Columbus Blue Jackets know what Flyers are getting with John Tortorella: 'A true leader'

John Tortorella has a reputation that precedes his arrival to a new NHL team.

Based on viral video clips and stories about the toughness of his training camps and stringent demands, the mere utterance of the word “Torts” is enough to send shivers through those associated with his new team. It’s an uncertainty that’s likely circulating throughout the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization now, from top to bottom, after Tortorella was officially named Friday as that team’s next head coach.

It’s also an experience felt in Columbus in 2015, when Tortorella began a stint that lasted six years and concluded in 2021 with his name atop the Blue Jackets’ all-time coaching ranks for games (447), wins (227), winning percentage (.568), playoff appearances (four) and playoff victories (13) — including the team’s lone postseason series victory with an unthinkable sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 as an eighth seed.

The Jackets also rattled off 16 straight wins in 2016-17 while setting a franchise record with 108 points and downed the Montreal Canadiens 10-0 at Nationwide Arena that season.

“I could tell in the first week,” said Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen, who replaced Tortorella as head coach this season after assisting him the previous six years. “He takes charge. He’s a true leader. He knows what he wants and he knows how he wants to do it, and those expectations are going to be met. Being around that for six years and being a younger coach, it’s something that I watched very closely every day — how he handles the (locker) room, how he handles his players.”

It was quite a learning experience for Larsen, who will now face Tortorella within the Metropolitan Division at least four times a year.

“We grew together,” said Larsen, who’d never met Tortorella prior to their stint together. “I can’t be Torts and there’s only one Torts, but you’d be foolish not to sit there and take mental notes and learn from him. We didn’t know each other, but I think over the years we built an incredible friendship and a very healthy respect and trust for one another.”

Larsen, like most entering into the “Tortorella experience," had preconceived notions before they met. His concerns were eased after a conversation with a colleague who had coached with Tortorella.

“His first sentence was, ‘Lars, you’re gonna love him,' ” Larsen said. “He said, ‘You will love this man. A lot of what you see on TV is not him.’ So, we talked for close to an hour and I was super excited. And this is where I learned a major lesson in my life. I saw the stuff on TV and I saw the stuff posted on (social) media, so I’d probably already formed an opinion of him, which was completely unfair. That’s a lesson I’m going to take for the rest of my life.”

It’s a lesson Blue Jackets players learned, too. Asked what went through his mind when Tortorella was hired in Columbus, former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno didn’t hesitate to answer.

“‘Oh, (expletive),’” said Foligno, who’s now with the Boston Bruins after spending nine years in Columbus that included all six seasons of Tortorella’s tenure. “We had (Brandon Dubinsky), so Dubi had left the (New York) Rangers. He and Torts had a lot of respect for each other there, but Dubi was a younger player and was looking forward to getting away from him. So, we kind of heard it from Dubi, like, ‘This guy’s really hard. Get ready … we’re in for it, boys.’ ”

Dubinsky, now retired and living in the Columbus area, was at it again Thursday. After news of Tortorella’s hiring in Philadelphia broke, he issued a tweet asking people to pray "for the @NHLFlyers.”

Other players are more effusive of their time playing for Tortorella, including former Blue Jackets star Cam Atkinson. He was traded to the Flyers last summer, went through a trying season for the team and has already issued a couple tweets that show his excitement about the hire.

Foligno, meanwhile, said the veteran coach’s stringent demands are a big reason his teams usually succeed — including a Stanley Cup championship with the Lightning in 2004.

“You learn, ‘OK, here’s the standard,’ ” said Foligno, whom Tortorella named as the Jackets’ captain in 2015. “If you fall below it, he’s going to let you know. If you achieve it, he’s going to ask you to do more. So, all he’s really asking is for you to be a better version of yourself every single day. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want that in this game. If you’re not trying to do that already, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons.”

Foligno and Tortorella still keep in touch and their relationship has grown into a friendship. That’s why the Jackets’ former captain feels comfortable sharing an anecdote about Tortorella’s hiring in Columbus that will probably give his former coach a chuckle.

“I couldn’t believe how small he was when I first met him,” Foligno said, laughing. “You hear about ‘Torts,’ and how he’s such a hard (expletive), and when he walked in that room for the first time, I was like, ‘This is Torts?’ Like, he’s so little! (Who’s) this guy? But he’s definitely got a big bark.”

That bark is what fuels Tortorella’s reputation.

Players, coaches, staffers and reporters who deal with Tortorella on a regular basis have all heard it and most are asked the same question about it by those who’ve never experienced it.

“What’s that like?”

The answer is commonly shared among most who are asked, stating that Tortorella’s fiery personality is only a slice of the entire experience.

“He is as genuine a person as you can find in the game and that really comes across away from the game,” said Vancouver Canucks assistant Brad Shaw, who worked on Tortorella’s staff in Columbus from 2016-2021. “There are a lot of demands from the media for an NHL head coach and there are other coaches who like it a lot more than he does. What he loves is the motivating part. He loves pushing guys to get the most out of them. ... That’s what he loves about the game and that’s what comes out in his coaching.”

There is a reason Tortorella is second in wins among all American coaches, has been a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s best coach and won it twice with separate teams. There is also a reason he’s missed wherever he’s been, which Shaw learned in Vancouver.

Unlike his stops with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Rangers and Blue Jackets, Tortorella spent just one season coaching the Canucks (2013-14). The way some talk about him in Vancouver, you’d think it was a decade.

“The first time his name came up in front of the Sedin twins (Daniel and Henrik), both of them smiled and said, ‘Oh, we love Torts,’” said Shaw, whose name has surfaced as a candidate to become the Chicago Blackhawks’ head coach. “Same with the equipment guys. ‘Oh, we love Torts.’ The security guy at the front desk. ‘Oh, I really miss Torts.’ Torts was only there for a short time, but how he treats people is second to none. I just think he’s a fantastic human being and he’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with, which is the best way I can put it.”

The Flyers are about to find that out next, as Tortorella begins a new chapter. As for the Blue Jackets, well, they know what to expect with Atkinson and Tortorella on the Flyers’ bench.

“There won’t be much dialogue,” Larsen said, laughing. “There’s a love there that we have for each other and a respect that will be there forever, but when the game’s on, I want to win and he’s going to want to win. I know what he’s going to do. He’s going to poke his head around and stare down the bench there at the beginning and have a good chuckle. And then, once the puck drops, we’re both going to do everything we can to win. So, I’m excited for him and his family. It’s so deserved and I’m so glad he’s getting another chance — and we’re going to see enough of him in our division.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

Get more Columbus Blue Jackets news by listening to our podcasts

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets: Philadelphia Flyers hire John Tortorella