John Tortorella
The Coach’s: John Robert Tortorella is an American professional ice hockey coach and former minor league player. The diminutive head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was born on June 24, 1958, in Boston, Massachusetts. Torts began his NHL coaching career during the 1999-2000 season with the New York Rangers, where he would get his feet wet, coaching in four games. Tortorella’s next coaching gig was for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2000-2001 season; Torts was a midseason replacement and coached in 43 games that season, finishing 5th in the Southeast and out of playoff contention. During the 2002-2003 season, Torts began to shine as an NHL-caliber coach as he took a struggling Tampa Bay squad and turned them into a playoff team and a serious contender for their first Stanley Cup. Tortorella and his Tampa Bay Lightning would finish 24 points ahead of their previous season’s point production and a whopping 65-point surge over their season before that. With continued improvement and climb in the standings, Torts and his crew proved a formidable NHL power. At the end of 2004, Tampa Bay, under Tortorella’s tutelage, had improved 78 points from where they were after their 2001 campaign until 2004’s conclusion. Tampa Bay Lightning, under Head Coach John Tortorella, would conclude their meteoric rise to NHL dominance when they defeated the New York Islanders 4-1, Montreal Canadians 4-0, Philadelphia Flyers 4-3, Calgary Flames 4-3 in the Cup Final, capturing Tampa Bay’s first Stanley Cup. Tortorella concluded his coaching career in Tampa Bay at the end of 2008 after Tampa Bay had failed to make the playoffs. On Feb 23, 2009, He would become Head Coach of Broadway’s New York Rangers as a midseason replacement for outgoing Tom Renney. Once again, Tort was brought to help inject some life into a struggling Rangers group. Coach Tortorella coached five seasons in New York, missing the playoffs only once before accepting a Head Coaching position with the Vancouver Canucks for which his tenure was short-lived, lasting only one season and being fired amid goaltending controversies with then starting All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo after being fired in Vancouver Tort exclaimed that he felt the Canucks roster had become stale. Currently, Torts is coaching in Columbus, and in Tort fashion, he has helped build his Blue Jackets into a playoff team. This season, Torts Blue Jackets have a first-round qualifying date with Auston Matthews and his Toronto Maple Leafs.
Achievements
Tortorella, or “Paper Italian” as he was nicknamed early in his career, served as an assistant coach for several NHL clubs, beginning with Buffalo Sabres, Phoenix Coyotes, and New York Rangers, not to mention a stint in AHL’s New Haven Nighthawks and Rochester Americans where he won a Calder Cup in 1996.
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- 2002-2003 Jack Adams Finalist
- 2004 Won Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year
- 2004 Won Stanley Cup
- Assistant coached Team U.S. National Men’s Hockey Team 2008-2009
- Coached at the 2008 IIHF World Championship, finishing sixth
- In-studio panelist on NHL and TSN
- 2011-2012 Jack Adams Finalist
- On March 19, 2016, the first-born coach to coach 1,000 games
- Coached Team USA for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey
- On January 10, 2019, they became the first U.S.-born coach to reach 600 wins and 19th overall
- first American-born coach to reach 300, 400, 500, and 600 wins plateau
Coach Tortorella is known for his fiery, confrontational style. During the first intermission of a game on January 18, 2014, Tort entered the Calgary Flames dressing room area and attempted to confront Calgary Flames bench boss Bob Hartley. He began berating him for a line brawl that ensued after the first period’s opening seconds, which he felt included an attempt to injure one of his star players. Players and coaches had to restrain him. Repercussions included a 15-day suspension without pay and a ban from contact with his team while under Suspension.
On March 2, 2014, Tort created more controversy when he started backup goaltender Eddie Lack in favor of All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo for the Heritage Classic. Luongo was traded back to his former team in Florida two days later.
On January 1, 2020, Tortorella was handed a $20,000 fine by NHL executives for comments he made about on-ice-officials on December 29, 2019, accusing officials of incompetence for how they mishandled the time clock in overtime, causing his Blue Jackets to lose 3-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Tortorella Quotes
“I deserved to get fired.” – Tortorella in February of 2015 on his dismissal as Canucks head coach.
“I focus on the dumbness of Hagelin… He played a hell of a game, but that’s all washed off from dumbness.” – Tortorella on former New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin following a game in which he took a too-many-men on the ice penalty.
