Now that Tortorella has taken his iconic personality and career to the Blue Jackets, though, there’s a tenured National Hockey League coach without a job – and that’s Todd Richards. “Once we get through it. In the big picture of an 82-game schedule, this will make us better, once we do get through it”. We’ll have to see if the new bench boss can help save this Blue Jackets team before they bury themselves in a hole they can’t get out of.
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Richards had been with the team since coming on as a mid-season replacement in 2011-12.
Todd Richards had been with the Jackets since 2012. He was sacked after his only season with the club. I truly felt Tortorella needed time to de-compress before he got back into the game and it was not smart by anyone involved to throw him into that fire in Vancouver on a team that was depreciating, too, after being a Cup contender for many years.
The Islanders played a strong first period, dictating the pace and putting up plenty of zone time in the Columbus end.
Despite this, Tortorella was actually defended by a number of members of the Vancouver Canucks when he was dismissed, and Tortorella’s relationship with New York Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto was well-documented, and it was a positive one; del Zotto struggled within the Rangers system once Tortorella left, but he’d been a thriving young blue liner under the former coach.
Columbus made the playoff once in four years under Richards, falling to the Penguins in the first round two years ago.
They have scored just 13 goals and have allowed an NHL-worst 34 goals.
Part of that has to do with a porous defense that has been turning the puck over.
Through seven games, the Blue Jackets’ score-adjusted possession stats (49.6%) rank 21st in the league, which is obviously not ideal, but it’s not calamitous either. The 27-year-old netminder is 0-5-0 and has a paltry.
A coach’s success can so often be defined by the play of his goaltender.
“One of the problems right now is expectations”, Tortorella said. That brought a lot of optimism. “They wanted something straightforward and simple, although I don’t know if there was anything more straightforward and simple than what we had”. They may have bonded with their teammates or taken root in the city by a few combination of their home, children’s schools and stable domestic environment conducive to more focus on their game. They’re close to the cap and probably spending more than they’d prefer to as it is. With all the emotion and energy fans put into supporting their favorite teams, it can really suck to see a player not give his all every single night.
All of that created the need to make a change – no matter what the cost. “Peter Laviolette’s a good coach, clearly a good coach”.
John Tortorella, who has been out of coaching since a disastrous stint with the Vancouver Canucks in 2013-14, will be taking over for Richards. Hiring Torts is a drastic change.
It’s also a costly one.
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Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced the move Wednesday and have planned a news conference. 573 winning percentage that season is the highest in franchise history.
