I've jumped off the Tom Renney bandwagon with a flying leap. Following in the footsteps of Mark Messier, Colin Campbell and others, he's become the local media darling ... and like any media whore, he's seized the opportunity to play it to his advantage.

"Roster Flexibility"

When the team traded for Sean Avery, Renney was quick to explain that such move finally gave him the flexibility to alter the roster. He wasn't able to do this beforehand because, Renney said, "it boils down to what we've been able to put on the ice up until now."

What a load of crap! What a total abandonment of responsibility!

The two main changes Renney put forward was breaking up the Jagr-Straka-Nylander line and splitting the power play into two units with different styles. And in Renney's world, these moves were impossible with Sean Avery. An easy analysis tells a different story.

The Jagr-Straka-Nylander line could have been broken up months ago to provide the team more balance:

- Shanahan has needed a passing centerman, and Nylander always fit the bill

- Jagr historically has done wonders with no-name wingers (Kip Miller, Stu Barnes), which is part of his appeal, so having two veterans was unnecessary

The power play could have been broken up into two units months ago:

- Cullen played the point in Carolina, yet never got a whiff here

- The contrasting styles of Jagr and Shanahan was debated for months

The roster depth was there to make these moves earlier:

- Hossa was already on the roster to play with Straka and Jagr

- There is roster depth to give test games to wingers to play with Nylander and Shanahan. Hall could have been tried there before his trade; Ward could have been tried; a youngster like Dawes could have been tried.

Media Loves Renney, Hates Sather

But Renney doesn't get called out on this solely because he's a "nice guy," he also gets the adulation because the local media guys hate Sather. They detest his arrogant style and 5 million dollar salary.

That's why noted Sather hatchet man (and Leetch's PR man) was quick to write that Renney had "tried several times [to break up the Jagr line, but it] only worked because of the Avery acquisition."

This line of thought pins the responsibility of this season's poor performance solely on Glen Sather, which suits both parties, Dellapina and Renney, quite well, thank you.

Glen Sather and Don Maloney certainly deserve their portion of blame, but Tom Renney's attempt to distance himself from responsibility is a sad chapter in an underwhelming decade on Garden ice.

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