"I deserved to be fired": When John Tortorella admitted to his shortcomings as Vancouver Canucks HC

John Tortorella's tenure with the Vancouver Canucks remains one of his major lows in an otherwise distinguished coaching career. The veteran coach was fired by the team after just one year in office. In the 2013-14 season, the Canucks missed the playoffs with a 36-35-11 record for the first time in five seasons.

John Tortorella had plenty of issues during his time as the Canucks coach. A big problem that emerged at the start of his tenure was the travel time he took to reach Rogers Arena. He used to stay in Point Roberts, Washington, across the border and took a 45-minute drive to get to arena.

It was also reported that the team management and players were unhappy with how he used to leave after staying for a brief while during practices and leave it to his assistants Mike Sullivan and Glen Gulutzan.

An on-field controversy emerged in January 2014 when the Canucks got into a huge line brawl against Bob Hartley and the Calgary Flames. After their opponents had fielded a penalty-prone fourth line, Torts challenged Hartley with the fourth line of the Canucks, which resulted in 10 fighting majors and 152 penalty time. After the first intermission, he had also gone over to the Flames changing room and confronted Hartley, which led to a 15-day suspension.

That turned out to be one of the turning points of the Canucks' season. Through December, they had a 23-11-7 record, but they tapered away in the second half and missed the postseason. An article from Sportsnet (February 2015) quoted Tortorella saying on the Tampa Bay radio station 620 WDAE:

“That group of players over in Vancouver I really enjoyed. We had a great first half, but I don’t think I did the job for the team the second half with our consistency, and I think that’s what cost me my job".

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John Tortorella liked the intense atmosphere in Vancouver

Vancouver is known to be one of the toughest markets in the NHL in terms of media scrutiny. Not all coaches have taken well to it but for John Tortorella, his counter arguments and mannerisms helped him develop bonds with players and media personnel.

“That’s what I miss most,” Tortorella explained. “Being in the room, seeing what the personalities are, them coming back at me if they don’t like what they heard from me, and that’s how you develop the relationships.

"I had some strong ones out there in Vancouver…I think there’s a little bit of misperception, but there’s nothing I can do about that. But I tell ya, I miss that part of it terribly. Being in the locker room with that team.”

After the lone season with the Canucks, John Tortorella would coach the Columbus Blue Jackets, with who he would make the playoffs four times in six seasons. Recently, he was fired from his head coach position at the Philadelphia Flyers after almost two full seasons in charge.