Axel Sandy Pelikan
Sugar-free Rock Star
- May 11, 2023
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A coach telling players to play a certain style wherein some players do not prefer that style is far from unique to Tortorella. He's not really different from most coaches in that respect (glances towards Lalonde). And let's not exaggerate by describing his philosophy as simply deploying 4 checking lines lol.
The narrative that most players don't like Torts is generally driven by a media that has an axe to grind with him because he has no patience for them and their egos can't handle it. And it's not true.
Tortorella: In the Words of His Players - The Hockey Writers Latest News, Analysis & More
Torts is hard but fair. Many players over the years have described him as exactly that. And hockey players, by their nature as high-level athletes, generally respond favorably to that. Not every player is going to love him of course, but most buy-in. Again, within the pro hockey world, you will find the words that praise Torts amongst players and coaches far outweigh any actual criticism.
Mostly, I just think a bit of the red ass coach is something helpful when you've got a winning team and guys who think they know better who need a jackass to whack their backsides. Like Scotty for the 90s. He had all of the cache to bench/demote Fedorov, actually threaten trading Yzerman and it could have legs, etc. Or even Babs with Tatar. Tatar came out after one of his 27 goal seasons and said "Babs is a red ass, but I'm a better hockey player because of him". While Babs took that too far, there is a place in the league for tough coaches.
However, I don't believe that place is on a roster like Detroit's with a bunch of plugs, a couple very good young players, and several more even younger players on the horizon. They need a mentor-type coach not a guy that would ride them like a rented mule and have his message be burnt out in a couple years. For the redass coach to make a difference you either have to have a completely unruly team that needs to get their asses kicked and put in line OR you need a bunch of guys on the precipice of greatness that need someone to hold them accountable.
Torts is basically all gas, no brakes, on riding players.