John Tortorella blasts his critics in another fiery rant
Torts does not care what his doubters think!
HockeyFeed
By now, just about everyone who is well versed in the National Hockey League is fully aware of Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella's coaching methods as well as his history.
Therefore, it came as no surprise that he blasted his team as "soft" despite their having battled back to tie the score late on Monday night against the New York Islanders to pick up a valuable point in the standings. And just about everyone could have guessed correctly if they were asked which NHL head coach would designate his captain as a healthy scratch two games in a row.
But after Monday night's outburst, there has been plenty of speculation that perhaps he's gone too far and is on the verge of alienating his players with the Flyers. Being the veteran coach that he is, Tortorella is well aware of the outside noise, and frankly doesn't care.
In Tortorella's mind, if a player quits on him because he doesn't like his methods, it's "the wrong damn player".
"It comes down to, ‘Oh, they're going to quit on him.’ It follows me around. And so be it. If a player is going to quit on me, or players are going to quit on me because I'm trying to make them better people or better athletes, you've got the wrong damn coach here, and you're got the wrong damn people here," Tortorella said. "My job is, I'm going to push athletes.
"I try to stay away from... I have other things on my mind that I don't give you. I was in control the other night. What I said, I meant. And, quite honestly, when I watch the tape now I'm more concerned than just the second period. Because of, I'm so proud of the team getting here. I guess now the narrative out there is I've heard from other people (is): They're young. They're not supposed to be here. Bulls--t. We're here. We're here. Face it. And let's be better. And I don't think we're ready to be better, and that's my problem with us right now. And it is my job - I have not done a good enough job to get them over the hump. I haven't done a good enough job to make them understand we have to be different now.
"We have to be at a different level. That's my frustration with me, and that's my frustration with the team. And if people can't handle it, so be it."
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