John Tortorella watched his first Columbus Blue Jackets practice Wednesday from the stands and didn’t go on the ice during an optional skate Thursday, and the Blue Jackets didn’t practice Friday.
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All those Blue Jackets players shouldering the blame for their historically woeful start? “Now we have to make sure that we build off that and continue to get better”.
Tortorella was hired as coach for the fourth time after previous stints with Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers and Vancouver.
He takes over for Richards, who had been with the Blue Jackets since 2012 and led them to only their second National Hockey League playoff appearance in 2013-14, when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round. The veterans in the locker room in New York and, a season later, Vancouver (he lasted just one year there) didn’t take kindly to the way he ran things.
Earlier this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets (0-8) were expected to have a good team this year. “Everything kept snowballing and losses kept piling up”.
Tyson Barrie will finish his three-game suspension Saturday, giving the Avalanche seven healthy defensemen for the upcoming road trip with Brad Stuart out with a back injury. When we leave, we get home at… “We can’t hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves and make excuses”. But following a loss in his first game behind the Columbus bench Thursday, Columbus dropped to 0-8-0, the second-worst start in National Hockey League history.
“We’re not responding the right way”, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “By no means does this let anyone off the hook”. The Blue Jackets were notoriously slow-starters coming out of the gates under Todd Richards.
“I need to listen”, he said. They’ve shown a few serious scrappiness in taking this and other contests, including limiting the damage from Ottawa getting a five-minute major power play opportunity.
With a 446-375-115 record over 14 seasons, the 57-year-old Tortorella is the NHL’s winningest U.S.-born coach.
Personally, I think Tortorella’s a good coach, and definitely a guy who knows the game. And on his side, he was so emotionally attached to the Rangers for so long, I don’t know if he was that much committed to our group at the start.
During his introductory press conference, Tortorella said that he wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel in Columbus.
“I need to lean on him”, Tortorella said. “He’s part of that heartbeat of the club”. All you have to do is pick the 9 players you think will score the most fantasy points during tonight’s games by drafting 2 centers, 3 wingers, 2 defensemen, a utility skater and a goaltender while staying under the provided $50,000 Salary Cap.
“In my year-plus [off], you look at yourself”, Tortorella insisted.
With everything that’s happening around this team at the moment, it’s not unreasonable to expect this situation to go under the microscope and fuel speculation that things haven’t started off with a bang between Tortorella and Johansen, the team’s star forward. Both Tortorella and the Blue Jackets are looking for second chances here, and it might just work given time.
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They won’t be as bad as last season’s 54 points, but improving by more than 25 in a single season is a tough ask for any franchise.
