New York ? Bryan Trottier tormented the New York Rangers for 15 years when he played for the hated New York Islanders.

After just 54 games, the Rangers decided he’d caused them enough trouble as their coach, too.

Trottier, a rookie NHL head coach, was fired Wednesday by the Rangers as the league’s highest-paid team faces a sixth straight season without a playoff berth.

The Rangers have a payroll of more than $70 million but are last in the Atlantic Division just past the halfway point of the season at 21-26-6-1.

Trottier replaced Ron Low in June but didn’t last until February.

“I think he’s a good coach,” Rangers general manager Glen Sather said. “I just think at this time, under these conditions, with this group of players that maybe it wasn’t the right fit.”

The Rangers planned to announce a new coach today. Rangers assistants Jim Schoenfeld and Terry O’Reilly were considered likely candidates.

But Sather, who won four Stanley Cups as coach of the Edmonton Oilers in the ’80s, didn’t eliminate himself as a possible replacement.