Chris Botta wrote a really good article on John Tortorella and the Rangers young players
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Young players have been known to wilt under the firm hand and raspy voice of a taskmaster like Tortorella. But McDonagh, who is in the top 10 in the N.H.L. at plus-26 and whose average ice time of 24 minutes 54 seconds is behind only Dan Girardi’s on the Rangers, embraces the direct approach.
“If there’s something on the coaches’ minds, I want to know about it,” McDonagh said. “I can handle it and so can every player on our team. The way our coaches don’t let anything slide, I think it’s one of the biggest reasons why you’re seeing so many players develop and why we’ve won our share of games this season.”
Quote:
“Look around our locker room,” said Michael Del Zotto, who has emerged as a top-four defenseman in his third pro season. “It starts with our captain, Ryan Callahan, and continues with Marc Staal on defense and so many of our core players. They either came through our minor league system or were taught by John Tortorella and the coaches here.”
Torts just seems to have a real presence about him. He's never bull****ing them, and they know it. Some coaches get too caught up in mind games to motivate, Torts just cuts right though all that. Happy we have him.
At the start of the season, I had assumed (hoped?) that we would be in a better position come playoff time compared to years past. 6th or maybe even 5th.
But that was based on the addition of Richards, and all other things remaining relatively equal.
BR has had a positive impact on the team, but really the big difference has been the progression of our young players pretty much across the board. We are a better team with the same players.
It's a shame that Sauer had to get hurt by that mook in Toronto. Hopefully he returns next season.
The young players will get better with more playoff experience. That's the biggest issue with this team. Playoff experience. The Rangers and Blues are in the same spot. The coaches have won a Cup while their teams are young. The Rangers have Richards and Rupp. The Blues have Arnott and Langenbrunner. Not much playoff experience. The Blues have made the playoffs once since the lockout(2009)before this season. The Rangers haven't won a series since 2008. The Rangers are still developing and building their team. They will more youth in the future.
Torts just seems to have a real presence about him. He's never bull****ing them, and they know it. Some coaches get too caught up in mind games to motivate, Torts just cuts right though all that. Happy we have him.
Exactly.
None of this "don't be so hard on yourself. You're still a beautiful, unique snowflake" bull crap.
Pretty sure some people wouldn't "forgive" him even if the Rangers win a cup.
Just like some people won't "forgive" Sather if the Rangers win a cup
What is Tort's supposed to be forgiven for? He made one mistake by throwing a water bottle at a fan, that's it. He's a perfect fit for this team and the best coach we've had here in a long time. At least the players know where they stand with him and are held accountable.
Sather on the other hand hasn't won or done **** in over 20 years!
Torts seems to have evolved as a coach as the team itself has evolved. He's a good fit. I was opposed to his hiring from day one, but he looks like he may prove me dead wrong.
This team has become the polar opposite of what the Rangers were always associated with: A soft bunch of aging veterans that were not held accountable, and never played like a cohesive unit that put the team's success ahead of their own.
Not sure if you can attribute this to a single reason, but the coaching is certainly part of it.
He was a clown because he was acting like a clown.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jabroni1994
Yep.
Extremely standoff-ish, confrontational and somewhat out of control in his first 2 season here (2008-2009 and 2009-2010).
Last year, he seemed to have gone through a transformation.
Not at all. He was angry more often because we played like **** more often. This idea that a 53 year old man who has already won a cup is suddenly changing his whole perspective on how he should go about his job is bullcrap and just an easier way for the clown fans who doubted him to pat themselves on the back saying, "We were right to doubt him. It wasn't us who were wrong, he just realized he was wrong and came around to our way of thinking."
Stop fooling yourselves, you were wrong back then. Torts was the man, he's still the man. Welcome to the right bandwagon, we're glad to have on (finally) and we won't tweak you about being so late if you just stop pretending you weren't late.
This great transformation of Torts that people talk about is overrated in my opinion. Torts has always been a good coach. You don't step into a bad situation & win a Stanley Cups out of sheer luck.
People may not like his methods & he may rub many of them the wrong way, but when it comes down to it, he knows what it takes to win.
What is Tort's supposed to be forgiven for? He made one mistake by throwing a water bottle at a fan, that's it. He's a perfect fit for this team and the best coach we've had here in a long time. At least the players know where they stand with him and are held accountable.
Sather on the other hand hasn't won or done **** in over 20 years!
He is mean to the media and yells sometimes and is a big bully, apparently
edit: Torts did say that he changed his approach with the players over the past couple of years, but he's still a fiery, get in your face and expect you to give it your best kind of coach
Extremely standoff-ish, confrontational and somewhat out of control in his first 2 season here (2008-2009 and 2009-2010).
Last year, he seemed to have gone through a transformation.
That was the same **** said about Coughlin... It wasn't the fact that people were wrong about him being a bad coach, it's just that he changed into a good coach.
Complete ********* and I'm not even a Giants fan.
Coughlin was always a good coach, and so was Torts. That's why those guys win and get their teams to perform above their head.
This great transformation of Torts that people talk about is overrated in my opinion. Torts has always been a good coach. You don't step into a bad situation & win a Stanley Cups out of sheer luck.
People may not like his methods & he may rub many of them the wrong way, but when it comes down to it, he knows what it takes to win.
Correct... It's just that people don't want to admit they were wrong about someone.
Of course he changed a little bit, all humans do. But he's still very much the same person and was always a very good coach.
Torts himself acknowledged he changed his approach. If you were on board from day one, congrats. But don't make this out to be something that just being made up by his detractors.
FWIW, I read very few comments arguing that he wasn't a good coach. Most were along the lines of him not being a good coach for THIS team.
The other part of it was that he seemed like a jackass. He still does, though somewhat less so. 24/7 caused a lot of people to warm to him, and of course winning quells all complaints.
He is mean to the media and yells sometimes and is a big bully, apparently
edit: Torts did say that he changed his approach with the players over the past couple of years, but he's still a fiery, get in your face and expect you to give it your best kind of coach
I agree that he has made some changes in his approach and his demeanor but he still coaches pretty much the same way.
As far as the media is concerned, it doesn't bother me one iota if/when he gets curt with some of them considering some of the nonsensical questions they ask at times.
If you or I had to stand there and field dribble from an old fossil like Fischler, we'd be a little ornery too!
