I am writing this as the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to start the second round of the NHL playoffs against the Boston Bruins but won’t be posting for another week so won’t reflect the first 4+ games played in the second round.
I would be remiss not doing a post during the Stanley Cup Playoffs not referencing the amazing accomplishment of the Columbus Blue Jackets led by the “new” John Tortorella.
Everyone knows John for his antics in past exploding towards players, coaches, and officials when he lost his temper.
But what people don’t know is he is no longer the John Tortorella of old, people say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but John is the epitome of how this is not this case.
In 2004 John led the Tampa Bay Lighting to their first (and only to date) Stanley Cup captained by Dave Andreychuk with fellow Canadian counterparts Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards and 13 others who won against the Calgary Flames in 7 games. The following season the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup against the last Canadian Team to reach the finals, the Edmonton Oilers and another Stanley Cup Final will be US teams as all three Canadian teams that made the playoffs this season were knocked out in the first round.
Fast Forward to this season, Columbus Manager rolled the dice before the trade deadline to acquire several rental players to reach their goal to win their first playoff round EVER acquiring Adam McQuaid, Keith Kinkaid, Ryan Dzingel, Matt Duchene and Julius Bergmen.
Although it took several weeks for the new players to buy-in to John’s systems the results paid off, and John led the Blue Jackets to their first ever playoff win against his former Tampa Bay Lighting team he led to the Stanley Cup 15 years prior.
I remember watching game 4 and was blown away how Columbus outplayed this season’s President Cup Winners as the top team, tying the NHL record for points and wins (62) in one season only to be swept by Columbus in the first round. Others followed Calgary (top team in the west) and recently the Washington Capitals who were defeated by Carolina who advanced to the second round for the first time since 2010.
The buzz amongst all those in the Hockey world is WOW, Tampa, Washington, Pittsburgh, Leafs, Jets, and Calgary who were all picked as favorites at the beginning of the season to potentially go deep in the playoffs have been eliminated in the first round.
This has Boston licking their chops now as the top seed remaining of the 8 teams
GO BLUE JACKETS!!! (never been a fan of Boston as long-time Habs fan)
Often when teams load up on rental players with the aspirations of going deep into the playoffs don’t make the playoffs or sputter out early so how did John Tortorella lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to take out the best team in the league in the first round?
Because he transformed.
John Tortorella is no longer the John of old that was infamous for his rants, systems, and strategies that many know him for.
Think back when he was hired by the Vancouver Canucks, in the only season he coached the team as they did not make the playoffs for the first time in 7 years, which included multiple 100+ point seasons and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010-11.
I will never forget when John lost it when Calgary started their 4th line in January game in 2014 where he did the same and ensuing line brawl that occurred and then Torts chased down Calgary Coach at the time Bob Hartley in the dressing room hallway.
Suspect not his proudest moment, nor was it a great moment for the NHL with a full 5 on 5 brawl to start a game reminiscent of what the Hansens in Slapshot.
That season he coached the Canucks he overplayed many of his top players, opted to play his top two lines for the majority of the ice time where the third and 4th lines saw limited ice time.
The Sedins had their WORST seasons ever in terms of points, suffered injuries, as did Edler who was -37 that season and many of the other players also had poor seasons.
At the end of the season, John was fired by Mike Gillis and in his end of the season media conference, John shared that the Canucks needed to get younger to return back to the playoffs.
Ironically the Canucks hired Willie Desjardins the following season and he opted to roll 4 lines, connected with all of his players and lead them to the playoffs although they lost in the first round. As the Canucks were getting older and needed to go thru a “rebuild” Willy only lasted 2 seasons behind the bench and was let go but has returned to coach Team Canada in 2018 Olympics and interim head coach for the LA Kings this season.
John was the head coach of the USA World Championship Team in 2016 that received a lot of criticism as they did not medal and finished 7th overall and many in the hockey space felt that John would not behind the bench again as a result.
This after Columbus had hired John to be their head coach in 2015 and one of the conditions that they made when they did so is that he would have to change his coaching style to be less confrontational (Old School) and more transformational (New School)
The season that was prefaced by the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, John continued to change his coaching style so that he could be more of a player’s coach and less abrasive when dealing with media, he committed to developing all of his players in lieu of “playing his favorites” and rolled 4 lines and VOILA at the end of the 2016-17 season he was voted Coach of the Year.
In that season he led Columbus to a 16 game winning streak, one game short of NHL record held by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins (Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr were “pretty good” that year)
Columbus finished 3rd overall that season with 50 wins, 108 points, with the Capitals and Penguins (who won the cup that year) finishing 1st and second in the East.
Unlike this season, however, when they knocked Tampa out in the first round, they faced the Pittsburgh Penguins who knocked Columbus out in the first round and went on to win the Stanley Cup in back to back seasons.
A few other things that commentators shared during one of the Columbus playoff games;
John and his wife founded the John and Christine Tortorella Family Foundations for Giving Back.
The foundation focusing on providing funding to those that protect children, animals, and environment from harm. Prior he provided funding to charities in Tampa and New York where he previously coached.
When John moved to Columbus he opted to buy a horse farm as he LOVES animals, particularly dogs.
“If it isn’t Hockey, its Dogs”
People want to keep their dogs but can’t afford to do it, have a program in the foundation, try to facilitate helping people keep their dogs that require expensive vet care.
Although John and Christine have never had experience raising horses, they recently adopted two Bella Run Fosters who were going to be slaughtered.
John has always been one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the NHL, but now that he has modified his coaching style to focus on the players, has a softer demeanor where he even wears hoodies on the bench, it is another example of how winning just becomes a byproduct if you are transformational coach focusing more on the person than the outcomes of games.
If John can transform his leadership style if you are not drinking the kool-aid yet in terms of transformational leadership, shouldn’t you?
The Greatest Coaches EVER were/are transformational leaders including John Wooden, Clare Drake, Phil Jackson, Pete Carroll, Sean McVay amongst others.
Will you be next?
Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids …. Where it belongs.
