The New York Rangers have fired their Head Coach John Tortorella, in what most observers are calling a strange move. I tend to agree. There were no hints of this happening during the break-up interviews following the Rangers admittedly-disappointing exit from the playoffs at the semi final round, outclassed and basically dominated, losing in five games at the hands of the Boston Bruins.
The offense was stagnant at the best of times, and downright MIA at the worst of times. It only got worse on the Power Play, with the Rangers converting only 4 of 44 man advantage opportunities in the playoffs. Key players went missing for long stretches, including superstars Rick Nash and Brad Richards and inspirational team captain Ryan Callahan. It was so bad with Richards that Tortorella had reduced him to fourth line minutes before making him a healthy scratch in the last two games against Boston. And then came the rumours of an amnesty buyout of Richards, rumours that he'd fallen out of favour with Tortorella, a man with whom he'd won the Stanley Cup in Tampa in 2004, and that the fracture was not one that could be mended.
Perhaps Richards will still be on the way out of the Rangers organisation, but not before Tortorella who was let go today. Popular thought is that this was a panicked move from General Manager Glen Sather, and I tend to agree. Sather had, days before, doubtless heard his star goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, sounding decidedly non-committal about signing a long-term deal before his contract, which has a season to run, ends. It emerged today that the Rangers hadn't intended to fire Tortorella. But things change, often with just a few words.
Those words would have sent shivers down the spines of Rangers management, imagining a Blueshirts club without King Henrik in goal. Were his words some sort of flashpoint for the team's management? Did they think they had to pull the trigger? Perhaps. And that's fair enough. Lundqvist in net for someone else would be a disaster. Personally, it's not something I want to consider.
Now there are stories floating around that Henrik wasn't hugely happy of late. In the scheme that Tortorella ran in New York, the offense had never really gotten rolling, and his gritty, shot-blocking style of play often put the onus on Lundqvist to have huge games, like, every second game. It's okay to expect your goalie to stand on his head once every now and again, but when the offense ahead of you rarely fires, it's understandable that a guy like Lundqvist was getting frustrated. He wants to win a Stanley Cup, and it didn't seem all that likely with Tortorella, not as this season progressed, and went south for the men in red, white and blue.
Tortorella's scheme has certainly marginalised a lot of fast-skating players, and, thus, divided the parochial NYR fan base in a way that few other coaches on Broadway ever have. Guys like Carl Hagelin and Chris Kreider were on the outer for most of the season. The worst nightmare for a Rangers fan - aside from Lundqvist going - would be those guys getting traded, blossoming, becoming superstars elsewhere and coming back to taunt Rangers fans for seasons to come.
For a while now, I hadn't been sure what to make of Tortorella. Was the Rangers run to the Eastern Conference Finals last year a flash in the pan, or would they again scale those heights - and go higher, to Mt Stanley Cup - with the benefit of a full season, preceded by training camp? The jury was out, for mine. This year, the team certainly regressed, when they were only supposed to get better with the addition of Rick Nash.
Recently, I was interested by his actions regarding Richards, whom he had, for a time, playing fourth line minutes at something ridiculous like $9milliom. Buying Richie out won't be such a bad idea, for the Rangers undoubtedly need to re-sign guys like Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh this off-season and a King's Ransom - pardon the bad pun, one that you'll likely hear quite often throughout this summer and beyond - for Lundqvist next summer.
The question will be, did the Rangers to the right thing. If the offense prospers under a new coach, and if Lundqvist re-signs long-term, it will be seen as a good move by Sather and his team. Should the opposite happen, then, well, that's when things will get interesting on Broadway...
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