Why is Tortorella not popular amongst fans?

[Hockeyholic]

Because he says what is on his mind and people don't like the truth.

 

[PaulD]

You should look into the teams that Torts’ CBJ teams lost to in the playoffs and how far they ended up going. Also pretty ridiculous to downplay that 1 series they did win.

Not to mention both the quality of team and his “system” changed quite drastically at times over his time coaching the CBJ, when the team was able to execute in different ways.

He wasn’t a perfect coach in Columbus, and I did question his lineup decision's more than a few times, but, he did more than what should have been expected from him coaching those teams and the fact they were essentially playoff “locks” and made the playoffs every single year they actually should have, not to mention what the team has looked like after he left, says more than enough.

Impressed the heck out everyone when his Jackets took out the Bolts four straight......Priceless watching here in Leaf Nation when his same roster eliminated the leafs in the first round the next season.
Thanks Torts !

 

[abo9]

Sure but he also wears out his welcome really fast.

When he came to the Canucks I gave him the benefit of doubt, mainly after hearing him on an interview saying he was driving cross country to come here with his rescue dogs, but his time in Vancouver was too much about him.

Vancouver is the exception.

5 uears with the Rangers before Vancouver
6 years with Columbus after vancouver

?? With philadelphia.

 

[ricky0034]

I like him

he's a hardass but he also doesn't seem like he's a dick to his players just for the sake of it like a Babcock

plus he's entertaining with the media

 

[thebus88]

Impressed the heck out everyone when his Jackets took out the Bolts four straight......Priceless watching here in Leaf Nation when his same roster eliminated the leafs in the first round the next season.
Thanks Torts !

Ahh, add me to all the Korpisalo haters with forgetting about that.

Of course that was a “play in” round so it can be dismissed when talking Torts’ playoff success.

 

[PaulD]

Ahh, add me to all the Korpisalo haters with forgetting about that.

Of course that was a “play in” round so it can be dismissed when talking Torts’ playoff success.

But not the Leafs annual play off flop ..... no dismissing that where I live. ha!

Plus, Coopers two Cups - won during Covid (one in the bubble) I dont think diminish his "play off success" record. So Torts adds a bit to his coaching cred for that upset.

 

[Salsa Shark]

Because getting the most out of an underwhelming roster is considered bad by a lot of "fans"

 

[HugginThePost]

I think you can split his popularity into two camps.

For simplicity, the young and the old.

I'm old, and I love the guy. He's the kind of coach I had coming up. When you were used to being yelled at for doing it wrong. When you were held accountable.

The young camp, well, they don't really like that treatment.

Yes, this is oversimplified, but I think most intelligent folk can see the premise.

Who doesn't think the Oilers would be better off with Tort's vs Woody?

We were told that Darryl was just way too mean of a coach for the Flames! He's just awful!! Hubby and Kardi just can't flourish under such cruel treatment. Now look at them, an even worse version of themselves. But hey, they have a really nice coach! He understands them. They can talk to him about all their problems.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Sure but he also wears out his welcome really fast.

That can say as much about others as it does him.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

 

[Rich Nixon]

It's not that he's not popular, polarizing is a better word.

Most fans that dislike him are either fans from rival teams, fans of that one team he specifically called out for being pampered by the league or people who just have a dislike for people who tend to speak their mind.

Regardless of his coaching ability, I will always like Torts for staying true to himself, being a genuinely caring human being and for just being a no nonsense type of coach.

On a personal note , he reminds me of one of my old coaches a lot who on the surface may have been abrasive but once you dug deeper you'd find that there was always purpose behind everything he did and said.

I suppose some don't have the patience for that
type of person and want immediate gratification.

I think he's probably a pretty swell dude. His work with animals is terrific and plenty of players form close bonds with him.

The reason I and a large contingent of Flyers fans don't like him isn't that he's GRUFF and TUFF. It's that his ego leads him to doing things that are either counterintuitive to what he says or what's best for his organization.

Last year, I want to say in March, the Flyers visited Calgary. Season was well-past over for them. Sanheim, former Hitman, had a ton of friends and family in attendance. Torts decides that is the one game of the season Sanheim deserved a healthy scratch.

Is he allowed to do that? Yeah. Does it send a message? Maybe. Does he do it often? Yeah, he scratched Frost in front of his family in Toronto earlier that year, and has apparently done it with numerous players elsewhere.

It wasn't if Sanheim SUDDENLY looked mediocre the week before, he'd struggled all year. So Torts waited for the game the guy had circled on the calendar and took that away from him. On a rebuilding team, in a lost season, with a guy who they were trying to trade before he his new 8-year (!) extension kicked in.

If the team was in the hunt for something other than a lottery pick, perhaps that pointed pettiness might be a useful motivator. On a team that needs to extract value wherever it can, pissing off players and diminishing their value while reducing the franchise's trade leverage is a dumb thing to do.

He's doing his song and dance now with Morgan Frost. Morgan Frost is a very good hockey player. He led the team in even strength scoring last season, good skill, decent two-way game. He's been scratched since the 2nd game of the season because, to Torts, he hasn't EARNED IT (that whole 19-goal, 46-point season aside), even though they have several players, both veteran and rookie, right now playing poorly.

Frost could be a good player for the team, they drafted him and spent plenty of time on him. He also could be a decent trade bait—if they really don't want him, let him at least play for the pro scouts while you work on a deal. But Torts doesn't like him, so he's just kind of scuttling both the relationship and the trade value while blabbing to a microphone about MERITOCRACY.

