Why is Tortorella not popular amongst fans?

[CanadienShark]

I'm talking about I have doubts when people feel the need to go out of their way to say someone is a good/better human. If they were a good human, it would never have been in doubt in the first place.

Many people don't know anything about Torts and equate his abrasive demeanor towards the media with being a bad person. There's more layers to the guy than that. Calling somebody a good person isn't a bad thing, like you seem to think.

 

[lawrence]

can't speak for all.

but apparently during his time as a Canuck, he randomly takes out his anger on innocent players, for example screaming at David Booth for being late, when he was not late. He did things to really piss fans off such as benching Luongo for one bad game, so he starts Eddie Lack whois just a back up, so essentially forced a Luongo trade, he also never ran did anything with the power play. Also the way he plays, he did it diliberally to harm the Sedins, such as making them play a grinding style rather than allowing them to play their way which is effective as hell. Essentialy it felt like he coached to get his ass fired on purpose just so he can collect a pay check while being "fired" It felt like he wanted to sabotage the relation with Luongo and the Sedins.

thats just me.

He also didn't even bother getting a place here. He had a place at point roberts, and sometimes he will just stay over at a office at rogers Arena if he was too lazy to get back to Point roberts. I'm not f in kidding. So maybe he didn't like Canada to begin with? Which is also fine, but than don't except the job offer if he was going to coach half assed.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

He’s a f***ing loser. 20 years since he won a cup, and since? Less than dick. The guys his age fill these threads with their old salty tears crying about the yutes. Grow a pair. He’s an asshole. Not a good one either. Some coaches are tough, but fair, and actually good at coaching. Jorts is just a lazy old asshole. Assholes are not tough. They are just assholes.

The irony of this comment. You look like a very respectable individual yourself.

 

[norrisnick]

Many people don't know anything about Torts and equate his abrasive demeanor towards the media with being a bad person. There's more layers to the guy than that. Calling somebody a good person isn't a bad thing, like you seem to think.

You are who you present yourself to be. There is no "acting like a jackass in certain situations", you're just a jackass.

 

[CanadienShark]

You are who you present yourself to be. There is no "acting like a jackass in certain situations", you're just a jackass.

This is an incredibly bad take.

 

[Daishi]

soft people think he's a big meanypants because he yells at players and can be hot in postgame pressers that are 5 mins after he leaves the bench. the single shared brain of social media decided he's a bad man despite the mountain of actual evidence to the extreme contrary as a person, and pretty impressive resume in results on the ice overall.

Yeah I do like and respect him both as a coach of men and as a person.

 

[Don Nachbaur 26]

He’s a f***ing loser. 20 years since he won a cup, and since? Less than dick. The guys his age fill these threads with their old salty tears crying about the yutes. Grow a pair. He’s an asshole. Not a good one either. Some coaches are tough, but fair, and actually good at coaching. Jorts is just a lazy old asshole. Assholes are not tough. They are just assholes.

You should go hang out in the echo chamber on the Flyers board. Some of them will cream their pants with what you just wrote.

 

[Cats2TheCup]

I’ve always been a big fan.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Michkov a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game.

Genius coach. Impeccable results in a capped league. So good at developing talent.

I don't hate Torts...that would require him representing a threat.

Yes, I'm a Penguins fan talking shit in 2024, that's how little I respect a blowhard who has done nothing but lead teams I hate to mediocrity over the past couple decades. Here's hoping he 'leads' Philadelphia for a long, long time. Just stay the f*** away from the national team.

 

[Hint1k]

just by reading posts on this board, most modern, younger hockey "fans" are as soft as green baby shit, and can't handle someone having an attitude or a personality, or, heaven forbid, might be a bit mean.

Just by reading posts on this board, most outdated, old hockey "fans" are not capable to read the scientific studies on leadership styles, just to find out that the authoritarian leadership is the worst leadership style for a team on rebuild that may take years. It works well only short term - at most a year or so.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Just by reading posts on this board, most outdated, old hockey "fans" are not capable to read the scientific studies on leadership styles, just to find out that the authoritarian leadership is the worst leadership style for a team on rebuild that may take years. It works well only short term - at most a year or so.

