from Bob McKenzie of TSN,
So, why Torts?
With apologies to a credible but out-of-work NHL coach such as Randy Carlyle, the Jackets clearly weren’t enamored with the unemployed coaching pool. Columbus already took David Clarkson from the Toronto Maple Leaf tire fire, they weren’t about take the coach (Carlyle) who was consumed in that blaze, too.
Guy Boucher, who came within a Mike Babcock change of heart of being Toronto’s new coach and once chose Tampa over Columbus for his first NHL head-coaching gig, didn’t have an in-season out clause from his Swiss League contract. Which is to suggest if an NHL team really, really wanted Boucher, it could probably find a (financial) way to make that happen, but Columbus was looking for something fast and furious.
There are all sorts of up-and-comers in the coaching fraternity – Travis Green in Utica, amongst many more – but Columbus was dialing 9-1-1 and couldn’t or wouldn’t want to take a chance on a first-timer. Plus, from the moment Larry Brooks of the New York Post first legitimized in mainstream media the possibility of Tortorella to Columbus, you could sense the Jackets were going for a high-impact option, a move that would get its beleaguered fans to sit up and take notice. Love him or loathe him, Torts is that guy.
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