It was supposed to be a nice night at the Garden back on that late February Sunday. It was a time to honor two greats as Andy Bathgate and Harry Howell had their numbers retired in a long overdue ceremony.
The ceremony went off without a hitch and joy came to 33rd Street. But after the festivities, the life went out of the Garden as the malaise of these Rangers took to the ice.
It was during that shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs when general manager Glen Sather saw enough. The next day classy coach Tom Renney and assistant Perry Pearn were shown the door and the wait began. Who was going to be the next bench minder of the New York Rangers? And how was Sather going to light a fire under their collective posteriors?
Why he hired a torch or course.
In the time honored tradition of replacing coaches, the Rangers brought in someone with the opposite personality of the intellectual Renney. Sather didn't have to look far either. All he did was pick up the phone to bring in former Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella.
“Torts is certainly a lot more fiery and a lot different as a coach,” Sather said when he hired his coach. “I think that he’s going to bring that fiery attitude and a lot of games we seemed to be missing it. It’s certainly not a sleight against Tom. It’s two entirely different styles.”
Almost immediately Tortorella changed things around the Garden. Gone were Renney's trapping style and his leftover assistant Mike Pelino. Instead assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld took the job as Tortorella's No. 2 for the rest of the season and will handle the defense, while the new coach handles the offense.
Of course there will be conflict, as Tortorella isn't afraid to bump heads. In Tampa he fought with superstar Vinny Lecavalier on a number of occasions and in his first month as Rangers coach he demoted or benched forwards Nikolai Zherdev and Markus Naslund on various occasions.
“They're going to be held accountable, and there may be some bumps in the road, there may be some conflict along the way.,” Tortorella said. “But I don't think we should be afraid of conflict -- conflict is a good thing in developing relationships, as long as it's done in a respectful manner and it's done for what's best for the hockey team. It tends to get blown out of proportion sometimes, but players I've coached, you can ask them, they know where they stand at all times, and I think they want that and respect that.”
It's the demands, which make Tortorella such a respected coach throughout the league. He doesn't play favorites and his rules are set for all 23 players on the roster. With everyone accountable, no one is afraid of different rules for veterans and those making a lot of money.
“That is probably exactly what this organization needed,” said Sean Avery, back from his NHL mandated anger management sessions and back on Broadway through a waiver claim. “He holds everyone accountable, including myself. Certainly, on a personal note, I feel like he is on me a lot and trying to get the most out of me and get the most out of all the guys.”
The Tortorella-Avery relationship bares watching, though. After the infamous “sloppy seconds” comments back in November, the new coach said on TSN in Canada, “"Enough is enough. He's embarrassed himself, he's embarrassed the organization, he's embarrassed the league and he's embarrassed his teammates, who have to look out for him. Send him home. He doesn't belong in the NHL.” But four months later, he is now coaching Avery, who has played very well in his first few games.
That relationship could sour very quickly, as could Tortorella's time in New York. Although the Rangers are playing somewhat better and scoring more goals, they still have trouble on the power play and get caught up in the same mistakes that got Renney fired. Also he has proven not to be as media friendly as his predecessor, which could cost him down the line if the Rangers go through some sort of losing streak.
Yet, so far so good in the Torts era. If he can get the Rangers to the playoffs this season, and maybe win a round, this honeymoon will continue. But if he doesn't the torch could burn out quickly on Broadway, just as fast as it was lit back in February.
