The cross-continent coach swap is complete.
John Tortorella is the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, confirms Hockey Central insider John Shannon, and he will be formally introduced at a press conference Tuesday at 1 p.m. PT at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.
On the heels of former Canucks bench boss Alain Vigneault being named the head coach of the New York Rangers Friday, Vancouver has hired Tortorella to lead its team.
The outspoken Tortorella will be heading from one high-expectations hockey market to another.
Tortorella was fired after his New York Rangers were eliminated in five games by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the NHL playoffs. The 54-year-old Boston native registered a 171-115-29 record with the Rangers since joining the team partway through the 2008-09 campaign. Tortorella’s Rangers reached the Eastern Conference final in 2012, but they bowed out to the New Jersey Devils.
Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup victory in 2004, was also courted by the Dallas Stars. The Stars named Lindy Ruff their new head coach Friday.
Prior to deciding on Tortorella, Canucks general manager Mike Gillis had also interviewed Dallas Eakins, who was officially announced as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers last week, and had spoken with former Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan.
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Tortorella reached the playoffs in all but one of his five seasons with the Rangers, but his failure to get New York back to a championship level along with his combative nature were likely key factors that led to his firing.
Rangers president Glen Sather declined to give specifics for Tortorella’s dismissal Friday, saying only that it wasn’t one thing or particular incident that caused it.
Tortorella was fired shortly after the Rangers’ season ended with a loss to Eastern Conference champion Boston. New York never reached the title-contending predictions many made for the team before this lockout-shortened season.
Tortorella conducts business on and off the ice with an iron fist. His abrasive style was likely a factor in Sather’s decision to make a change.
Tortorella had one year left on his contract when he was let go. He was 19-25 in the post-season, and reached the playoffs four times after taking over as coach in February 2009.
Tortorella, hired to replace Tom Renney with 21 games remaining in the 2008-09 season, achieved some success with the Rangers but couldn’t match the Stanley Cup title he earned in 2004 with the Lightning.
Sather said Tortorella’s contract status wasn’t part of the decision to let him go.
Last season, Tortorella led the Rangers to 51 wins, the second-most in franchise history, and 109 points before they were beaten in six games by New Jersey. He finished his Rangers tenure in fourth place on the team’s coaching wins list.
The 54-year-old Tortorella got the Rangers back into the playoffs, and New York outlasted Washington in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being knocked out by Boston.
Tortorella made curious comments when the Rangers packed up for the summer, remarks that could have led to his ouster.
In his final meeting with reporters, Tortorella said the Rangers weren’t emotionally ready to take on Boston after getting past Washington with back-to-back shutout wins when they faced elimination.
But he was defiant in his assessment that this wasn’t a down year for the club.
The Rangers entered the 48-game season as a contender to win the Stanley Cup, especially after the off-season acquisition of top forward Rick Nash in a trade with Columbus.
After a slow start, the Rangers rallied to a 26-18-4 record and the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
New York struggled to score in the post-season, and Nash and Brad Richards were among the biggest offenders. Nash recorded only one goal and five assists in the Rangers’ 12 playoff games.
Richards, who has seven years remaining on a nine-year deal, was a bigger disappointment and was a healthy scratch in the final two games against the Bruins. Sather said that move was an organizational decision.
Richards had thrived under Tortorella when they won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay, but he managed only one goal and zero assists in his 10 post-season games. Richards also is likely to be gone from the Rangers, who can buy out the remainder of his lucrative deal and remove him from the salary cap that will go down next season.
Tortorella is the career leader in wins by a U.S.-born coach with 410. He was an assistant coach with the Rangers in the 1999-2000 season and took over for John Muckler as head coach for the final four games.
Tortorella was then hired by the Lightning and he was their coach for seven seasons, going 239-222-36-38 and earning the Jack Adams Award in the championship season.
(with files from AP)
