GRIN REAPER: John Tortorella, managing a smile yesterday after being named Canucks coach, said he will work on changing his often-testy demeanor that marred his tenure with the Rangers. (AP)
One might say John Tortorella doth protest too much, if one were so inclined.
On the day Tortorella was introduced as the new coach of the Canucks, the former Rangers headman was adamant about trying to change the image he established here on Broadway, one he admitted was thrust upon him by no one other than himself.
“It’s come to the point with me where I’m kind of being defined as ‘that lunatic,’ not only on the bench, but also after games with media,” Tortorella told NHL.com early Tuesday, before an online question-and-answer with fans and the official press conference. “I don’t want to be defined that way, but I do make my own bed in that type of situation, and I need to make some corrections.”
After Tortorella was fired by Rangers general manager Glen Sather on May 29, Vancouver GM Mike Gillis brought in Tortorella for his first interview last week. The two spent the majority of that time discussing the coach’s contemptuous relationship with the media, and Tortorella put on his best honest face when he vowed to change.
“It’s a huge part of my job here, I know that,” Tortorella said, speaking about the hockey-crazed and at times biting Vancouver media. “I do come with some baggage with that, I readily admit that, I’m not going to hide from that. I’ve made some mistakes along the way. I’m compelled to make this work with us working together.”
Gillis, in a rare moment of levity, even mentioned the Post’s Larry Brooks, with whom Tortorella has had some tense public exchanges.
“One of the first things I told him was that I was friends with Larry Brooks, so we had a laugh about that,” Gillis said. “Some things in the past don’t go the way you want them to go. I have no concerns with that moving forward. John is a professional, and for our group right now, he is a perfect choice.”
Tortorella was replaced behind the Rangers bench by Alain Vigneault, who spent the past seven years as coach of the Canucks. To make the coach swap even more odd, they both signed five-year contracts, and it’s believed to be for the same price of $10 million.
“It is a little bizarre,” said Tortorella, who has been sharing information with Vigneault throughout this process, saying the two had spoken every other day.
Tortorella did have some good things to say about himself during his 4 1/2 years in New York, during which the team made it to within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final in 2012 and lost to the Bruins in the second round this season.
Though he said he put certain players in bad situations with some of his comments — a veiled reference to his Carl Hagelin “stinks on the power play” comment during the series against the Bruins — he did laud his development of Hagelin and center Derek Stepan en route to changing the culture of the organization.
“We changed the landscape from a free agent haven to building with our young kids,” Tortorella said. “Bottom line is, the organization felt they didn’t want me to finish the job.”
There was also no give in Tortorella about changing his defense-first mentality, the one that made Sather think a change in coaches was necessary to give his players a more “optimistic view of how to play the game.”
“I’ll fight with you there,” said Tortorella, whose new team has received permission to speak to his former assistant Mike Sullivan, still technically under contract with the Rangers. “I think every team should play defense. I don’t think one should hurt the other.”
With a more veteran team, Tortorella believes he won’t have to do quite as much cajoling, and part of his plan to make “accountability” the most irritating buzzword in British Columbia will include making the supremely talented Daniel and Henrik Sedin both kill penalties (and block shots).
So now the 55-year-old Boston native has a chance to revamp his image, and it’s up to him to make it happen.
“Everybody wants to be thought of in certain ways,” Tortorella said, “and yeah, I’d like to rectify that.”