Speculation: Need a New Coach: John Tortorella

[ottomaddox]

Hard NO on Torts. I prefer Gallant or Boudreau

I like this.

Better choices for sure.

 

[saffronleaf]

You assume Matthews cares about winning at all.

If he cared about winning, he'd go back to the no hitting Swiss league -- the only pro league where he might be able to scrape together a title.

 

[Superstar]

He's the guy who can get a bad team to tread water with a lineup of vet grinders but he's not one that you bring in to have sustained success.

If the #1 motivator for getting a coach is that he's going to be harder on players, then he's already a bad choice. Because there of plenty of guys who fall under that category but can also adapt their systems and tactics when needed.

Paired with the fact he mentally can't deal with media pressure (imagine if tried walking out on a press conference in Toronto lol) signals to me he'd be a pretty lousy fit with the team

It would be priceless to see the potential kinds of dialogue he could have with someone like Steve Simmons, lol...

 

[jgs]

Torts is an open declaration of war on your team.

Really. That is why the majority of the Blue Jacket players respected him and praised him for elevating their game. Yes there were few who didn't like him but that is normal with all coaches. There will always be a few that don't like the coach. I bet if ask Foligno about Torts he will tell you he likes Torts and respects him.

 

[Gabriel426]

I would like Torts just for the entertainment value.
Honestly, I think these Leafs need a tough coach but they might tune him out like they did with Babs, although Babs is an a hole.
I think this team needs a coach who the players respect and listen to.
They need someone who actually just won the Cup or at the very least someone who won the Cup while they are in the league.

 

[Captain14]

I’m of the opinion to wait on hiring a coach until MLSE dumps Shanahan.
Let the new president bring in their GM and coach.
One more failed season should do it.

 

[Captain14]

Really. That is why the majority of the Blue Jacket players respected him and praised him for elevating their game. Yes there were few who didn't like him but that is normal with all coaches. There will always be a few that don't like the coach. I bet if ask Foligno about Torts he will tell you he likes Torts and respects him.

Our entitled “superstars” couldn’t handle Babcock’s tough love, how would they respond to Tort’s?
The great thing about Tort’s would be watching him handle the Toronto sports media!!
That would be worth it in my book!

 

[deprw]

Our entitled “superstars” couldn’t handle Babcock’s tough love, how would they respond to Tort’s?
The great thing about Tort’s would be watching him handle the Toronto sports media!!
That would be worth it in my book!

It wasn't the tough love, it was mind games and stubborn gigantic ass. He was also toxic.

Torts would be gigantic mistake for this roster. We need good tactician, he can be hard ass, but have to know those Xs and Os.

 

[LeafGrief]

Idk, Matthews and Tavares know that they're more important than the coach. Marner is too and knows it. Torts getting up in Matthews' face about something and Matthews would just laugh him out of the room. And I'm not even saying that to be hard on Matthews, I'm saying it because there's a pecking order and we have players who are above the coach in the pecking order. Same with guys like McDavid. Unless it's literally Scotty Bowman in your face telling you that you're a gutless punk, you know that you're worth more to the GM than this punk coach who's trying to play hard ass and put you in your place. Torts has won a single playoff series since 2013. It's more than they've won, sure, but nobody outside of this forum actually cares about that. He's not going to get buy in by coming in and kicking trash cans and benching Marner for 30 minutes in the 2nd game of the season. They'd rightly tune him out the instant he tried it.

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if these guys need a special horse whisperer coach to get them going then it's easier to just trade the players. If Marner's uncoachable, trade him. If Matthews is uncoachable just fold the franchise because I'm quitting and not coming back if he's traded, but you get the point. These guys don't need a disciplinarian to scream in their face, least of all a guy who has no credibility and hasn't won shit in a decade. If Keefe isn't the guy then they need someone with real credibility to come in and tell them what's what about winning hockey. Q, Gallant, or even Sullivan would be ideal because they've got the cup rings (or Vegas experience for Gallant) to turn up and force our guys to listen. Even if Sullivan isn't the most beloved coach right now, if he knows how to get his stars to perform their ways to cups then that's good enough.

 

[Morbo]

what we need is new assistant coaches.

as a bonus, this is something that could realistically happen this offseason. unlike, for example, Keefe being fired.

 

[cannucky]

A lot of non hockey playing experts here hating on Torts but the whole Blue Jacket organization knew this was his last year there before the season started so why do you experts think all these players are leaving ? The second Mathews smirked at him he would be bag skating daily just to sit on the bench all game every game until he figures it out , the problem is the players are running the team because the GM has allowed it and his coach allows it . Time for a change of culture new Coach , new GM and then how about Mathews for Eichel straight up and we waive or LTIR Tavares due to his mushy brain ? Anybody else who thinks they're bigger than the crest can suffer the same fate , look at the teams of grinders in the second round ,then look at the superstar teams that are already on the golf course and figure it out for yourselves .

 

[Maple Leaf]

Need new playas

 

[rocketman588]

Really. That is why the majority of the Blue Jacket players respected him and praised him for elevating their game. Yes there were few who didn't like him but that is normal with all coaches. There will always be a few that don't like the coach. I bet if ask Foligno about Torts he will tell you he likes Torts and respects him.

