
Gorton
has experience in the top job as he was interim GM for the Boston Bruins in
2006 and during his tenure he played a role in the signing of Zdeno Chara and
Marc Savard to free agent deals along with the trade that sent Andrew Raycroft
to Toronto for Tukka Rask. Beyond that
the draft that year saw the Bruins select Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, and Brad
Marchand. Those moves give Gorton a big
stamp on what the Bruins accomplished this year as does his work with Gordie
Clark the past four seasons in the Rangers rebuilding of the prospect system. The Rangers are lucky to have Gorton as part of the decision making group of this organization and this was a smart hire to replace the departing Cam Hope.
Another move announced today was
that Kevin Maxwell has taken over Director
of Pro Scouting after being with the Rangers the past three years.