Good news for authoritarian coaches, we have now reached the point where the majority of journal-published studies can no longer be replicated, so there's absolutely no reason to believe that this is the case.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

When I broke into my field (video game artist) back in 2000, my Leads and directors pointed to me what was wrong.

'Eyes are too wide by 2mm'


Now if I said any of that to kids out of Art School I will risk having a talk with HR about my abusive brand of officeplace decorum.

I Now have to word feedback like this:

"I deeply apologize for bringing this up, because your work is so incredible, but we as a committee feel the character might align with a more unified vision of the direction we would like to bring the project, if you would please consider moving the eyes out 2mm to match the reference. It looks so incredible as it is, and we understand the hard work and dedication you poured into this, and this is not an indictment of any kind on your abilities, but we feel this might simply fit in with the direction we are going. Do you agree with this? Let us know your thoughts, and we can maybe have a meeting to discuss. We want your input regarding a minor change regarding your absolutely incredible work you've done".

Torts is the perfect coach for a GenX like me, but I see his direct approach rubbing younger players the wrong way.

 

[ORRFForever]

He reminds everyone of an a-hole boss they once had.

 

[Lucas Hood]

He's a shrill, petty, narcissist boomer whose biggest difference from Babcock is that he's better at hiding it (I called Babcock out for being a petty insecure power dynamics obsessed POS like 15 years ago). His entire personality and coaching style is defined by cope from never being good enough to make the NHL himself. There are many great coaches who never made the NHL or barely made it as role players who don't carry a massive chip on their shoulder the rest of their life and bash everyone around them with it. Because he sucks up to certain people and overdoes it with performative empathy like Babcock did for a long time he gets away with it.

Some people fetishize him because he reminds them of their grandpa who used to lovingly whip them with his belt while chewing tobacco and musing about how they should've dumped more napalm on 'nam. Others don't see anything wrong with chronically being a "jackass in certain situations" because it helps them justify and rationalize their own behavior in life. Many see his actions against others as justified for players being lazy, reporters being stupid, etc. while ignoring that he had completely and utterly mailed it in as coach for most of his career full of lazy and stupid decisions, something which was extremely apparent during his time in Vancouver where he made the biting heads off of bats guy look like a capable NHL coach in comparison. Being the diligent hard worker that he himself is he has never bothered to learn personnel management or tactics in his 30 year coaching career and relies on the one trick of stepping on the gas right out of the gate while other teams are still getting into the swing of things and having his rosters look like they are outperforming before they inevitably collapse in the second half of the season. You know, when it turns out doing stuff like needlessly scratching Morgan Frost so Sean Couturier can play 25 minutes a game coming off of almost two years without hockey due to back surgeries is not the pinnacle of brilliant coaching everyone thought it was.

He has 20 years of mediocre results where every time he gets a mediocre roster to barely outperform on the way to still not winning anything he gets lionized while every time he does stuff like trying to turn the Sedins into the Sutters it quickly gets forgotten and swept under the rug. Every organization he has coached since the two line pass was made illegal has gone up in flames and had to rebuild after he left, except New York who had a finals run with Alain Vigneault before going up in flames and having to rebuild. Since Alain f***ing Vigneault was a genius at coaching hockey compared to Torts. As thrilled as I am that we were fortunate enough to have him coach our division rivals for most of the last 20 years, it is bittersweet watching him ruin Michkov, who I really wanted us to get and who imo has the potential to be a Kucherov tier player in this league.

 

[WarriorofTime]

When I broke into my field (video game artist) back in 2000, my Leads and directors pointed to me what was wrong.

'Eyes are too wide by 2mm'


Now if I said any of that to kids out of Art School I will risk having a talk with HR about my abusive brand of officeplace decorum.
.....

Torts is the perfect coach for a GenX like me, but I see his direct approach rubbing younger players the wrong way.

Calling out toxic work bosses is not the same as saying no criticism or bluntness is ever permissible. It sucks when workplace harassers are able to justify their actions by pretending the former and the latter are the same thing.

 

[HaNotsri]

Just by reading posts on this board, most outdated, old hockey "fans" are not capable to read the scientific studies on leadership styles, just to find out that the authoritarian leadership is the worst leadership style for a team on rebuild that may take years. It works well only short term - at most a year or so.

