It’s fair to say that the overnight firing of Todd Richards, formerly the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets wasn't a surprise. I mean, when a team that is meant to be very good starts out a season 07-0, the first time that’s happened since the 1990s, it doesn’t take a genius to recognise that the coach is on shaky ground.
Well, that ground collapsed out from underneath Richards, a pretty good coach but a guy who has presided over some bad losses to start this season – one in which the Jackets, with a youth movement led by Ryan Johansen and recently-acquired former Chicago star Brandon Saad, were expected to figure in the Eastern Conference playoff race pretty heavily.
Instead, the Jackets sit languishing at the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings and, as a result, Richards was shown the door. In his place comes John Tortorella, a famously irascible coach who has a method of dealing with his players – ‘tough love’ is putting it nicely – that has resulted in mixed success,.
Tortorella led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup championship in 2004, but, even in the midst of that success, was famous for clashes with both the media and his own players. The same could be said of Tortorella’s time in New York, where he coached the Rangers after the comparatively mild-mannered Tom Renney was removed.
Again, Tortorella rubbed some of his players the wrong way. Brad Richards is the most famous example of this, and Brandon Dubinsky, once a Ranger and now in Columbus, didn’t always see eye-to-eye with his former coach. That dynamic in the Blue Jacket locker room will be fascinating to watch.
There’s little doubt that Tortorella isn’t a player’s coach. He has a sharp edge, doesn’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t fit into his system, which is big on defence and shot-blocking, grates on players. But, at the same time, perhaps that’s what the Blue Jackets need. If they’re not playing for one style of coach, what do you do? Go out and get someone at the other end of the spectrum.
Look out, Columbus media, because Tortorella doesn’t mind giving a proverbial middle finger to the press. His battles with the New York City reporters assigned to the Rangers, a prickly bunch themselves, was something to savour after every game – and particularly after a bad Ranger loss – even if it did make some people wince.
Suffice to say, these post-game press conferences were never boring. Indeed, they were sometimes more exciting than the game that they followed. When Tortorella and Larry Brooks locked horns, you weren’t sure if you wanted to strap in or be someplace else.
For mine, Tortorella is a good coach in the short term. If he can come in and have early success, that’s great, because he isn’t one of those guys who’s gonna stick around for an eternity. Sooner or later, someone is going to run him out of town. Sometimes it’s management, sometimes the players. It’s always fiery, and strangely compelling.
The other thing about Tortorella’s style is that it works much better on younger teams. The veterans in the locker room in New York and, a season later, Vancouver (he lasted just one year there) didn’t take kindly to the way he ran things. Tortorella does want he wants, and his beholden to few. His assertion in Vancouver that he’d have the Sedin twins on the penalty kill and blocking shots didn’t go down well.
Rumour has it, there was a revolt in the Canuck locker room and that fact combined with what could only be termed a sub-par season in the Olympic city, was enough for management to give Tortorella the boot after just one year.
Columbus management surely know what they’re getting, and perhaps they hired Tortorella because he’s likely to come in and light a fire under a bunch of guys in that locker room who’re woefully underperforming. The fact is, the Blue Jacket list is too good for them to start out winless after seven games. In that regard, you point to the coach has being the problem. After all, he’s the one charged with getting the most out of his list.
Maybe you think seven games is a little early to bin a coach. The thing about the NHL as it is these days – generally every even – is that even being seven games behind the rest of the field in the first month of the season is a pretty big hole, and one that could ultimately adversely affect the Blue Jackets’ run to the promised land that is the Stanley Cup playoffs in the spring. With that in mind, the Columbus front office did the right thing.
Now, we’re all wondering the same thing: can Tortorella turn them around. The answer is: yes. But the real question to be asked here is whether the controversial coach can keep his team on side for long enough to bring results. He had fairly good and sustained success in New York but was ousted almost immediately in Vancouver. Which way does it go in Columbus? If only I had a crystal ball!
And so, the John Tortorella era begins in Columbus. If nothing else, it’s sure to not be too dull.
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