John Tortorella officially hired as head coach, expects Sedins to kill penalties
John Tortorella being hired by the Vancouver Canucks as their next head coach has the makings of some juicy post-game audio bits when things aren't going so well.
If Tortorella was audibly frustrated at times in New York with the Rangers, how will he handle things with the Vancouver media?
According to Tortorella, he and Canucks general manager Mike Gillis have discussed that topic. Certainly it would be a big focal point for any team that was looking to hire him as head coach. But Tortorella says he can change.
"I have certainly made my own bed in situations that I've put myself and other people in. I'm going to cultivate a relationship here with the media... I want this to work," he told Canucks.com in a 25-minute Q&A video.
Of course, we'll wait and see what happens over the five years of his contract before we expect Tortorella to from "F----'in Brooksie" to "Why, thank you, Tony. That was an excellent question" overnight.
Media relations aside, Tortorella was brought it, according to Gillis, because he liked his demeanor, approach and the expectations he put players to get the best out of them."It was the voice I wanted to hear," he said.
Even though they are the team's best players, Henrik and Daniel Sedin will get those heavy expectations placed on them by Tortorella, which will include a few extra duties defensively.
From Thomas Drance at Canucks Army:
"I'll tell you right now, they're going to kill penalties, and they're going to block shots. If you're going to play proper defense that has to be part of their equation... I think they'll welcome it, because they want to get better, they want to win a championship."
You're probably wondering how much time the Sedins have spent on the Canucks' penalty kill over the past few seasons. Well, Henrik has averaged 0:09, 0:05 and 0:09 seconds of shorthanded time on ice the past three seasons, while Daniel averaged 0:04, 0:04 and 0:06 seconds over the same span.
Tortorella is already starting to build his staff with the news, via Larry Brooks, that his assistant in New York, Mike Sullivan, is expected to interview with the Canucks.
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
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