It was confirmed by Aaron Portzline that John Tortorella did in fact say that Ryan Johansen was “out of shape” during the course of the first period of Tortorella’s first game behind the bench. It was initially reported by Larry Brooks of the New York Post but it took nearly a week for the news to be confirmed. During the course of Portzline’s interview with Johansen, it also came out that Tortorella believed Johansen’s recent practice was a “struggle” which surprised Johansen who said “I didn’t think practice was that tough, I felt pretty good.”
This will do nothing to quell the rumors that have been circulating around the Blue Jackets. Tortorella benched Johansen for the last six or so minutes of the first period in his first game behind the bench. This caused a ripple effect throughout Columbus, which began to worry that Johansen may be unhappy with the treatment he was given by the tough Tortorella.
Tortorella has had a reputation as one of the tougher coaches throughout the league with his my way or the highway type approach. He will be tough on both the first line players and the fourth players, a type of coaching that ruffles some feathers. Is that something that needs to be established though right off the bat?
What exactly is Tortorella going to be gaining by getting on Johansen’s bad side? He is already one of the best offensive players in the entire league. I understand pushing him and trying to get him to another level but you get to the point that is just purely antagonistic too. He burned out in Vancouver for varying reasons but being combative with the most skilled player on the team is a dumb decision that sets him on a similar path.
You can have a personality that is supposed to motivate, but by using a catch all coaching style, you run the chance of immediately losing the team from the outset.
