Blue Jackets have closed door meeting with Tortorella to ask him to be nicer to them

Birko19

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Aug 13, 2002
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I think that's true of a lot of great coaches. Bowman wasn't that well liked by his players either but they got results. The role of a coach is not to baby players and be a buddy to them, it's to get the most he can out of them and turn them into a more effective team by any means necessary.

Found a quote from Steve Shutt about Bowman that I like.
"Bowman is the kind of coach a player hates for 364 days a year before putting on his championship ring on Day 365"

Yes, Bowman was not liked either, but he got results because a side from being a great coach, he also had a lot of leaders and veterans that knew how to keep these problems in check.

I should also mention that while the coach may be disliked, it would be a good idea to have assistant coaches that are buddy buddy with the players, Detroit had that with Dave Lewis, and that sort of balanced things out.
 

hototogisu

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Jun 30, 2006
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Not sure why people think this means the players are soft. The 1994 New York Rangers did the same thing when they felt their coach's attitude was not generating positive results. It's not an issue of being millennials; they want everyone including the coach moving in the same direction.

If anything I think it points to a pretty healthy relationship between coach and players...good lines of communication, etc. They're saying "hey, this is what worked for us before when we were playing so well, let's get back to that".

I don't think that's so bad.
 

major major

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Feb 18, 2013
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This thread is some of the worst HF has to offer.

No one here knows the way the coach and his players interact. They're just spouting off based on next to zero information.
 

Bye Felicia

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Apr 26, 2016
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How dare the players be proactive and attempt to work with their coach to develop a way of communicating that works best for them and leads to team success.

It's almost like there isn't a boilerplate method of reinforcement that works best for every person. So revolutionary.
 

Paperbagofglory

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Nov 15, 2010
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This thread is some of the worst HF has to offer.

No one here knows the way the coach and his players interact. They're just spouting off based on next to zero information.

Same coach who always get fired has the same issues in the locker room. Little information yes, but logic and common sense can tell you what and who the problem is. And now this story comes out. How much info do you need, a tell all expose?
 

major major

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Feb 18, 2013
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Same coach who always get fired has the same issues in the locker room. Little information yes, but logic and common sense can tell you what and who the problem is. And now this story comes out. How much info do you need, a tell all expose?

Wow. Just wow.

Same coach who always gets fired? He's been fired 3 times on his way to 500 wins! Most coaches would take that ratio in a heartbeat!

Tortorella has changed significantly and gone in a calmer more reflective direction -there are reports out there of him inviting feedback and criticism from those around him. And there are legions of former players who will speak at length about how much they benefited from him. Many of them are close friends with Torts.

I think it's time for you to admit you don't know what you're talking about.
 

piteus

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Dec 20, 2015
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Y'all are blowing this thing way up for no reason.

If it was Babcock or Q, we'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Even Sutter had some credibility with the Kings blowup. However, this is Torts. There are legitimate reasons why people have concerns. When I think of Torts, "rational" is the last word I'd use to describe him. That does not mean he's a bad coach ... but he can be outright insane at times.

The question with Torts has always been WHEN he'd wear out his welcome. It's never been about his coaching abilities.
 

Darkhawk07

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Apr 11, 2011
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Yes, Bowman was not liked either, but he got results because a side from being a great coach, he also had a lot of leaders and veterans that knew how to keep these problems in check.

I should also mention that while the coach may be disliked, it would be a good idea to have assistant coaches that are buddy buddy with the players, Detroit had that with Dave Lewis, and that sort of balanced things out.

Good point. Don't know enough about Columbus to know if they have a player coach like that in one of their assistants.
 

major major

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Feb 18, 2013
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If it was Babcock or Q, we'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Even Sutter had some credibility with the Kings blowup. However, this is Torts. There are legitimate reasons why people have concerns. When I think of Torts, "rational" is the last word I'd use to describe him. That does not mean he's a bad coach ... but he can be outright insane at times.

The question with Torts has always been WHEN he'd wear out his welcome. It's never been about his coaching abilities.

Do you have an example from the last two years?
 

Nordique

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Aug 11, 2005
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If it was Babcock or Q, we'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Even Sutter had some credibility with the Kings blowup. However, this is Torts. There are legitimate reasons why people have concerns. When I think of Torts, "rational" is the last word I'd use to describe him. That does not mean he's a bad coach ... but he can be outright insane at times.

The question with Torts has always been WHEN he'd wear out his welcome. It's never been about his coaching abilities.

I understand that viewpoint. His reputation will always bring these speculations.

