John Tortorella

Ivan Provorov, John Tortorella, and why the Flyers message on Pride Night ended up being Hockey Isn’t For Everyone

As Team USA head coach in 2016, John Tortorella threatened any American players who would protest the oppression of Black people. At the time, Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee in the NFL to raise awareness for racial inequality and discrimination.

“If any of my players sit on the bench for the National Anthem, they will sit there the rest of the game,” Tortorella said, though he back-tracked years later. In the case of Ivan Provorov‘s protest, Tortorella was far more lenient. The Russian defender chose to skip warmups rather than wear a Flyers’ Pride jersey. “Hockey Is For Everyone. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜,” the Flyers tweeted before the game.

Unlike his threat over the National Anthem protest, Tortorella did not bench Provorov, who played a game-high 22:45. Afterward, the coach defended his player.

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By Ian Oland 8 months ago

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John Tortorella on the NHL’s All-Star Weekend: ‘I don’t even watch it’

When not leading an NHL team as a head coach, John Tortorella has long served as a TV analyst due to his colorful takes such as Trevor Zegras’s Michigan moves being bad for hockey. Tortorella’s perspective as a media member and as a head coach gives him tremendous insight into how powerful his words are and how big of a role he has in promoting the game.

Which is why it was a big fat lol when Tortorella unloaded on the NHL All-Star game after the Flyers’ 6-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, Thursday.

He knows not to be this honest, yet he does it anyway.

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By Ian Oland 9 months ago

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John Tortorella is already very concerned about the ‘standards and accountability’ inside the Philadelphia Flyers locker room

The Philadelphia Flyers are a franchise in flux. In mid-June, they named veteran NHL bench boss John Tortorella as their newest head coach to try and bring some stability to a team that is anything but stable.

In shocking news to exactly no one, Torts is already telling the media that he is very concerned about the culture inside of the Flyers locker room. Thursday, Tortorella spoke on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio regarding those concerns.

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By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago

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The NHL plays musical chairs with the, like, 35 guys allowed to be coaches

By my math, 23 teams have made coaching changes in the past three seasons, with 13 big moves taking place just in the past few weeks.

Now, in under 100 seconds, is every big coaching move of the summer as the NHL plays musical chairs with the, like, 35 white dudes, tops, that they’ve decided are allowed to be coaches.

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By Peter Hassett 1 year ago

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John Tortorella’s time in Columbus as told by RMNB headlines

John Tortorella will not be returning to the Columbus Blue Jackets as head coach next season. After six years in Ohio, Tortorella will be walking away from the Blue Jackets on his own, though it is uncertain if GM Jarmo Kekäläinen was interested in re-signing him anyway. The Blue Jackets missed the playoffs and finished last in the Central Division with a 18-26-12 record – good for 48 standings points in 56 games.

Tortorella’s time in Columbus, just like everywhere else he’s coached, was marred by controversy. His tenure in Columbus started by benching number-one center Ryan Johansen (he was later traded for Seth Jones) and ended by benching number-one center Pierre-Luc Dubois. The Blue Jackets would go on to trade PLD to Winnipeg for star winger Patrik Laine. Torts would bench Laine too. Reportedly, the Blue Jackets will aggressively try to land a first-line center this summer.

Torts was never afraid to show his huge personality even if it got him in trouble. Let’s take a look back at RMNB headlines related to John Tortorella throughout the years. They’re like Old Bay potato chips, spicy but delicious.

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By Ian Oland and Cara Bahniuk 2 years ago

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John Tortorella has already benched Patrik Laine

The blockbuster trade of the season so far sent forward Patrik Laine to Columbus in exchange for Pierre Luc Dubois. PLD famously wanted out of Columbus for whatever reason who knows no one can say, and Laine just needed a change of scenery from Winnipeg.

Checking in on that change of scenery: After four games, Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella has benched Patrik Laine for being a lazy ungritty do-nothing. Heck yes. This is the good stuff. Inject into our veins along with the vaccine.

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By Peter Hassett 3 years ago

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NHL fines John Tortorella for walking out of elimination press conference after two questions

John Tortorella is back in the news for being mad during a press conference again.

After the Blue Jackets lost to the Lightning 5-4 in overtime and were eliminated from the playoffs, Torts walked out of his postgame press conference after only two questions. That was enough to warrant NHL discipline.

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By Ian Oland 3 years ago

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John Tortorella doesn’t ‘give a s*%&’ if mics catch him cursing during empty-arena playoff games

Tom Wilson recently suggested to Capitals media that he’ll have to use “less f-words” during empty-arena playoff games. “It’ll be weird,” he said. “I’m gonna have to watch, I guess, what I’m saying.”

Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella does not have the same concerns.

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By Ian Oland 3 years ago

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John Tortorella says he will no longer punish players who protest during the national anthem

The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline is reporting that Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella has reversed course on a controversial stance he had four years ago.

Tortorella, in 2016, said he would bench any American player that tried to protest during the national anthem of a World Cup of Hockey game.

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By Ian Oland 3 years ago

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John Tortorella’s expletive-filled, fist-slamming rant about the NHL review process and ‘goddamn technology’

John Tortorella had another meltdown during one of his postgame press conferences.

Tortorella was incensed after he thought officials mismanaged the clock at the end of overtime. After the Blackhawks took a too many men penalty with less than 20 seconds to go, officials let an extra second eek off the clock. The Blue Jackets asked the officials to review and they didn’t. At the end of OT, Zach Werenski scored, but the goal was overruled after it was determined the puck passed the goal line just after the buzzer sounded.

The Blackhawks went on to win 3-2 in the shootout. Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo suffered a right-leg injury during Jonathan Toews’ attempt.

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By Ian Oland 4 years ago

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