sather shouldn't get full blame for the rangers lack of success since he's been here, but he certainly deserves some. he didn't have a lot to work with in terms of quality in the system when he first came to the rangers, thanks to neil smith's tenure. but he did spend a lot of money putting together somewhat flawed teams and not getting a good coach to get them to play well.
there is the ownership angle, and i'm not too sure what to make of it...yeah he came in and blew tons of money on star players...then suddenly turned around and did a firesale, and said "we're making sure we rebuild this thing and we won't be trading away youth". one could say he finally convinced ownership to do it this way instead of buying up players right and left, but who knows how accurate that is.
boils down to him being to blame for not getting the rangers to be competative before this time, but the fact remains he didn't take control of the franchise when it was in its best shape. still...could have done better, and if the rangers continue to do well this year and young players continue to come in and impress, he'll get the credit for that eventually. ranger fans will have to get over their bitterness to him, but a return to the playoffs and success of young players will probably help that