It was more than just style of play that got John Tortorella kicked to the Broadway curb. His unwillingness to change eventually ushered him to the exit.
Yesterday at Radio City Music Hall, the Rangers introduced Alain Vigneault as the 35th head coach of the club, replacing Tortorella, who was fired on May 29 after four and half years.
And if general manager Glen Sather was clear about his opinion on anything, it was that Tortorella’s grinding, defensive style took its toll on the players, and more importantly, Tortorella’s unwillingness to adapt limited their ability to be in direct competition to win the Stanley Cup.
“I’d say maybe beyond stubborn,” Sather said about Tortorella’s attitude. “I just felt it was getting to be so hard on our players, playing the style we were playing, that we needed to make a change to give them a little fresh life and more of an optimistic view of how to play the game.”
Optimism reigned on this day, as it always does for the hiring of a new coach. Vigneault, who signed a five-year, $10 million deal and likes the nickname “AV,” has a stellar record coming off seven seasons with the Canucks, preceded years earlier by three and a half with the Canadiens.
As Tortorella prepares to accept the Canucks’ offer in what amounts to an old-time coach swap, their respective abilities to change and adapt seems to be in the starkest contrast.
“Torts is the kind of guy that pushes to win,” Sather said. “It doesn’t mean that AV isn’t going to be that guy. He’s a pusher as well. Sometimes you have to mesh those two together. You have to give the guy a little love and you have to give a little kick in the [behind] once in a while.”
For Tortorella, it was a lot more about kicking than it was loving. He demanded his teams always put defense first, and it stifled the offensive skill at his disposal. For the 52-year-old Vigneault, having that type of high-end skill in players such as Rick Nash is something that has to be nurtured, not suppressed.
“I believe your top skill players should have more latitude,” said Vigenault, whose Canucks teams went 313-170-57 and won the Northwest Division in six of seven seasons. “They have to be given that latitude to make a something out of nothing.”
During his years in Vancouver, Vigneault won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach in 2007 and led his team to back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies for the best regular-season records in 2010-11 and 2011-12. He had teams that were both offensive and defensive, depending on his personnel. That versatility was as attractive as anything to Sather.
“I’m going into this — and I think they should be the same way — with an open mind,” Vigneault said. “It’s a clean slate for everybody. Let’s decide what we want to write on that slate.”
Sather said he chose Vigneault from a pool of 13 candidates, four he interviewed on the phone and two he interviewed in person. The other in-person interview was with Mark Messier, Sather’s special assistant since 2009 and captain of the 1994 Stanley Cup-winning Rangers team who made his desire for the job known early on.
After being passed over, Messier told Sather he needed a couple of days to regroup, and it’s likely the two will speak this coming week about his future with the organization.
“Running this hockey club is not easy all the time,” Sather said. “Tough decisions are made for tough reasons. I just think at this stage, AV is the man.”