“My job as a head coach of a hockey team is to push athletes to be the best they can be, to push them to areas where they don’t think they can get, that’s my job and I’m going to do that. “But let’s be honest, there’s a perception about me and some of the perception is put in an area where that’s all people think I am. I need to prove myself to the players that I’m not just that person and I think that’s going to be a relationship that grows. I want them to understand that I care, I care a lot about winning and losing, but I also care about the people and it’s my job to push people, but I also think it needs to be done in a respectable way and I don’t think a lot of people think it’s done that way, but really they don’t know what goes on in behind here.
“Right now I’m trying to figure out who the Vancouver Canucks are, I know they’ve been successful, but they’ve got to that point and it’s just that next step they need to take. What’s needed there? I’m a big believer in ‘what is your identity’ and creating an identity, that’s what we’re going to look to. I think there’s some sort of identity there, but when a new coaching staff comes in, you have to put your stamp on that too.”
-John Tortorella, the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. More from Tortorella from Derek Jory at the Canucks website.
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