If Tortorella is done in Tampa, Ottawa may come calling
Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2004. Tortorella isn’t afraid to bench underachieving players and has no problem calling them out in public. He’s all about delivering discipline and providing structure, not to mention frank, not-always-G-Rated quotes that help fill sports pages and radio broadcasts. In short, he pretty much has all the credentials Senators general manager Bryan Murray says he’s looking for in a coach to take over his dysfunctional club.
That makes Tortorella perhaps the most colourful possibility among a group of candidates that also includes fellow veteran coaches Bob Hartley, Pat Burns, Pat Quinn, and Terry Murray, Bryan’s brother. Adding to the intrigue, is the fact Tortorella’s status with the Lightning is murky.
Tortorella has one year remaining on his contract with the Lightning, at $1.3 million U.S., but in an end-of-season meeting with general manager Jay Feaster, Tortorella suggested it might be time for him to step aside after the team finished dead last in the NHL standings. After word of those comments leaked out to a Tampa radio station, Tortorella had an about-face, last week claiming he had made a mistake and instead wanted to stay to help in the rebuilding of the franchise.
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