Sator began his NHL
coaching career in 1983
with the Philadelphia
Flyers. After working
with Mike Keenan during
the 1984–85 season,
Sator was named head
coach of the New York
Rangers taking them to
the Conference Finals in
his first year and lost
to the Stanley Cup
Champion Montreal
Canadiens. The following
season, General Manager
Craig Patrick was
replaced by Phil
Esposito and after only
19 games into the season
Sator was replaced by
Tom Webster. His time
away from behind the
bench was short lived,
as he was named head
coach of the Buffalo
Sabres the following
year. In his first full
season with the Buffalo
Sabres they achieved the
biggest point
improvement in the NHL.
He coached them to two
third-place finishes but
was unable to get the
team past the Stanley
Cup finalist Boston
Bruins in the first
round of the Stanley Cup
playoffs, and was
relieved of his coaching
duties in 1989.
Over
the next 10 years, Sator
was an assistant coach
with the Boston Bruins,
St. Louis Blues,
Hartford Whalers, and
Vancouver Canucks (where
he split time between
Vancouver and the
Canucks American Hockey
League farm team, the
Syracuse Crunch.
Beginning in 1997, Sator
began a successful
5-year coaching stint
with the New Orleans
Brass, where he was also
Director of Player
Personnel in which the
team never failed to
qualify for the playoffs
and never had a losing
season.