NEW YORK -- Bryan Trottier will be named the next head coach of the New York Rangers.

Sources told ESPN's Al Morganti and ESPN The Magazine's E.J. Hradek that the deal still was being finalized, but it's expected to be done by Thursday.

		Wed, June 5 The decision of the New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather to hire Bryan Trottier as the team's next coach is a bold choice -- and hardly the safest route to take. For a team such as the Rangers, a veteran coach such as Ken Hitchcock, Pat Burns or even Herb Brooks would have been a safer choice. In Trottier, Sather is not just getting a first-year NHL coach, which is always risky, but he's also putting Trottier in a very curious and unique position with the problems presented in New York. • Complete Morganti analysis

The Rangers have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. ET on Thursday amid numerous reports Wednesday that Trottier was the choice of general manager Glen Sather to replace Ron Low, who was fired April 15.

The Rangers, who have missed the playoffs the last five seasons, turned their sights to Trottier after their efforts to hire U.S. Olympic team coach Herb Brooks were spurned.

Trottier, a former star with the New York Islanders -- the Rangers' archrivals -- was an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche the past four seasons, winning his seventh Stanley Cup last season.

The Avalanche granted the Rangers permission to speak to Trottier even before Colorado was eliminated by Detroit last Friday in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

Trottier spent the 1997-98 season with Portland of the AHL -- his only head coaching experience at any level -- following three years as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Trottier, 45, won six Stanley Cups during an 18-year playing career that culminated in his election to the Hall of Fame in 1997.

The forward won four championships with the Islanders from 1980-83 and then two more with the Penguins in 1991 and '92. He retired in 1994 with 524 career goals and 901 assists.

Trottier had his No. 19 retired by the Islanders last season.

The 22nd overall pick in the 1974 NHL draft, Trottier played 1,123 games in 15 seasons with the Islanders. He scored 500 goals and set up 853 others for New York.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.