I’m going to preface the body of this post by offering up my opinion of John Tortorella as Head Coach of the New York Rangers. I believe that for the first time since Mike Keenan was coach in 1994, we actually have someone capable of leading a team to greatness. As I watched Tortorella behind the bench last year I got the sense that he could almost will the team to victory despite the lack of talent on the roster. I’m not sure why that is exactly; it’s just a feeling. He does have a Stanley Cup on his resume but then so do other coaches whom I don’t hold in such reverence as I do with Tortorella. This is nothing against the coaches who have been here since Keenan left but I have more confidence that Torts can deliver a Stanley Cup to New York than I ever did with Ron Low, Colin Campbell, Bryan Trottier or Tom Renney.
Now that I have that off my chest, let me delve into the real purpose of the post. Since we’ve had nearly 30 games of Rangers hockey under the Tortorella administration (regular season and playoff games included) and an off-season with him at the helm, I thought it would be entertaining to compare him to his predecessor, Tom Renney. I’ll break down the styles of both coaches. Ultimately we’ll get a sense of whether or not the Rangers will have more success under Torts than they would have had Renney remained in charge.
Renney: Renney took over the head coaching position for the final handful of games preceding the lockout. Coming out of the lockout, Renney inherited a team that most pundits thought lacked the necessary talent to even challenge for a playoff spot. His only proven star was the enigmatic Jaromir Jagr who had been acquired before the lockout after a disappointing tenure in the Nation’s Capital. Sather surrounded Jagr with several fellow Czech natives like: Marty Straka, Petr Prucha, Michal Rozsival, Martin Rucinsky and Marek Malik. In net, the Rangers were counting on veteran journeyman Kevin Weekes to hold down the #1 spot and for rookie Henrik Lundqvist to handle the back-up role after coming over from Sweden.
Renney made it a point to focus on team chemistry. He took the team through a boot-camp style trip that was specifically designed to create a bond between the players on the roster. He also focused on instilling structure to the team and a defensive conscious. This approach had great success as the Rangers surprisingly qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 8 seasons. While seeing resurgence in the play of Jagr and getting outstanding play in net from rookie Lundqvist, Renney’s greatest success may have been getting Jagr to play at his highest level in years.
After a couple of years of constructing a team around Jagr, Sather switched gears and brought in veteran Centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. It seemed that Sather was adding more speed in Gomez while also preparing for life after Jagr by entrusting Gomez and Drury as the new faces of the franchise. Unfortunately it seemed that Sather’s desire to add more speed to the lineup wasn’t really conducive to Renney’s more laid back and conservative style of coaching. Sather was trying to re-create the Rangers in the image of the Oiler’s dynasty of the ‘80’s while Renney appeared best suited to coaching a trapping, defensive team.
Ultimately, after 3 full seasons and parts of 2 others, the Rangers parted ways with Renney despite 3 playoff berths and 2 playoff round victories. At the time of his firing, the Rangers were barely hanging onto a post-season berth and iced on of the worst teams offensively in the NHL. To compound matters, the team’s power play was among the least succesful in the NHL too.
Torts: With 20 or so games remaining in the regular season and the Rangers perilously close to missing the post season, enter John Tortorella. Tortorella was a former Rangers’ assistant who also filled in as the interim coach for four games in 1999 – 2000 after the dismissal of Ron Low. Tortorella is a fiery coach who isn’t afraid to display his emotions. He showed that trait off in the playoff series with Washington when he was suspended for Game 6 after throwing a water bottle into the stands at fans who had been harassing the Rangers bench.
Tortorella, who won the cup in 2003 – 2004 while coaching the Lightning, favors up-tempo hockey. He insists that his forwards are aggressive on the fore check and that his defensemen look to activate in the offensive zone. He is a stickler for conditioning as he encourages his players to pressure the opposition from the moment the puck is dropped. One of his biggest criticisms of the Rangers’ team last season was a lack of conditioning and stamina which affected their play late in games.
Tortorella is also not shy about criticizing his own players in the media. He had notable run-ins with Vaclav Prospal during Prospal’s two separate stints with the Lightning. It should be noted that Prospal can’t harbor much of a grudge since he just signed on for a third stint under Torts with the Rangers. It was also thought that Torts wasn’t much of a Scott Gomez fan though Torts has tried not to say anything critical of Gomez in public.
Conclusion: This is actually a no-brainer once you accept the fact that Glen Sather is hell-bent on trying to re-construct those famous Oiler teams of the eighties here in New York. He favors speed and a free-flowing style and that can be seen in many of his player acquisitions in the last several years. This type of player didn’t always mesh well with Renney’s style but will certainly fit into Tortorella’s.