 

[mr figgles]

Nothing funnier than seeing the geezers here call younger people entitled and spoiled… by coming to the defense of a rich and entitled 65-year-old manbaby.

 

[syz]

Torts is just another NHL old boy, coasting off of a cup he won 2 decades ago. Hasn't accomplished anything elsewhere since, other than some clippable post-game interviews.

Him, Babcock, and Sutter are the trifecta of irrelevant old dudes who people still like to talk about way too much. Believe they've won a grand total of 0 playoff rounds combined since Sutter's last cup in LA. But as always in the NHL, if you win once you get to be around forever.

 

[Strangle]

People hate retreads, even when they're great. Torts has a Cup and continued success but people want new coaches who almost always flame out. Quinn with the Rangers, Woodcroft with the Oilers etc. I heard the same as a Panthers fan when they hired Maurice, so many "why would you hire that dinosaur" posts. Maybe because he's good at his job? Fans act like 100% of GMs are idiots when it's closer to 15%.

And that 15% is always whoever is the GM of the Maple Leafs

 

[Strangle]

Why is it that coaches nowadays that enforce discipline with their players and/or don't suck up to the media are considered bad?

I think it’s probably because of some vague concept of ‘power dynamics’ and peoples aversion to anyone with perceived ‘power’.

A lot of people would call someone in a position of power raising their voice at someone they have authority over as unacceptable.

However, having multiple players yelling at the coach would be deemed as ‘acceptable’ to these types of people, because the players don’t have ‘the power’.

It probably also ties into the rise in popularity online of communism too

 

[hidek91]

Because he comes off as a self righteous asshole and his teams have at best gotten to the ECF since 2004?

Well, if you use the same criteria to every other coach (choosing their last cup as a cut-off date) then you won't find many good coaches. Do you realize that only 6.25% (and it was 6.66% before VGK expansion) make SCF? Doesn't mean that teams which don't make it are complete and utter failures.

 

[Strangle]

I have a huge problem with anyone yelling at anybody, especially when they have any form of authority.

Tortorella seems to think yelling = motivating. I disagree.

Time to move on from the dinosaurs.

This is what I meant about some peoples issues with ‘power’.

Seb, are you also a socialist/hate capitalism? Just asking for my anecdotal hypothesis.

 

[egelband]

Absolutely not this.

He was still squeezing blood from a stone in Columbus in year 5. Probably his most convincing year of coaching.

Yes in some instances the results diminish, but your average coach is already fired by that point, and Torts is still there winning more games than he should. So why is it that people keep bringing up "shelf life" in regards to Torts?

Yep. Also all coaches, even the best, have a shelf life. It's a fact of all pro sport but especially NHL hockey.

 

[egelband]

Would you like a toxic boss? I wouldn't.

Has there been anything reported indicating he's toxic? Demanding is not necessarily toxic. I think it's important to clarify he's not Babcock or Hartley. He's most certainly stubborn and rigorous but I am not heard he's toxic.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

I’ve got nothing against Torts.
Love his pressers. Made me laugh on multiple occasions. Speaks the truth

He’s never been a coach of the team I root for tho

 

[Crede777]

Has there been anything reported indicating he's toxic? Demanding is not necessarily toxic. I think it's important to clarify he's not Babcock or Hartley. He's most certainly stubborn and rigorous but I am not heard he's toxic.

Aaron Portzline did some digging and put together a great Athletic article in 2019 after the Babcock stuff came out.

John Tortorella, his volatile, confrontational style, and the reckoning of coaches across hockey

It's been a tumultuous time for some of the NHL's notorious old-school coaches.

theathletic.com

Here's basically the answer:

Tortorella declined to be interviewed for this story, but The Athletic contacted several players who played for him during NHL stops with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and the Blue Jackets.

Some were willing to talk on the record, and others spoke off the record to provide background, but they all delivered essentially the same message:

Tortorella has chastised players in the middle of the dressing room or even on the bench during games, and there were times the confrontations were uncomfortable. They left the rink angry with him on occasion, and they often disagreed with his coaching decisions and/or his approach.

But they also were emphatic: They never witnessed Tortorella crossing the line to being verbally or physically abusive.

 

[Nfumass]

Nothing funnier than seeing the geezers here call younger people entitled and spoiled… by coming to the defense of a rich and entitled 65-year-old manbaby.

Nothing funnier then seeing the young soft little snowflakes hating a coach because he yells and is a big meany

 

[Nineteen67]

Loves dogs, loves hockey, hates the lazy media, what’s not to lIke?

And the fans probably do like him but the media reports differently.

 

[Zarao71]

The whole Torts shelf life thing is wildly over blown. 6 1/2 years in Tampa. 4 and change in NY. 6 years in Columbus. Vancouver is an outlier and he still had a winning record. His presence in Philly has them playing way above their weight class. Seems that is MO.
Yes, guys who coast are gonna be held accountable, no matter the name on the sweater. If they don't like it they can GTFO. From all accounts Torts is an approachable good dude who keeps it real. As a Ranger fan since the late 70's he is easily the best coach the team has had.

 

[ponder719]

He's a thin-skinned, self-important martinet who hasn't gotten to the promised land since the Bush Administration and is publicly on record as refusing to do several important elements of his job, including fully and openly communicating with all of his players, and is one of the very few coaches whose retention was a requirement in the hiring of his immediate supervisor and their immediate supervisor, so he continues to wield power well beyond the appropriate scope of his job.