Tortorella goes off on rant against Bowman, Quenneville and entire Blackhawks organization

Former NHL head coached turned ESPN analyst John Tortorella was on ESPN's "The Point" broadcast today where he spoke quite passionately and eloquently about the Chicago Blackhawks' sexual abuse scandal and the absolute mishandling of the situation by team executives.

Now, while we're used to hearing a good, old fashioned Torts rant, this one hits a little differently. Typically we're used to hearing Tortorella rallying against the media, NHL officials or, at times, even his own players. He's never been one to bite his tongue and he's never seen a microphone that he wasn't eager to meet, so to speak. But again, this rant is a little different.

When asked whether Blackhawks brass like former GM Stan Bowman and former head coach Joel Quenneville are culpable in the matter Torts simply said, “If this was your 20-year old kid, would your decision have been different?"

Amen, Torts!

Put yourself in this 20 year old man's shoes. Better yet, put yourself in his parents' shoes. If it were Kyle Bowman or Kyle Quenneville rather than Kyle Beach, I bet the team would have done a Hell of a lot more to support him. 

From Torts directly:

Amen! 

How difficult is it to step up, be a man and say, "This isn't right." 

You don't have to be a hero, you don't have to make some grand gesture... literally all you have to do is tell the authorities. And you know what? If your main concern is covering your own ass, then you can call the police anonymously and at least then you can rest at night knowing that you've at least done something positive. As it is, the entire Blackhawks' executive staff is culpable simply by looking the other way. Pure and simple.

I may not agree with everything Tortorella has said over the years and his coaching style may rub some people the wrong way, but the fact is that he's a man of integrity and his words today prove it. I never thought I'd say this but we need more men like Torts behind the bench in the NHL.