John Tortorella

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United StatesUnited States  John Tortorella Ice hockey player
John Tortorella
Date of birth June 24, 1958
place of birth Boston , Massachusetts , USA
Nickname Torts
size 173 cm
Weight 79 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1978-1981 University of Maine
1981-1982 Kristianstads IK
1982-1983 Erie Golden Blades
1983-1984 Erie-Virginia
1984-1986 Virginia Lancers

John Tortorella (born June 24, 1958 in Boston , Massachusetts ) is a former American ice hockey striker and current coach . Since October 2015 he has been the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets from the National Hockey League . Previously, he was in charge of the New York Rangers , the Vancouver Canucks and the Tampa Bay Lightning , with the latter winning the 2004 Stanley Cup .

Career

John Tortorella began his career in 1978 when he played for the University of Maine . After three years he left college and played for a year in Sweden at Kristianstads IK before moving to the Atlantic Coast Hockey League for the Erie Golden Blades for the 1982/83 season. He played in the ACHL for a total of two years before joining the Virginia Lancers in 1984 . In the following two seasons he showed good performances there, scored 87 and 96 points and then ended his career in the summer of 1986.

Tortorella stayed with the team and took over the duties of general manager and trainer and led the Lancers to the ACHL championship in 1987. He was also named coach of the year by the league. The Virginia Lancers then joined the All-American Hockey League and Tortorella coached the team for another year.

In 1988 the New Haven Nighthawks hired him from the American Hockey League as an assistant coach and the following year he moved to the National Hockey League for the Buffalo Sabers . There he also took the post as assistant coach and worked there until 1991 under head coach Rick Dudley and then under John Muckler . The Sabers qualified for the play-offs each year , but only got past the first round once.

In 1995 the Sabers appointed John Tortorella to coach the Rochester Americans , their farm team from the AHL, and he led them to win the Calder Cup in the 1995/96 season . After another season in the AHL, he moved back to the NHL and joined the Phoenix Coyotes and was there under Jim Schoenfeld assistant coach. In the summer of 1999 he joined the New York Rangers , where he became John Muckler's assistant for the second time since his time in Buffalo. However, this was released shortly before the end of the season and Tortorella looked after the team for the last four games.

But shortly afterwards he also left the Rangers and was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning as an assistant coach. On January 6, 2001, he replaced Steve Ludzik as the head coach of Lightning and from then on he built a competitive team around the young stars Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards . In 2003 he reached the play-offs with them for the first time and moved into the second round.

In the 2003/04 season , the Lightning achieved the best result in their history. They ranked first in the Eastern Conference and second in the entire NHL in the regular season . They survived the first two play-off rounds with only one defeat versus eight wins. The Lightning narrowly won the Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia Flyers after seven games, and the Calgary Flames led the series 3–2 in the Stanley Cup final before the Lightning won the remaining two games and won the NHL Could celebrate play-offs. After the season, Tortorella also received the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the league.

After the failure of the NHL season 2004/05 because of the lockout , the Lightning were able 2005/06 also due to the departure of goalkeeper Nikolai Chabibulin , which was an important support in winning the Stanley Cup, only to eighth place and thus the last Play Reach off place in the Eastern Conference and were eliminated in the first round of the play-offs. In the following season they only just reached the play-offs and failed again in the first round.

The 2007/08 season meant a significant setback for the Lightning, who finished last in the league at the end of the season and thus clearly missed the play-offs. The management then drew the consequences and fired John Tortorella. This then accepted an offer from the Canadian sports broadcaster TSN , where he acted as an expert. After Tom Renney's dismissal as the head coach of the New York Rangers on February 23, 2009, Tortorella was introduced as the team's new coach on the same day. Previously, the Tampa Bay Lightning had given him clearance because he had a valid contract there until the summer of 2009.

After the Rangers were eliminated in the playoffs of the 2012/13 season, Tortorella was released on May 29, 2013. On June 25, 2013 he was introduced as the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks , but dismissed after one season.

In October 2015 he was hired as the new head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets , succeeding Todd Richards , who was sacked after seven defeats in the first seven games of the season. During the 2015/16 season, Tortorella was in his 1000th NHL game as head coach behind the gang and became the first American to succeed.

In September 2016 he was the head coach of Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 behind the gang, but retired with the team in the group stage.

Achievements and Awards

NHL statistics

team season regular season Play-offs
Games S. N U OTL Pts Place (division) S. N result
New York Rangers 1999/00 4th 0 3 1 0 1 4. ( Atlantic ) - - not qualified
Tampa Bay Lightning 2000/01 43 12 27 1 3 28 5. ( Southeast ) - - not qualified
Tampa Bay Lightning 2001/02 82 27 40 11 4th 69 3. (Southeast) - - not qualified
Tampa Bay Lightning 2002/03 82 36 25th 16 5 93 1. (Southeast) 5 6th Conference semifinals
Tampa Bay Lightning 2003/04 82 46 22nd 8th 6th 106 1. (Southeast) 16 7th Stanley Cup win
Tampa Bay Lightning 2005/06 82 43 33 - 6th 92 2. (Southeast) 1 4th Conference quarterfinals
Tampa Bay Lightning 2006/07 82 44 33 - 5 93 2. (Southeast) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
Tampa Bay Lightning 2007/08 82 31 42 - 9 71 5. (Southeast) - - not qualified
New York Rangers 2008/09 21st 12 7th - 2 26th 4. (Atlantic) 3 4th Conference quarterfinals
New York Rangers 2009/10 82 38 33 - 11 87 4. (Atlantic) - - not qualified
New York Rangers 2010/11 82 44 33 - 5 93 3. (Atlantic) 1 4th Conference quarterfinals
New York Rangers 2011/12 82 51 24 - 7th 109 1. (Atlantic) 10 10 Conference finals
New York Rangers 2012/13 48 26th 18th - 4th 56 2. (Atlantic) 5 7th Conference semifinals
Vancouver Canucks 2013/14 82 36 35 - 11 83 5. ( Pacific ) - - not qualified
Columbus Blue Jackets 2015/16 75 34 33 - 8th 76 8. ( Metropolitan ) - - not qualified
Columbus Blue Jackets 2016/17 82 50 24 - 8th 108 3. (Metropolitan) 1 4th Conference quarterfinals
Columbus Blue Jackets 2017/18 75 45 30th - 7th 97 4. (Metropolitan) 2 4th Conference quarterfinals
Columbus Blue Jackets 2018/19 82 47 31 - 4th 98 5. (Metropolitan) 6th 4th Conference semifinals
total 1257 622 493 37 105 1386 3 division titles 52 58 1 Stanley Cup

S = victories; N = defeats; U = tie; OTL = defeat in overtime or shootout ; Pts = points

Web links

Columbus Blue Jackets logo
Squad of Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2019/20 season
personal data
SURNAME Tortorella, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey player, coach and general manager
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts