John Tortorella has a well-known unique personality around the league. Some call it passionate, some call it fiery, others call it harsh. No matter what view you have on him, Tortorella doesn’t care; he’s not going to change. I mean why would he? Look where his peculiar personality has gotten him in his coaching career.
John Tortorella’s Unique Personality
Tortorella is a guy who doesn’t avoid conflict, he tells you exactly how it is. He is what you call an old-fashioned style coach. He’ll get in your face and won’t hide his feelings. Whatever he is thinking, he says. Scotty Bowman, Michel Bergeron, and Tom Webster are all coaches who shared similar “motivational” coaching styles, and we see how it worked out for some of them. He has been this way his entire career on every team he’s been associated with. Given that, I wouldn’t bank on him changing the way he goes about things.
Torts has made it very well-known that he doesn’t like the media. This gives the media even more reason to try to hinder his reputation across the league. But Torts being Torts, he is never going to change. He’s hard on his players, yes, but he does seem to get the absolute best out of them. I mean, who doesn’t want to try harder when they know if they don’t they will get called out and humiliated in front of the whole team? Call it abrasive, but Torts has a way to get the most out of his teams.
Tortorella’s Success
Tortorella led Tampa Bay to the 2004 Stanley Cup finals where they won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He has also won the Jack Adams award twice since he started coaching. This award deems the recipient to be the NHL’s top coach of the year. In his coaching career, he is 704-579 with 12 playoff appearances and one Stanley Cup. Tort’s first season with the Flyers, they posted a poor 31-38 record, which will go down as one of his few losing seasons as a head coach. In this upcoming season, I think Philly fans can expect a better developed relationship with the team that will show up in their record come the end of the year.
Player Relationships
For his tough coaching reputation, players don’t always seem to dislike him. It has been said he never crosses the line, although he does come close sometimes. He demands perfection from his players. It isn’t personal, it’s about winning. He’s known to bench players no matter how big the game. This past season he benched Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny. The Flyers eventually traded Hayes, whereas Konecny has hopes this year will be much different.
His relationships with his players can depend on how the players take criticism. If they reject and take it personal, things won’t go over well. But if they take it on the chin and go out and try to be better, things will be just fine. He definitely has a unique personality that takes some getting used to. But Torts is a passionate coach, sometimes a little over the top, but his resume speaks for itself – he wins games.
Main Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