Whether or not Tortorella can lead this year’s team to a better record and more playoff success than his predecessor is yet to be seen. The one thing that I am confident in though is that Tortorella is the right man for the job in New York with these Rangers.
Now that I have that off my chest, let me delve into the real purpose of the post. Since we’ve had nearly 30 games of Rangers hockey under the Tortorella administration (regular season and playoff games included) and an off-season with him at the helm, I thought it would be entertaining to compare him to his predecessor, Tom Renney. I’ll break down the styles of both coaches. Ultimately we’ll get a sense of whether or not the Rangers will have more success under Torts than they would have had Renney remained in charge.
Renney: Renney took over the head coaching position for the final handful of games preceding the lockout. Coming out of the lockout, Renney inherited a team that most pundits thought lacked the necessary talent to even challenge for a playoff spot. His only proven star was the enigmatic Jaromir Jagr who had been acquired before the lockout after a disappointing tenure in the Nation’s Capital. Sather surrounded Jagr with several fellow Czech natives like: Marty Straka, Petr Prucha, Michal Rozsival, Martin Rucinsky and Marek Malik. In net, the Rangers were counting on veteran journeyman Kevin Weekes to hold down the #1 spot and for rookie Henrik Lundqvist to handle the back-up role after coming over from Sweden.
Renney made it a point to focus on team chemistry. He took the team through a boot-camp style trip that was specifically designed to create a bond between the players on the roster. He also focused on instilling structure to the team and a defensive conscious. This approach had great success as the Rangers surprisingly qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 8 seasons. While seeing resurgence in the play of Jagr and getting outstanding play in net from rookie Lundqvist, Renney’s greatest success may have been getting Jagr to play at his highest level in years.
After a couple of years of constructing a team around Jagr, Sather switched gears and brought in veteran Centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. It seemed that Sather was adding more speed in Gomez while also preparing for life after Jagr by entrusting Gomez and Drury as the new faces of the franchise. Unfortunately it seemed that Sather’s desire to add more speed to the lineup wasn’t really conducive to Renney’s more laid back and conservative style of coaching. Sather was trying to re-create the Rangers in the image of the Oiler’s dynasty of the ‘80’s while Renney appeared best suited to coaching a trapping, defensive team.
Ultimately, after 3 full seasons and parts of 2 others, the Rangers parted ways with Renney despite 3 playoff berths and 2 playoff round victories. At the time of his firing, the Rangers were barely hanging onto a post-season berth and iced on of the worst teams offensively in the NHL. To compound matters, the team’s power play was among the least succesful in the NHL too.
Torts: With 20 or so games remaining in the regular season and the Rangers perilously close to missing the post season, enter John Tortorella. Tortorella was a former Rangers’ assistant who also filled in as the interim coach for four games in 1999 – 2000 after the dismissal of Ron Low. Tortorella is a fiery coach who isn’t afraid to display his emotions. He showed that trait off in the playoff series with Washington when he was suspended for Game 6 after throwing a water bottle into the stands at fans who had been harassing the Rangers bench.
Tortorella, who won the cup in 2003 – 2004 while coaching the Lightning, favors up-tempo hockey. He insists that his forwards are aggressive on the fore check and that his defensemen look to activate in the offensive zone. He is a stickler for conditioning as he encourages his players to pressure the opposition from the moment the puck is dropped. One of his biggest criticisms of the Rangers’ team last season was a lack of conditioning and stamina which affected their play late in games.
Tortorella is also not shy about criticizing his own players in the media. He had notable run-ins with Vaclav Prospal during Prospal’s two separate stints with the Lightning. It should be noted that Prospal can’t harbor much of a grudge since he just signed on for a third stint under Torts with the Rangers. It was also thought that Torts wasn’t much of a Scott Gomez fan though Torts has tried not to say anything critical of Gomez in public.
Conclusion: This is actually a no-brainer once you accept the fact that Glen Sather is hell-bent on trying to re-construct those famous Oiler teams of the eighties here in New York. He favors speed and a free-flowing style and that can be seen in many of his player acquisitions in the last several years. This type of player didn’t always mesh well with Renney’s style but will certainly fit into Tortorella’s.
Whether or not Tortorella can lead this year’s team to a better record and more playoff success than his predecessor is yet to be seen. The one thing that I am confident in though is that Tortorella is the right man for the job in New York with these Rangers.
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