Tortorella reached out to John Garrett's family during intermission of Game 4 last night

Earlier today Sportsnet made the announcement that longtime NHL color commentator John Garrett has passed away at 74 years of age yesterday evening.

While news of Garrett's passing didn't become public knowledge until today, the news was making its way through the NHL's inner circle yesterday evening. A number of Garrett's close friends and colleagues received the news last night, including Garrett's long-time broadcast partner John Shorthouse and evidently so too did Vegas Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella.

Today, Shorthouse was on Vancouver's Sportsnet 650 radio he mentioned that Tortorella was informed of Garrett's passing yesterday evening, while his Golden Knights were taking on the Utah Mammoth in Game 4 of their first round matchup. So what does Torts do? He takes time away from the heat of the battle to send along his condolences to Garrett's family during the 1st intermission.

From Shorthouse:

"Sarah, who is John's daughter (Garrett) lives in Tampa. And she was with the Lightning when they won the Stanley Cup back in 2004 working in the front office in I believe a PR capacity. But last night, during the game that John (Garrett) was supposed to be calling Utah versus Vegas, Sarah got a text from John Tortorella, and it came during the first intermission.”

“Torts took time during the game, in the intermission, to text Sarah and express his condolences. I think that pretty much sums up the gravitas that Cheech carried with him in the industry.”

Doesn't that just say it all right there?

Kudos to Tortorella for doing the right thing, even if the timing was awkward.

The reality is that there's no good timing for news like this. RIP, Cheech. You were one of the all-time greats.