Laissez faire is more damaging but I agree with your point. When it comes to authoritarian leadership I think a lot of people fail to see the side effects: cheating, quitting, becoming extremely risk averse to avoid blame and essentially creating an environment suitable for mediocre a**kissers and backstabbers.

A lot of the things that people seem to cherish when it comes to leaders in hockey is the most basic stuff like enforcing rules and giving clear directions. These are things all good leaders do but then they have 1000 other tools on top of those basic skills.

 

[jkrdevil]

Torts is a good coach. The Flyers would have made the playoffs had their goalie not gotten arrested for rape.

 

[SirKillalot]

Torts is a good coach. The Flyers would have made the playoffs had their goalie not gotten arrested for rape.

"Making the playoffs" isn't really a good benchmark to me. Half the league "makes the playoffs".
Only one time from what I remember since Tampa was his team favorite in a playoff matchup and that was with the Rangers. So to me he has a terrible playing style where its all about grinding and dump & chase. "Work hard".

 

[jkrdevil]

"Making the playoffs" isn't really a good benchmark to me. Half the league "makes the playoffs".
Only one time from what I remember since Tampa was his team favorite in a playoff matchup and that was with the Rangers. So to me he has a terrible playing style where its all about grinding and dump & chase. "Work hard".

I get that, but you have to judge by what he was working with a. A team most picked to be last playing genuinely good hockey. Things fell apart when Hart got arrested and the front office sold players at the deadline (which was the right move for the organization).

He’s a hard ass and probably does have a short lifespan (really every coach does), but he gets the most out of his teams. The running off players stuff is overblown. Who has he run off with the exception of PLD who has been run off of two other teams?

 

[Crosby2010]

I like him. I wish there was more of him out there. The NHL needs that colour.

 

[SirKillalot]

He’s a hard ass and probably does have a short lifespan (really every coach does), but he gets the most out of his teams.

I would say he is not. He gets the most out of his abilities. He is just not good enough to develop and play a style where they are more of a force. At some point you have to go from the underdog to being the contender team or strong outsider, not just lets squeeze what we get out of the worst part of the roster and limit the best part and grind out wins and get knocked out in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs at best.

 

[carjackmalone]

Scratching Michkov is creating Kuzmenko 2.0

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Scratching Michkov is creating Kuzmenko 2.0

If he doesn't healthy scratch a talented young player, how else is everyone supposed to know what a badass he is?

I'm not much of a gambler so can't say but I'm guessing the payout on Torts healthy scratching someone less than 20 games into the season wasn't very good since it's so predictable.

 

[lawrence]

Scratching Michkov is creating Kuzmenko 2.0

looks like he's found a new scape goat.

In Vancouver it was Luongo. (our all star goalie of 6 years and counting.
In Columbus it was Ryan Johansen (at the time their number 1 centerman)
in Philly its probably Matvei Mitchkov (rookie of the month, 20 year old up and coming player) Hes probably coaching to get fired again.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Torts is a good coach. The Flyers would have made the playoffs had their goalie not gotten arrested for rape.

Torts does some things well, but this is something of a misconception.

1. Ersson outperformed Hart for most of last season and was their primary starter through the heart of the campaign. It was a 1A/1B situation and Ersson was the clear A. From November through February, he went 17-9-3 through that stretch with a .912 and 3 shutouts. Hart was 8-6-3 with a .901 over that time. Ersson's year-end numbers won't show that because...

2. Torts was so desperate to make the playoffs that he ran Ersson into the ground. Ersson had already emerged as the better option than Hart, but once Hart was indicted Torts put Ersson on a Brodeur diet. Like 26 of the final 30 games. As a rookie who was never expected to be anything more than a ~25 start backup!

3. So Ersson broke down, but the team in front of him fell apart too. When Torts scratched Couturier they gave up entirely. 4-7-3 after that point.

There's something weird we don't know about the Couturier situation. Torts said he wasn't going to name a Captain that season. Then suddenly, halfway through he (or someone in the organization) decided that Couturier was Captain, and Torts claimed it was his idea. And then immediately after that Couturier was scratched.

Torts just seems to be doing shit without a plan for what it means in the long or even medium term.