He played a key role in attracting talented players, including Wayne Gretzky, who helped make the Oilers a hockey dynasty at that time.

Before coaching, Sather was a professional ice hockey left winger in the WHA and NHL, playing for several teams over 10 years.

His professional career started in 1964 with the CPHL Memphis Wings and Oklahoma City Blazers, joining the Bruins at the end of the 1966–67 season and playing in 5 games.

After taking them to the first round of the playoffs in their inaugural season, Sather was promoted to president and general manager, and named Bryan Watson as head coach.

On the advice of Barry Fraser, his chief scout, Sather selected Paul Coffey in the first round, Jari Kurri in the fourth, and Andy Moog in the seventh.

While his record was only 25–26–11 the rest of the way, the young Oilers caught fire late in the season and swept the heavily favoured Montreal Canadiens in the opening round of the playoffs.

This was the start of a tremendous run for the Oilers, who made it to the 1983 Finals (losing to the Islanders) and then winning the Stanley Cup in five of the next seven seasons.

This was mainly because key players such as Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, and Esa Tikkanen left to seek higher salaries elsewhere (caused in part by the Gretzky trade in 1988).

This left the Oilers so bereft of talent that Sather was forced to rush many prospects to Edmonton before they had sufficient time to develop.

The heavily-leveraged Pocklington was finally forced to sell the team in 1998, which nearly resulted in the franchise being moved to Houston, Texas by Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.

Sather agreed to remain general manager but was unable to retain Joseph who signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 1998–99,[8][10] and the Oilers were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs by the Stars from 1999 to 2001.

Sather left the Oilers organization in 2000 and was succeeded as general manager by outgoing head coach Kevin Lowe.

Some good, young players were also drafted during his tenure as the Rangers general manager, such as Henrik Lundqvist, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, and Carl Hagelin.

The Rangers failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2010, resulting in some fans holding a rally asking the team to relieve Sather of his position as general manager.

He stepped down as the general manager on July 1, 2015,[12] and resigned from his position as president on April 4, 2019, announcing his decision to take on the roles of senior advisor and alternate governor.