“Because he stinks on the power play. He stinks. I don’t know why. I wish I could put him on the power play, but every time I put him on, he stinks.” – Tortorella in 2013 on familiar target Hagelin and why he refrained from using him with a man-advantage.
“It’s a cheap, dirty hit. I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars. I wonder what would happen. So I’m anxious to see what happens with the league with this. There is just no respect among players. None. It’s sickening.” – On Pittsburgh Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin following a 2012 game where Brooks Orpik delivered a knee-on-knee hit to Rangers forward Derek Stepan. Tortorella was fined $20,000 for his comments.
“I’m not Mike. You’re done. You are done. Go ahead, a–hole.” – Tortorella playfully responding to a reporter who mistakingly called him Mike during a Canucks locker clean-out press conference.
“I’m not sure if NBC got together with the refs or what to turn this into an overtime game. For two good refs, I thought the game was reffed horribly. I’m not sure what happened there.” – On the officiating at the 2012 Winter Classic game between the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. Tortorella was fined $30,000 for his comments.
“This is a Conn Smythe winner, a guy I grew up with that I love as a person and a player. But I have to make that decision regarding this, so kiss my ass if you want to write something different.” – Tortorella defending Brad Richards, who he made a healthy scratch in the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Bruins.
“Some of you [reporters] sit here and tell me I’m curt. I’m not going to have a staring contest. If you don’t ask me questions, I’ll leave.” – Tortorella’s response when he was asked why his answers were so short following a Rangers’ playoff loss to the Washington Capitals 2012.
“I thought that little [expletive] Benn Ferriero played well.” – On 5-foot-11 winger Benn Ferriero following a Canucks win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013-14.
“You were probably beat up at the bus stop most of the time.” – Tortorella to New York Post reporter Larry Brooks in 2010. Both men infamously traded barbs in press conferences during Tortorella’s five-year tenure with the Rangers.
John Tortorella, like him or hate him, you can never call him boring. He’s an emotional guy who says what he means and means what he says. His emotions are up and down like a toilet seat at a Polish wedding… but in a good way. Keep it up, Torts; you make pro hockey much more colorful.
Tortorella has just been named a finalist for the 2019-2020 Jack Adams Trophy once again; he is competing with Alain Vigneault (New York Rangers) and Bruce Cassidy (Boston Bruins).
Update April 10, 2021
When asked recently how he felt about what language viewers might pick up when microphoned.
Speculation is swirling about head Coach John Tortorella’s future In Columbus. Torts has openly questioned his team’s lack of a positive culture.
“We don’t have the culture we need here right now,” Tortorella said Tuesday. “We haven’t. I think that’s a big part of my job, and we’ve lost that. … Especially this year, I think it’s a locker room with a little bit of learning and growing as far as re-acquiring a culture (and) a standard of all things.”
The Jackets have gone 15-18-8 this season and are in sixth place in the Central Division. They haven’t won more than two consecutive games this year and are unlikely to miss the playoffs.
Update Two
Tort and his Columbus Blue Jackets made an impressive push in this year’s 2020 COVID-19 Stanley Cup playoffs. They eliminated a talented Toronto Maple Leaf team in five hard-fought contests. They advanced to play a powerful Tampa Bay Lightning squad in round one, a rematch of last year’s matchup in which Columbus surprised everyone, defeating Tampa Bay in four straight contests. Unfortunately, Columbus lost four games by one goal and two in overtime. This series could have been very different, but Columbus didn’t get any puck luck in crucial moments. What’s next for Tort and his Blue Jackets? Well, they have from now until December to figure that out.
Head coach John Tortorella was quoted in a press conference after their heartbreaking Game 5 loss in which his team surrendered a late two-goal lead, “It happens to all teams — you just don’t want to make mistakes,” Tortorella said of his team’s inability to hold the late lead in Game 5. “It just aggravates me even this morning that we lost it on a freebie. I wanted to see what it would be like if we won Game 5. I wanted to see how Game 6 would be and how players react — on both teams, quite honestly. I just wanted us to get there. We played well enough to get there but didn’t get it done, and that falls on us.”
Keep Your Stick On The Ice, Or Tort’s Will Bench You.
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