Maybe these guys need an open declaration of war?


They're millionaires feasting on their GM and Oranges at half time head coach

 

[jgs]

A lot of non hockey playing experts here hating on Torts but the whole Blue Jacket organization knew this was his last year there before the season started so why do you experts think all these players are leaving ? The second Mathews smirked at him he would be bag skating daily just to sit on the bench all game every game until he figures it out , the problem is the players are running the team because the GM has allowed it and his coach allows it . Time for a change of culture new Coach , new GM and then how about Mathews for Eichel straight up and we waive or LTIR Tavares due to his mushy brain ? Anybody else who thinks they're bigger than the crest can suffer the same fate , look at the teams of grinders in the second round ,then look at the superstar teams that are already on the golf course and figure it out for yourselves .

They don't need to trade the core players. Management would just have to make it known to this core that he hired the coach and is fully behind the coach and it his job to get you the players to play at the level needed to win and that they better listen and obey or the players will be traded. It is that simple. If Mathews and Marner don't like it trade them for equal value. The players need to understand they get paid to play the game. The coach's job is to estblish the system and get the players to execute the system. Players answer to the coach, coach answers to GM and GM answers to President and President to owners. That is the pecking order.

 

[Cpt Maple Leaf]

The fixating on a new coach should be driven by more than just a fixation on punishing/being tough with players.

The fact is Torts team records and playoff performances the past few years are pretty mediocre. He's also shown an inability to deal with media pressure (recall him just recently storming out of a press conference that had just the relatively small Columbus media crew as part of it). He seems like a poor fit for the Leafs. And unless the team is going to go through a near 80% roster turnover (and that's not happening) the team isn't built for his tactical systems anyways

There are other tough couches out there besides him that could be available of they want to make a change

This. All the crazy talk with Torts... lol

 

[Cpt Maple Leaf]

should make every player earn some of their contract thru playoffs. weird i know but somehow have it tied to their playoff performance, bonuses for good stats, take money away for bad stats- i know both the nhl and nhlpa would never do it. lol

Just posted this in another forum, no way the players go for this as it ties their performance to others, but terrific idea.

 

[danron1376]

i don't know about Torts but a coaching change is the minimum thing we have to do given what happened the last 2 playoffs with keefe being outcoached 2 seasons in a row.

 

[Seras]

They played against a hot goalie, outplayed the other team most of the time, lost one of their best players in the first game, took the series to 7 games and lost.

They will hopefully not blow the team up, keep the coach that got them to first in the division, keep the players that got them there and hopefully do better next year.

I don't get this need for round 2 and so on, either you win the cup or you don't, and they didn't, so you try again next year.

Making changes isn't the answer imo.

Love the out coached reasoning though, very amusing

 

[Gabriel426]

They didn’t take the series to Game 7, they couldn’t win the Series in Game5-7. They were leading the Series 3-1.
Nobody is happy if they make it to round 2, it was always Conf Finals at the absolute minimum.
Keefe was not really out coaches, he just didn’t really coach esp in the PP for the past two months.
The team got a cultural problem. The core(not just the big four but also Shanny, Dubas and other MGT)always find a reason for not doing well. Whether it is coaching, opposing insane goaltending, depth scoring, grit, refs, defence, even apparently the fans, but never the Big Four for not being the best players on the Ice.

 

[tokyoite]

he wont succeed. cause he failed in vancouver.

 

[cannucky]

he wont succeed. cause he failed in vancouver.

He failed in Vancouver for the same reason Keefe is failing here , management gave the team to the players and in that case ownership actually met with players behind his back .

 

[cannucky]

They don't need to trade the core players. Management would just have to make it known to this core that he hired the coach and is fully behind the coach and it his job to get you the players to play at the level needed to win and that they better listen and obey or the players will be traded. It is that simple. If Mathews and Marner don't like it trade them for equal value. The players need to understand they get paid to play the game. The coach's job is to estblish the system and get the players to execute the system. Players answer to the coach, coach answers to GM and GM answers to President and President to owners. That is the pecking order.

While I agree with most of what your saying this group has gone rogue and the way you reign in a pack of rogue dogs is to eliminate the alpha and replace him with yourself so either JT or Mathews has to go and JT isn't realistically going anywhere so that leaves Mathews , while I have suggested swapping him for Eichel straight up to make an even bigger point in the room the real deal is probably with Arizona who we can fleece for a solid young Center and a young top 4 D plus picks because they need the hype of a hometown hero to solidify their bank account .

 

[egd27]

what we need is new assistant coaches.

as a bonus, this is something that could realistically happen this offseason. unlike, for example, Keefe being fired.

Again? We've been blaming (and changing) the assistant coaches for years now.

 

[Trapper]

You assume Matthews cares about winning at all.

I believe both Matthews and Marner want to win. I mean who doesn’t to grab more fame and be told you’re great.

Trouble is, it’s like a video game. Why beat the game on hardcore or insanity when you can just play it on casual.

They want to win but will never turn up the difficulty to do it. And they will keep playing the same way they do in the regular season.

 

[TheBigFour]

Lol no