New York, NY (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers have fired head coach Tom Renney.
Assistant coach Perry Pearn was also dismissed and there was no immediate word on Renney's replacement. Speculation has centered around Jim Schoenfeld, currently in the Rangers' front office, and former Tampa Bay head coach John Tortorella.
The Rangers have lost 10 of their last 12 games, including a 3-2 overtime setback at home against Toronto on Sunday.
New York has a record of 31-23-7 and is currently 10 points behind first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division. The Rangers are also sixth in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 69 points, just two ahead of ninth-place Carolina. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.
Renney becomes the sixth NHL coach fired this season, joining Chicago's Denis Savard, Tampa Bay's Barry Melrose, Carolina's Peter Laviolette, Ottawa's Craig Hartsburg and Pittsburgh's Michel Therrien. Curiously, all four teams that began the season in Europe -- Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Pittsburgh and the Rangers -- all made coaching changes.
The Rangers opened the season with five straight wins and finished October with a 10-2-1 mark, but have slid considerably since. In the past 12 games, the club has scored more than two goals just twice, and the low point came in a 10-2 setback at Dallas on February 6.
Renney took over behind the Rangers bench in February 2004 after president and general manager Glen Sather relinquished the duties. The team finished the '03-04 campaign with just five wins in Renney's 20 games, but things turned around after the lockout of 2004-05.
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The Rangers made the playoffs in each of the three seasons following the work stoppage, winning one series each of the past two springs.
Renney posted a record of 164-121-42 with the Rangers. He was also the head coach in Vancouver for 101 games from the beginning of the 1996-97 season until November of 1997. He had a mark of 39-53-9 with the Canucks.