Personally, I don't give a ****. Quiet locker rooms and bad teams are a thing of the past. The CBJ are a tough out, they are a playoff opponent other teams want to avoid, and they are extremely young, so everyone may as well get used to it.

There are a lot of Penguins fans in Columbus. Everyone I know is pulling for the Rangers to pass us, looking ahead to round 1. I'll take that as a compliment. Division 2nd, 3rd, or WC1, I don't care where we seed. This team will have a chip on its shoulder and another gear come the 2nd season. If there was anyway we could get the Caps in round 1, I'd love it.
 

Cherpak

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Jan 1, 2014
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Y'all are blowing this thing way up for no reason.

Agreed. Until he pulls a Bobby Knight and I seriously doubt that would ever occur this is a non issue. So he is a gruff coach. He isn't the first and he won't be the last. People need to have thicker skin.
 

Butchered

I'm with Kuch
Apr 30, 2004
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He has experience no doubt, but not quite the leader. If you look back to when Torts won the cup with TB, he had Dave Andreychuk, you need someone with that kind of experience.

Really agree with this. He also had Tim Taylor on that squad. Two really veteran guys that could assist with getting the buy in.
 

JackSlater

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Apr 27, 2010
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Maybe Millennials discovered that people with mental health issues in positions of power should not be allowed to run around and say what they want without consequence and treat people like garbage in 2017?

Do you think Vince Lombardi would have survived this day and age? Do you think Mike Keenan grabbing a teenager(Roenick) by the collar and telling him not to do whatever he just did again is helpful?

Verbal and physical abuse is no longer allowed in the workplace you know? It doesn't mean people are soft, it means people have more self respect and stand up for themselves.

Pretty bad example, given that Roenick talks about how good Keenan was for him. It may be shocking to hear, but some people actually need to hear things they don't want to hear, and that go against their dainty feelings, in order to improve.

As for this example, there is nothing to really discuss. We don't know what Tortorella actually did to prompt the meeting, or what was said inside it. Perhaps he goes overboard and the players were perfectly right to try to work on the situation. Perhaps Tortorella was giving the players what they need, as opposed to what they want, and they are overreacting. Most likely it's a mix of both/ Unless we know facts we can't know.

The only thing that is obvious is that whoever leaked the information shouldn't have.
 

sandysan

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Dec 7, 2011
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Do you have an example from the last two years?

publically calling out one of his best forwards in a short tournament ( paccioretty) when its known he's kind of a sulker.

oh and the roster decisions for team usa.

Just because he doesnt perpetually swear at larry brooks anymore doesnt mean he's changed.. its easy to be well liked when things are rolling, when things go south is when the warts are exposed.

everyone knows he has a short shelf life, not many predicited bumps in the road this early from a team that is doing better than well.

we will see how it goes. if history is any indication, its gonna be fun to watch.
 

CrashBartley

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Nov 19, 2014
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Agreed. Until he pulls a Bobby Knight and I seriously doubt that would ever occur this is a non issue. So he is a gruff coach. He isn't the first and he won't be the last. People need to have thicker skin.
He already has pulled a Bobby Knight. Don't you remember the Vancouver/Calgary fiasco?
As someone else stated, it's not if, it's when he loses the room.
 

KingDeathMetal

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Jun 7, 2015
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Torts is actually a really good, compassionate guy. But as everyone has seen, he is incredibly emotional and the act wears thin on players after a while.

I feel like Mike Sullivan's opening statement in his interview with the Pens was something like, "I've got all the positives of John Tortorella, but I'm not a complete psycho. So there's that."
 

Cherpak

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Jan 1, 2014
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He already has pulled a Bobby Knight. Don't you remember the Vancouver/Calgary fiasco?
As someone else stated, it's not if, it's when he loses the room.

He had to be restrained after trying to confront Hartley in the locker room but I don't remember ever hearing him actually assaulting anyone.

Bobby Knight more than once has physically assaulted a player to include choking. That is what I was referring to.
 

sandysan

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Dec 7, 2011
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He had to be restrained after trying to confront Hartley in the locker room but I don't remember ever hearing him actually assaulting anyone.

Bobby Knight more than once has physically assaulted a player to include choking. That is what I was referring to.

bobby knight could do that because they were kids and he was a legendary coach. if torts or any other coach ( there are some exceptions, like say say dough weight) the ever tried to put his hands on a nhl player, the PA would likely get involved and no matter who the player is, my guess it ends poorly for them.

then again what do I know, oakley's MSG ban was lifted today.
 

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