Tortorella calls one of his young players “stupid” multiple times!

Columbus Blue Jackets' forward Josh Anderson was one of two notable restricted free agents who held out through training camp for the right deal. The other was Andreas Athanasiou.

After a lengthy stalemate, the Jackets finally came to terms with the young player, signing him to a 3-year $5.5 million deal on October 2nd.

Head coach John Tortorella, well-known as one to not mince words, had this to say about that whole fiasco.

“He’s going to be one [heck] of a player,” Tortorella said, as reported by Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe. “I just thought he was stupid at the beginning of the year. I thought he was stupid and his entourage was stupid. That guy, and where I think he can go in his career, to miss one minute of camp was a crime. I’m not trying to insult people. It was a crime for a young player to miss a minute of camp. Especially him, where he can be. It still bothers me.”

Obviously, this statement is laced with positive reinforcement - Tortorella sees a very good player in Anderson, but he's clearly still frustrated by something that occurred over a month ago.

Anderson, who was unfit to play the team's first two games, already has 8 points in 11 games this season.