It’s official. The Rangers have hired former Rangers Assistant Coach and Stanley Cup winning Head Coach John Tortorella as head coach of the Rangers. Perry Pearn was also given a pink slip, and the Rangers will go into tomorrow’s practice with Torotorella providing direction and Jim Schoenfeld and Mike Pelino offering assistance.

Schoenfeld reportedly was not interested in becoming head coach, and Tom Renney is welcome to remain with the organization, but will receive no compensation if he does so…bit harsh if you ask me.

The Rangers have fired head coach Tom Renney according to The New York Post. The Rangers failed to get the two points for the tenth time in the past twelve games, falling to Toronto 3-2 in OT and leaving New York just two points clear of the 9th placed Carolina Hurricanes.

Speculation at this stage is that the Rangers have hired former Assistant Coach John Tortorella to replace Renney. Tortorella guided the Tampa Bay Lighting to a Stanley Cup, and reportedly wanted to stay on after he finished out the last four games of the 1999-00 season, but was overlooked in favor of Ron Low as one of Glen Sather‘s first appointments.

The Rangers have scheduled a new conference later today, no doubt to introduce their new coach